General Lee’s Lost Orders
160 Years Ago – September 7, 1862 – September 20, 1862
By Phil Kohn
Phil Kohn can be reached at USCW160@yahoo.com.
On September 7, 1862, Maj. Gen. George McClellan starts moving his Army of the Potomac slowly northward from Washington, not knowing Lee’s exact whereabouts or plans. Citizens in the North worry where the Confederates are heading, with rumors rampant and citizens arming themselves in, or fleeing from, such places as Hagerstown and Baltimore, in Maryland, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Union troops occupy Bowling Green, Kentucky, and recapture Clarksville, Tennessee.
On September 9, Gen. Lee issues Special Orders 191 which detail the positioning and movement of the elements of his Army of Northern Virginia for the coming campaign. Maj. Gen. James Longstreet is ordered to move his 1st Corp to the vicinity of Boonsboro, Maryland. Jackson’s 2nd Corps is directed to march southward to engage Federal defenses at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. In Kansas, Union troops leave Fort Scott, near the Missouri border, and occupy Carthage, in southwestern Missouri.
Maj. Gen. William Loring leads his 4,000 Confederate troops to victory in fighting at Fayetteville, (West) Virginia, on September 10. They continue to move northward towards the Ohio River.
Confederate troops enter Hagerstown, Maryland, on September 11, and panic in the North widens. Pennsylvania state records, bonds and other valuables are shipped to New York City from Harrisburg and Philadelphia. Pennsylvania Gov. Andrew Curtin issues a call for 50,000 volunteers to resist the rebels. The mayor of Philadelphia is authorized to defend his city by force of arms. In Kentucky, a segment of Gen. Braxton Bragg’s Confederate invasion force led by Maj. Gen. E. Kirby Smith pushes to within 7 miles of Cincinnati, Ohio, causing alarm in that city.
On September 12, forward elements of Maj. Gen. George McClellan’s Army of the Potomac — still trying to determine where the Confederates are — move into Frederick, Maryland. The Southerners have already moved westward as directed by Lee’s Special Orders 191.
Two Union soldiers on September 13 find a copy of Lee’s Special Orders 191 wrapped around several cigars in a field outside of Frederick, Maryland. The document is brought to McClellan, who — now knowing where Lee’s forces are and what his intent is — begins moving and deploying the Army of the Potomac westward to face off with the Confederates. Later that evening, Confederate cavalry commander Maj. Gen. “Jeb” Stuart discovers that McClellan has a copy of Special Orders 191 and informs Lee, who quickly orders adjustments to the positioning and movement of his troops. Farther west and south, Maj. Gen. Loring’s Confederates capture Charleston, (West) Virginia.
At South Mountain, Maryland, on September 14, Maj. Gen. George McClellan’s Union Army of the Potomac attacks Confederates there and pushes them back, reaching the east bank of Antietam Creek, near Sharpsburg, Maryland. Gen. Robert E. Lee’s forces have just enough time to get across the creek and establish defensive positions on the west side. Federal casualties are 2,325 of more than 28,000 troops engaged; Confederate casualties are 2,685 of some 18,000 engaged. South of the fighting, Jackson’s Corps arrives at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, and besieges the Federal garrison there.
On September 15, the remainder of the Union Army of the Potomac pushes through the South Mountain passes and concentrates at the Antietam Creek. At Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, the Federal garrison, after a short defense, surrenders, forcing Jackson to deal with 12,000 prisoners. Leaving one of his divisions, under Maj. Gen. A.P. Hill, to complete the surrender details, Jackson leads his troops north to Sharpsburg, followed by another of his divisions under Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws. Marching through the night, they arrive the next morning.
McClellan, once again facing Lee with significant numerical superiority, surprisingly does not attack on September 16, but spends the day finalizing the arrangement of his troops. Lee uses the time to organize his defensive lines.
On September 17, McClellan finally launches his attack, but in piecemeal fashion, allowing Lee to move troops from one side of the battlefield to the other as needed. The battle progresses in uncoordinated stages, going from the Union right, to the center, then, finally, to the left. The first phase, at dawn, sees Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker’s I Corps attack the Confederate left. The action swirls back and forth until finally Hooker withdraws to reorganize his forces. The second stage, at roughly 9 a.m., sees U.S. Maj. Gen. Edwin Sumner’s II Corps attack the Confederate center. The fighting is vicious but ends in a stalemate. The final stage, on the federal left at about 4:30 p.m., sees U.S. Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside’s IV Corps, after hours of trying, finally cross a bridge over Antietam Creek and make headway in pushing the Confederates back. The day is saved for the Southerners, however, when A.P. Hill’s division, after a forced march of around 16 miles from Harper’s Ferry, enters the fray with a devastating counterattack, driving Burnside’s troops back. The Battle of Antietam turns out to be the deadliest one-day encounter of the war. Union casualties (killed, wounded, missing) number around 12,450 out of 75,000 engaged; Confederate losses, about 13,724 out of 40,000–51,000 fighting. In Kentucky, Gen. Braxton Bragg’s 25,000 Confederates, having marched out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, force the surrender of 4,500 Federal soldiers at Munfordville, a station on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad.
The day after the fighting at Antietam, September 18, Lee remains on the battlefield entertaining ideas of continuing the action. By noon, his two corps commanders, Jackson and Longstreet, convince him that a counterattack is not feasible. Finally, Lee orders a withdrawal southward across the Potomac for that evening. On the Union side, McClellan resists pressing the attack, feeling that his army has been too crippled, even though 24,000 of his troops that had been held in reserve never got into the fighting and some 12,000 reinforcements arrive after the battle. In the West, Brig. Gen. James Carleton assumes command of the Federal Department of New Mexico, succeeding Brig. Gen. Edward Canby, ordered to the East by the War Dept. Carleton distributes his California Column troops in detachments throughout New Mexico and Arizona and spends the remainder of the war conducting aggressive operations to subdue Indian tribes — in particular, the Apaches, Navajos, Kiowas and Comanches.
McClellan finally sends a pursuit after the fleeing Confederates on September 19, but Jackson’s troops meet the Federals at Boteler’s Ford, Maryland, and push them back north of the Potomac. On the same day at Iuka, Mississippi, about 3,200 Confederates under Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, moving from around Corinth, Mississippi, attack a Union force of about 4,500 under Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans. After several hours of fighting, the U.S. troops force a Southern retreat. Confederate casualties are heavy: 1,516, versus 790 Union killed, wounded and missing. At Shirly Ford, Missouri, just southwest of Carthage, units of Col. Douglas Cooper’s Confederate Choctaw and Chickasaw Rifles attack a Union force, defeating it. The Federals retreat to Fort Scott, in Kansas.
