Listen Now: A Twist of History

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Hey, it's me, Luke Lamana.

Thanks again for tuning into Wartime Stories.

I'll be back next week with another brand new episode, but today, I've got something a little different.

However, it is just as gripping.

You may remember me telling you about a new podcast from Balin Studios.

It's called A Twist of History.

And if you haven't checked it out yet, now is the perfect time.

It's a series about pivotal events throughout history that are not just fascinating, they're as action-packed as any blockbuster movie.

And here's the twist.

Each story is about a moment that has made an outsized impact on our society, culture, and the way we go about our everyday lives.

I'm going to play an episode called Robert E.

Lee's Lost Orders.

It tells the remarkable true story behind the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day in American history.

But what most people don't know is how differently that day and the future of the United States might have turned out if not for one lost note and three cigars found behind enemy lines.

I just know you're going to love this story, and when you're done listening, be sure to follow A Twist of History wherever you get your podcasts.

New episodes drop every week.

And I'll see you right back here next week for a brand new episode of Wartime Stories.

If you grew up in the United States, you most likely learned about the massive military battles and large-scale political fights that shaped the course of the American Civil War.

Major moments in the history of the country carried out by names like Robert E.

Lee, Ulysses S.

Grant, and Abraham Lincoln.

The Civil War, fought between the North and South from April of 1861 to April of 1865, remains the deadliest military conflict in the history of the United States.

The number of those who died fighting in the Civil War, estimated to be at least 620,000, is more than the number of Americans who died fighting in the War of 1812, the Revolutionary War, World War I, and World War II combined.

But amidst the well-told stories of the Civil War, there is one that is much lesser known.

And it's this hidden moment, a chance discovery, really, which set off the bloodiest day in American military history and changed the entire outcome of the war and the future of the United States.

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

On today's episode, Robert E.

Lee's Lost Orders.

This is a twist of history.

It's early morning on September 6th, 1862 on the banks of the Potomac River outside the town of Frederick, Maryland.

A young man walks down a path toward the riverbank enjoying a pleasant summer day.

But as he gets closer, he hears something in the distance, and he stops.

It sounds like it's coming from the river, and it's bizarre.

like hundreds of voices singing out in unison.

The young man runs down the path and the sound gets louder.

As he approaches the riverbank, he shields his eyes from the sun and what he sees is even stranger than the sound.

For a second, he can't wrap his mind around it.

Because in the shallows of the river, it looks like an army of dead men are wading towards him and they're singing.

As they get closer, He sees sallow faces, hollow eyes, emaciated bodies.

The young man hears something behind him and he sees a few other people from town approaching the the riverbank.

They look just as confused as him.

One woman says the group of men looks like a pack of ragged, lean, and hungry wolves stalking through the river.

The young man says it's more like something out of a circus sideshow.

The singing gets louder and the two of them can make out the tune.

It's their state song, Maryland, My Maryland.

And they can see the wet and tattered coats on some of the marching singers.

This shocks them almost as much as an army of dead men would, because they realize they're witnessing something that has never happened before.

The men's coats are gray.

These are Confederate soldiers fighting for the South against the North in the American Civil War.

And they're crossing the Potomac from Virginia into northern territory.

In September of 1862, the 34 states that make up America at the time have split apart.

and the Civil War has been raging for almost a year and a half.

Tens of thousands of soldiers have have already been killed.

The issue at the heart of the war, of course, is slavery.

While slavery had been abolished during the 19th century by major European powers like France and Great Britain, it continued to remain legal in several states and territories in America.

President Abraham Lincoln, government leaders, and abolitionists, many of whom are free black men and women who escaped slavery like Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth, have pushed to outlaw slavery across the country.

But other government leaders and many everyday people vehemently oppose them, especially in the southern states, the ones that use slaves to support their agricultural economy by doing the backbreaking work of cultivating and picking crops like tobacco and cotton.

And the South's opposition to anti-slavery grew to the point that they were willing to leave the United States and go to war, a war that tore the nation apart and, as people would say, pitted brother against brother.

By 1862, 11 southern states that refused to abolish slavery have seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, or the Confederacy.

They've recently elected their own president, Jefferson Davis, who leads from the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia.

The 23 northern states, still called the United States of America, or the Union, have predominantly outlawed slavery, and they're led by President Lincoln from Washington, D.C.

So far, every major battle of the Civil War has been fought on southern soil, and the Union Army outnumbers the Confederates almost two to one, so they have stayed on the offensive to keep the war from ever coming north.

But now, these soldiers wading through the Potomac into Maryland are changing everything,

because their leader, Confederate General Robert E.

Lee, believes it's time for the South to become the aggressor.

At 55 years old, Robert E.

Lee is one of the most respected military minds in both the North and the South.

In fact, at the onset of the war, President Lincoln offered Lee command of all the Union forces.

But Lee, a native of Virginia and supporter of the Southern cause, declined.

Instead, Lee became the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, one of the Confederacy's largest and most important field armies.

And Lee and his troops have just won a decisive victory and potentially turned the tide of the war.

Less than a week earlier, Lee led his troops at the Battle of Second Manassas.

The fighting took place in Manassas, Virginia, and Lee's forces left the Union Army decimated and retreating north having suffered major losses, with more than 1,700 soldiers dead, almost 8,500 wounded, and over 4,000 missing or captured.

The battle was such a catastrophe that now President Lincoln has decided to make major changes to military leadership.

and he cannot fathom how the Union got beaten so badly.

Because the Union Army doesn't just outnumber the Confederates, it has far more professionally trained soldiers and is much better supplied.

In fact, some Confederate soldiers, who Union leadership sees as a ragtag group of undisciplined fighters, have to steal shoes from the dead so they don't have to go into battle barefoot.

While the South's victory at Second Manassas has left Lincoln searching for answers, it's emboldened Robert Eadley and the Confederacy.

So on the morning of September 6th, the Southern general is bringing the Civil War to the North as his men reach the riverbank outside the town of Frederick, singing, Maryland, my Maryland.

It's later that day, September 6, 1862, on Best's Farm in Frederick, Maryland.

General Lee stands outside his command tent watching his men set up camp on acres of farmland that stretches out in all directions.

There's an army of about 55,000 men spread out between the encampment and other locations within a 10-mile radius.

Maryland is located just on the other side of the Potomac Potomac River from Confederate territory in Virginia, but geography isn't Lee's only reason for choosing this town and this state to start his push into the north.

Along with Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri, Maryland is one of the four slave states that have not seceded from the Union.

That means a large number of wealthy Marylanders are slave owners.

Because of this, towns in the state, especially those not far from the Virginia border like Frederick, are filled with Confederate sympathizers.

As Lee looks out at his men setting up camp, he's happy they'll get some good food and extended rest to help them get back into fighting shape.

In fact, Lee could use the rest himself.

A few weeks earlier, he fell from his horse and suffered multiple injuries, including having hurt his wrists badly enough that he can't even hold a pen to write.

Outside his tent, Lee hears shouting and the sounds of hooves pounding on a dirt road.

He looks up and sees a man approaching on horseback in the distance.

Even though the man is still pretty far away, Lee knows exactly who he is.

Because the rider wears a gray Confederate cape with fine red lining, a bold yellow sash across his chest, and a hat cocked sideways on his head with a huge ostrich plume sticking out of it.

This is Lee's flamboyant 29-year-old cavalry commander, Major General James Ewell Brown Stewart, or better known as Jeb to his fellow soldiers.

When Confederate troops crossed the river, Lee ordered Jeb to take his cavalry into a village about eight miles southeast to set up a command post of his own.

Lee watches as Jeb rides into camp, dismounts, and offers a salute.

Lee shakes his hand and leads him inside the command tent.

The two men sit down at Lee's desk and get to work.

Lee knows Jeb is young, brash, and loves attention, and that puts off some of the older soldiers in Lee's command, but Lee trusts Jeb implicitly.

Because Jeb has proven himself to be a master of reconnaissance.

He's known for leading his men deep behind enemy lines, getting a read on troop movements, and disappearing without anyone knowing he was there.

He's so good at this, in fact, that once, in the middle of a battle, Jeb crept into a Union command center and stole $35,000 in cash in a general's uniform.

Jeb also has scouts all over the north and south constantly feeding him information.

So now, Lee just has one question for him.

Where is the Union Army?

Jeb says he has good news.

He tells Lee that after suffering defeat at 2nd Manassas, Union forces continued the retreat north, and now the majority of the Army of the Potomac, which is the Union's primary force in the region, has gone to Washington, D.C.

and stayed there.

On top of that, Jeb has news that their leadership is in shambles.

He says it's not even clear who's commanding the Union's Army of the Potomac at this point.

At hearing all of this, Lee breathes a sigh of relief.

His biggest fear was that Union forces would quickly rally after the retreat from Manassas and march right back through Maryland towards Virginia.

But it looks like everything is lining up just how Lee had hoped.

The Union's full retreat means he has a couple of weeks or even a month to get his troops some rest, acquire more supplies, and restock his artillery before making his move.

He also believes if a major portion of the Union Army is garrisoned in D.C.,

they must have expected Lee to push into Union territory just like he's doing, so they're protecting the capital.

Lee tells Jeb this is great news, because Lee has no intention of marching on Washington, D.C., at least not yet.

Instead, he plans to lead his troops through Maryland and into Pennsylvania.

That's where he'll mount his first major attack in the north.

Lee tells Jeb he'll have a full plan soon.

In the meantime, he needs Jeb to do what he always does.

keep track of the enemy and keep him informed.

Lee knows he has northern forces on the run, and if he plays this right, he could bring the Union to its knees.

Hey, it's Luke, the host of Wartime Stories.

As many of you know, Mr.

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Balin weaves gripping tales of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious, diving into true crime, unsolved mysteries, and paranormal events that keep you on the edge of your seat.

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There are hundreds of episodes available to binge right now with new episodes twice a week.

Go listen to the Mr.

Balin podcast today.

In the two days following his arrival in Maryland, Confederate General Robert E.

Lee formulates a plan for his march further north to Pennsylvania.

And he meets with his other top generals stationed in the area, including the brilliant military tactician, 38-year-old Thomas Stonewall Jackson.

Both Lee and Jackson are known to be huge risk-takers, believing the only way for a smaller, undersupplied army like theirs to win is to surprise and mystify the enemy.

But neither of them are naive.

Invading Pennsylvania will be the biggest military risk the South has undertaken so far, and they know it could quickly turn disastrous if they're not careful.

And Lee and Jackson agree on one obvious fact.

The march north will be much safer if the people of Maryland support them.

On the night of September 7th, Lee calls one of his officers into his tent.

Since Lee can't write with his injured wrists, he asks the officer to take dictation.

The officer sits at Lee's desk, dips his quill in ink, and writes while Lee paces and talks.

Lee begins by saying, this is a proclamation to the people of Maryland.

Lee says that the Southerners have great sympathy for Maryland because he believes Maryland shares deep social and political ties with the Confederacy.

He also believes Maryland has been overrun by the United States government, a government that has no respect for Maryland's history or traditions, and Lee says his army has come to restore independence and sovereignty to their state.

At the time, Lee and many Confederate leaders contend that they are fighting the Civil War to maintain states' rights.

that decisions in the country should lie with each state and that the federal government should have limited power.

This, of course, includes the southern states' right to own slaves.

But in this proclamation, that is not stated outright.

Instead, Lee focuses on subjects like regaining freedom and throwing off the yoke of a foreign government.

In his tent, Lee finishes his dictation with a call to arms, telling the people of Maryland they will be welcomed into his army should they choose to join.

The officer finishes writing, and by the next day, September 8th, Lee's proclamation appears in publications throughout Maryland.

Lee hopes that he laid the groundwork to reinforce his alliance with Marylanders who believe in the South's cause, and he hopes they'll make his march north as smooth as possible.

This way, when he arrives, his troops will be in peak fighting condition, and for once, he might even have the numbers to overwhelm his enemy.

It's the night of September 8th, just hours after General Robert E.

Lee's Maryland proclamation went public.

Confederate Major General Jeb Stewart stands in a large open room in the Landon House, a mansion in the small village of Urbana, Maryland, about eight miles from Lee's camp.

Jeb wears his finest uniform and his hat with the ostrich plume while he listens to the music of a military band and flirts with a local woman.

This is the Sabres and Roses Ball, a huge party Jeb and his men are throwing to thank the people who've welcomed them into Maryland.

Since they have some downtime before they have to go on the move, Jeb is taking full advantage, and he leads the woman he's flirting with onto the dance floor.

But before they can really get going, a young Confederate messenger covered in dust rushes into the room and heads right to Jeb and the messenger looks completely rattled.

Jeb leans in close so he can hear over the music and as the young man talks, everything about Jeb's demeanor instantly changes.

He steps away from his dance partner and calls out orders to a group of men.

Moments later, Jeb and about 50 Confederate soldiers are armed and on horseback, riding fast down a dark dirt road.

After riding about four miles, they approach Hyattstown, Maryland, and they hear rifle fire.

And soon they're galloping headfirst into a skirmish between some of Jeb's reconnaissance scouts and a small band of Union soldiers.

Anyone who doesn't know Jeb would find it hard to believe that less than an hour ago, he was dancing and flirting at a party.

Because now, he's totally focused and decisive.

Jeb shouts to his men that they cannot let the Union soldiers get through or they'll learn the size and location of General Lee's army.

The moon and stars provide the only light and it's hard to get a clear read on the enemy.

This is why battles are rarely fought after sunset.

It's usually these accidental run-ins between scouts that lead to nighttime skirmishes.

But Jeb is better in the dark than most.

He focuses on the sound of the Union rifles, swings his body in that direction from atop his horse, and fires his rare 9-shot.42 caliber Lamatte revolver.

Immediately, a mini-ball, a small but deadly lead bullet shot from a Union musket, whizzes past past Jeb in the dark.

He hears one of his men cry out as the ball tears through the man's coat and rips a chunk out of his arm.

Jeb quickly rounds his horse on the road and leads a strike right at the enemy.

He wants to end this now.

Jeb's men prove up to the task, and before long, they overwhelm the small group of Union soldiers and send them fleeing north into the darkness.

Later that night, Jeb returns to the Sabres and Roses Ball.

As his wounded men are tended to upstairs at Landon House, he does his best not to alarm the guests and to enjoy the party that's still going.

But he can't shake the feeling that something might be really wrong.

He knows a reconnaissance mission when he sees one, and the northern troops he just exchanged fire with were definitely out scouting.

But he needs to figure out if they came this deep into Maryland just to get basic information about Lee's army, like troop locations and numbers, or if the North has something else planned, something he doesn't see coming.

It's the following morning, September 9th, 1862, outside of Rockville, Maryland, about 30 miles from Robert E.

Lee's Confederate encampment.

Union Major General George McClellan sits at a desk inside his tent reading intelligence reports that have been coming in from scouting parties across the state.

Jeb Stewart managed to push back one of the scouting parties, but others have broken through.

And while the Confederates believe the bulk of the Union's Army of the Potomac retreated to Washington, Washington, D.C., McClellan has actually been moving his troops into Maryland.

And now, he knows the size and location of Lee's forces.

McClellan reads over the intelligence reports again.

He's only been in charge of this campaign a few days, and he wants to make sure he's not missing anything.

Following the Union's disaster at the Battle of Second Manassas, President Abraham Lincoln turned to McClellan to lead the reeling Army of the Potomac.

But McClellan is fully aware that the president's decision was not celebrated by everyone.

Over the past year of the war, McClellan has served as the general-in-chief of all federal armies, only to be removed from that position of power.

Because much of the frustration of Union military leaders and to President Lincoln himself, McClellan has earned a reputation for being over-cautious.

He's often slow to make decisions, weighing every possible option to the point of paralysis.

And unlike his Confederate counterpart, Robert E.

Lee, McClellan despises the idea of ever going into battle with smaller numbers than the enemy.

In fact, the fear of being outmanned is such an obsession with McClellan that some critics believe he's convinced himself that Lee's army is triple the size it actually is.

Because of this, several other Union generals heavily questioned Lincoln's decision to give McClellan leadership of its largest fighting force in the East.

But President Lincoln had one simple reason for his choice.

Fighting men love McClellan.

McClellan's soldiers called him Little Mac, in part because he's relatively short, but far more as a term of endearment to show they see him as one of their own.

Unlike some other high-ranking officers, the men believe McClellan truly cares about them and that he doesn't see himself as being above them.

That's why Lincoln called on McClellan.

He needed a general to boost the morale of his men and get them ready for their next fight.

But sitting at his desk, staring at the intelligence reports, McClellan still isn't confident as to where and when his army's next fight should take place.

He can't decide if he should concentrate his attack on Frederick, Maryland, where General Lee is stationed, or if he should split his troops and send help to a Union garrison holding the nearby West Virginia town of Harper's Ferry.

McClellan knows Harper's Ferry sits along an important supply line, and if the Confederacy takes it, Lee would be able to equip his army much faster and easier.

And since McClellan never leaves any stone unturned, He also considers that Lee might be staging an elaborate ruse, and that everything the Confederate general is is doing is simply to draw McClellan and the Army of the Potomac further away from Washington, D.C., which would leave the capital vulnerable to attack.

McClellan takes a breath, clears his head, and searches for an answer, and he's certain one will eventually come to him.

He gets up and walks out of his tent.

Some of his men greet him with a cheer, and he tells them it's time to get ready to move.

He has decided to begin a slow, deliberate march towards the town of Frederick and General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.

It might not seem urgent enough to others, but McClellan believes that a slow march will provide time for God's plan to become clear.

While some consider McClellan overcautious, he always trusts that in time, Providence, God's divine guidance, will show him the correct path.

Because there's something about McClellan that very few people know.

While he does love his soldiers, he doesn't see himself as being the same as them.

or the same as anyone else for that matter.

In fact, Major General George McClellan believes he he's God's chosen warrior who will lead the Union to victory.

It's later that afternoon, September 9th, 1862, on Bess's Farm in Frederick, Maryland.

Robert A.

Lee walks through his camp with Major General Jeb Stewart, and Lee can't believe the conversation he's having.

Following last night's skirmish with a small Union force, Jeb and other scouts in the area have discovered that the Army of the Potomac has reached Maryland and they're on the move.

This information stands in stark contrast to what Jeb told Lee when they first arrived in the state.

And now, instead of having weeks or even a month before he has to battle Union forces, Lee knows he'll be lucky if he has a few days.

On top of that, there's no time to see if his proclamation to the people of Maryland will stir support and bolster his army's numbers.

Lee doesn't bother to ask what went wrong with the intelligence gathering.

or if it had anything to do with the massive party Jeb organized and then threw the previous night.

That's a problem for another time.

Right now, Lee needs to come up with a new plan and he needs to do it fast.

He tells Jeb to get back to his camp, ready his men and await his orders.

Soon after Jeb's departure, General Stonewall Jackson arrives.

Lee fills Jackson in on the latest and asks the legendary tactician for help.

Together, the two men go over all their options.

Lee doesn't realize it, but he's cycling through almost the same possibilities as McClellan is doing on the Union side.

Should he keep his army army intact, or should he split his troops and send some to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia?

Lee and Jackson continue to talk and they come up with a strategy they believe they can execute quickly and effectively.

Jackson rides off to prepare his men and Lee summons an officer to his command tent again to take dictation.

Lee tells the officer he is issuing what is to be known as Special Orders 191.

The officer takes up his pen and writes out Lee's orders to the letter.

When Lee finishes, he tells the officer to write out seven copies of the orders and prepare them to be distributed to Confederate leaders in the region and to Jefferson Davis in Richmond, Virginia.

While the officer sets about his task, Lee joins several of his lieutenants to prepare his troops, and he tells the men that the break they all thought they were getting is about to come to an abrupt end.

It's four days later, September 13th, 1862.

45-year-old Union Corporal Barton Mitchell clutches his rifle in his hands as he creeps along an isolated road outside of Frederick, Maryland with a small group of fellow soldiers.

Barton is a member of the 27th Indiana Volunteers who are serving under McClellan in the Army of the Potomac.

It's only about 10 a.m., but Barton is already tired.

He and the rest of the Indiana 27th were awakened by the Reveille bugle at 3 a.m., and they've been walking since 6.

Barton also feels on edge.

He knows knows this small group of soldiers is heading right towards the spot where a huge part of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia was recently camped, and he has no idea if some of them have stayed behind, waiting for Union soldiers like him to arrive.

Barton and the others make their way down the road, staying low and ready until it dead ends into a stream.

The men scan the area, but they don't see a bridge, so they test the depth of the water.

It doesn't seem too deep.

Barton steps into the stream, and the water feels warm, and as he moves further, it never comes up above his knees.

Barton and the others quickly make it out of the water and find themselves in front of a large open field.

They look out over the field and then at each other.

They all have the same idea.

They're exhausted, the weather is nice, and there clearly aren't any Confederate soldiers lurking nearby.

One by one, the men sit down in the field, stretching out and resting their feet.

They talk for a while, but as Barton looks around, something laying on the ground just a few yards away catches his eye.

He gets up, walks closer, and stares down into the grass.

It's something white, and it's wrapped around something else.

He reaches down to pick it up, and that's when he sees it's a piece of paper, and it's wrapped around three uncut cigars.

Barton can't believe his luck.

Those cigars would be the perfect treat while sitting in the field and relaxing for a bit.

Barton grabs it, and that's when he notices writing on the piece of paper.

As he reads it, he immediately calls for one of the other soldiers to come look at it.

Both men stare at the note.

There's no way this can be what they think it is.

Their sergeant joins them to see what's going on, and now all three of them look at the note in shock.

The sergeant grabs the note, calls to the other soldiers, and they run back the way they came.

Two hours later, just after 12 noon, at the Union Army's camp outside of Frederick, Maryland, Major General George McClellan looks at a note that has just been handed to him by a messenger.

And McClellan has the same look on his face that Corporal Barton Mitchell had earlier that morning.

Because McClellan is reading Confederate General Robert E.

Lee's Special Orders 191.

In the special orders, Lee has laid out the entire plan he and Stonewall Jackson discussed.

Lee is going to split up his army and send his generals to attack multiple Union-held outposts in the region, including Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and Martinsburg, Virginia.

According to the orders, while those attacks get underway, Lee will lead the remaining part of his forces and the bulk of their supplies west through Maryland, where he'll prepare for the march on Pennsylvania.

Once the other generals have completed their tasks, they are to rendezvous with Lee and launch the South's single largest attack on the north.

After reading this, McClellan springs into action.

He sends out messengers to his field generals in the area.

He wants to report to see if recent Confederate troop movement mimics what is written in Lee's orders.

Because as excited as McClellan is, he of course isn't about to act on impulse.

After all, the note that was found by one of his men in the middle of a field could simply be part of a ruse that Lee's been playing all along.

But as soon as McClellan receives replies later that day, he knows this isn't a trick.

Lee has been moving his army according to the orders.

God's plan is now clear to McClellan, and he knows exactly where he has to go.

He won't split up his army like General Lee.

He'll keep his unit fully intact, even if that means losing Harper's Ferry, because his goal now is to cut Lee's troops off and route them before they can ever head for Pennsylvania.

Sometime after 6 p.m., about eight hours after Barton Mitchell discovered the note and three cigars, McClellan calls over an assistant to take dictation.

McClellan says, as soon as they're finished talking, he needs this man to get to a telegraph machine in Frederick and to send a telegram to Abraham Lincoln.

McClellan is giddy as he relays the following message to the president: I think Lee has made a gross mistake and that he will be severely punished for it.

I have all the plans of the rebels and will catch them in their own trap if my men are equal to the emergency.

All well, and with God's blessing, we'll accomplish it.

It's almost 5.45 a.m.

on September 17, 1862, four days after McClellan read Lee's Special Orders 191.

McClellan rides past a 24-acre cornfield near Antietam Creek outside of Sharpsburg, Maryland, as the sounds of drums and fifes echo from the Union's infantry bands.

After sending the telegram to President Lincoln and communicating with his generals, McClellan has used his knowledge of Lee's army's movements to cut off the Confederate forces.

Some in Union leadership believe McClellan could have moved faster, that he should have set upon Lee right away.

But McClellan waited a couple of days because he wanted to make sure that he had superior numbers before making his move.

There are roughly 45,000 Confederate troops amassed around Antietam Creek.

The Union soldiers number 87,000, nearly double the South's number.

Still, in the time it took McClellan to get here, Stonewall, Jackson, Jeb Stewart, and Lee's other generals took Harper's Ferry and Martinsburg for the Confederacy, and they've rallied to Antietam Creek with some of their men to fight alongside Lee.

But McClellan doesn't second-guess his decision.

He has the numbers in the position to crush Lee, and he believes he'll prevail.

McClellan rides along the front line of one of his regiments and looks out at a sea of blue uniforms.

Thousands of men with Springfield rifle muskets on their shoulders, ready to fight the Confederates who are lined up on the other side of the field.

McClellan addresses his men and tells them that the future of the Republic is at stake.

It's up to them to stop the South's march into the North.

The men cheer for Little Mac.

Then their voices and the music go quiet.

And the silence just hangs there as the men wait.

Minutes later, shots ring out.

McClellan shouts commands to his men while one of his generals leads the first charge against Stonewall Jackson's troops.

The battle has begun.

Union Corporal Barton Barton Mitchell of the 27th Indiana Volunteers rushes across the main battlefield.

Barton had discovered the letter that helped to lead McClellan and the Union Army here, but he's not thinking about that right now.

Right now, he's just trying to stay alive.

The deafening sound of gunshots and explosions from the 500 cannons surrounding the battlefield rings in his ears, and it mixes with the wailing of wounded men.

Thick smoke clouds his vision, but Barton keeps pushing forward, firing, reloading, firing.

He's been in battle before, but nothing has felt like this.

It's like he can't breathe, and there's no escape from enemy fire.

Barton can feel his heart pounding in his chest as he passes men on the ground who look like they've been ripped in half by cannon fire, and he can't shake the smell of gunpowder and blood.

But he just keeps pushing forward until something cuts off his path.

A line of dead bodies piled two and three high in some spots.

Without thinking, Barton climbs over the wall of dead men as bullets come from every side.

Suddenly, he sees something on the edge of the battlefield.

It's like a vision out of a dream.

A woman in a white cap and long white apron stands there as smoke swirls around her.

But the dream quickly shatters when he watches the woman, a battlefield nurse, wring blood out of the bottom of her skirt, drop to the ground, and desperately try to save the soldier from bleeding out.

Barton keeps going and firing and struggling to breathe.

When a mini-ball rips through his calf, Barton feels searing pain shoot through his entire body.

He screams and falls to the ground as blood pours out from a gaping wound in his leg.

The battle rages throughout the day.

McClellan and Lee cannot believe the toll the fighting is taking on their armies, but neither will relent.

Along with the main field of battle, fighting also takes place in the nearby woods and along parts of Antietam Creek.

Over 12 square miles of land are covered with bodies and drenched in blood.

McClellan rallies his men.

For all the criticism against him, this is where he shines as a leader.

This is why Lincoln entrusted the Army of the Potomac to him.

McClellan implores his men.

They cannot stop.

No matter what happens, they have to push the Confederates back.

His men respond, and very slowly they gain ground, forcing the Confederate lines back across the battlefield.

At about 5.30 p.m., almost 12 hours after the battle began, the fighting finally slows.

McClellan and Lee reassess their positions, and gradually, both sides stop firing their weapons.

That night, the nurses who risked their lives to tend to the wounded continue their work.

One of them, a woman named Clara Barton, who will come to be known as the Angel of the Battlefield and founder of the American Red Cross, argues with officers on both sides that men who have been captured also need and deserve medical care.

But even as Clara works tirelessly, she realizes there's nothing she can do for so many of the wounded.

Despite the sheer violence of the day, McClellan remains optimistic.

He tells his Union men to hold their positions in case Lee tries to launch another strike.

But he's confident that going into battle with far superior numbers like he wanted has won him the day.

It's dawn the following morning, September 18, 1862.

The night has passed without any more fighting.

Confederate Generals Robert E.

Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jeb Stewart stare out at the battlefield near Entietam Creek in the pale glow of the rising sun.

Lee doesn't know how many men he's lost, but he's clear on one thing.

He lost the battle.

McClellan's forces have taken the field and cut off any route for Lee to stage a counteroffensive.

Lee knows there's only one option now.

Retreat.

Over the course of several hours, Lee, Jackson, and Jeb lead their troops on the march of about five miles to the closest shallow crossing crossing on the Potomac.

But this time, the men, many of whom are badly wounded and bleeding, are not singing, Maryland, My Maryland, as they wade into the shallow water and slowly make their way back to Virginia in the south.

Antietam, as the battle would come to be known, proved to be the single deadliest day in American military history up to that point.

In just 12 hours of fighting, over 3,600 men died, over 17,000 were wounded, and over 1,700 were captured or went missing.

All told, over 22,000 combined casualties.

After getting shot in the calf and suffering significant blood loss, Corporal Barton Mitchell, the man who discovered Lee's Special Orders 191, remained in the hospital for eight months.

During that time, other soldiers tried to steal credit from him for finding Lee's lost orders.

When Barton was well enough to rejoin his regiment, he sent letters to military and political leaders fighting to get credit and compensation for what he did for the Union cause.

Unfortunately, Barton would die years later from an illness without ever receiving the full honors and money he believed he deserved.

On September 22, 1862, just five days after Antietam, President Abraham Lincoln issued what would be called his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which stated slaves in the Confederate States would be freed on January 1, 1863.

Despite the fact that General McClellan's victory helped pave the way for Lincoln's historic announcement, the two men immediately found themselves at odds.

Because in the days following the battle, Lincoln urged McClellan to pursue Lee and his badly beaten men.

Lincoln believed that this could be the Union's best chance to wipe out the Army of Northern Virginia, but McClellan chose caution instead, to not go after Lee.

And Lincoln had had enough of the major general's over-cautious nature.

On November 5th, 1862, Lincoln removed McClellan from command of the Army of the Potomac.

McClellan would never forgive Lincoln for this, and in 1864, while the Civil War was still raging, McClellan ran against Lincoln for president, but Lincoln won in a landslide.

Months after the election, on January 31st, 1865, the 13th Amendment passed in Congress, and the eventual ratification of the amendment abolished slavery in the United States.

Then on April 9, 1865, Robert E.

Lee, without his generals Stonewall Jackson and Jeb Stewart, who had both died from wounds suffered in battle, surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia.

The Civil War would soon come to an end.

Following Antietam, the story of the lost copy of Lee's Special Orders 191 transformed from fact into folklore as debates and wild theories about the orders arose.

Some people claimed a Union sympathizer with the Confederate Army must have purposefully let the orders fall in that field.

Others said the officer who took dictation from Lee must have simply dropped one of the copies he made.

Some people wondered if Jeb Stewart's Night at the Sabres and Roses Ball left him distracted enough the following day to lose his own copy of the orders.

Regardless, many historians and people who were there at the time remained focused on the same key elements.

Somewhere in a Maryland field, a volunteer soldier found a note wrapped around three cigars.

And that note spurred on a Union general who was famous for inaction to ride out, face the the Confederate Army in Northern Territory, and send them retreating back to the South in a battle that turned the tide of the Civil War.

From Balin Studios, this is a twist of history.

A quick note about our stories.

They're all heavily researched, but some details and scenes are dramatized.

A Twist of History is hosted by me, Joel Blackwell.

Executive produced by Mr.

Balin and Zach Levin.

Our head of writing is Evan Allen.

Produced by Perry Kroll.

This episode was written by Mike Federico.

Story editing by Mike Federico.

Sound design and audio mixing by Colin Lester Fleming.

Post-production supervision by Jeremy Bohm and Cole Lacasio.

Research and fact-checking by Abigail Shumway, Camille Callahan, Evan Beamer, Alex Paul, Patricia Nicole Florentino, Calvin Riley-Holgate, Matt Gilligan.

Production coordination by Samantha Collins and Avery Siegel.

Artwork by Jessica Klogston Kiner and Robin Vane.

Thank you for listening to A Twist of History.