Special Order 191

AAG Robert Chilton signed this document Lee's staff officers, with the exception of Charles Venable, denied being involved in the promulgation of the Order.

About noon[1] on September 13, Corporal Barton W. Mitchell of the 27th Indiana Volunteers, part of the Union XII Corps, discovered cigars wrapped in a piece of paper lying in the grass at a campground.

There, an aide named Samuel Pitman claimed he recognized the signature on the document as that of Robert Chilton, Confederate AAG.

[4] Indeed, on the morning of September 15, 1862, the New York Herald, the North’s biggest newspaper, printed the following bulletin on the right-hand column on its front page:[5][6]WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 1862 Officers who left Frederick this morning report that a general order of General Lee was found there, directing that two columns of the rebel army should proceed by way of Middletown, one of them destined for Greencastle, Pa., with all possible expedition, and the other to proceed by way of Williamsport or Shepherdstown, at discretion, to engage the Union forces at Harper's Ferrry.

Corporal Mitchell, who found the orders, was subsequently wounded in the leg at Antietam and was discharged in 1864 due to the resulting chronic infection.

General Jackson's command will form the advance, and, after passing Middletown, with such portion as he may select, take the route toward Sharpsburg, cross the Potomac at the most convenient point, and by Friday morning take possession of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, capture such of them as may be at Martinsburg, and intercept such as may attempt to escape from Harpers Ferry.

General Longstreet's command will pursue the same road as far as Boonsborough, where it will halt, with reserve, supply, and baggage trains of the army.

General Walker, with his division, after accomplishing the object in which he is now engaged, will cross the Potomac at Cheek's Ford, ascend its right bank to Lovettsville, take possession of Loudoun Heights, if practicable, by Friday morning, Key's Ford on his left, and the road between the end of the mountain and the Potomac on his right.

General D. H. Hill's division will form the rear guard of the army, pursuing the road taken by the main body.

9.The commands of Generals Jackson, McLaws, and Walker, after accomplishing the objects for which they have been detached, will join the main body of the army at Boonsborough or Hagerstown.