Existing comment:
Interestingly, both D.H. Hill and Walker understood the importance of the orders and pinned it in an inside pocket of their jackets. Longstreet said he thought about doing the same but decided instead to memorize the orders then "chewed it up."
When Did Lee Know about the Loss of Special Orders 191?
A popular story contends that when McClellan received the orders he was meeting with a delegation of men from Frederick. Among these men was a sympathizer who told "Jeb" Stuart the orders had been found. Perhaps a civilian was present who saw that there was excitement in the Union camp, and that the army began to prepare to move; however, there is no conclusive evidence that the Confederates were alerted to the find.
In a September 16, 1862 letter to President Davis, Lee gave no indication that he knew about the lost orders. There was also no mention of it in war time reports by Confederate generals. Lee's aide-de-camp, Colonel Charles Marshall noted in an 1867 letter to D.H. Hill, "I remember perfectly that until we saw that report (General McClellan's report of the campaign issued in 1863) General Lee frequently expressed his inability to understand the sudden change in McClellan's tactics after the Union army reached Frederick."
How Did McClellan Know the Orders Were Genuine?
The men of the 27th Indiana passed the orders up the Union chain of command. It came into the hands of Colonel Samuel E. Pittman, who authenticated the orders by identifying Chilton's signature. Prior to the war, Pittman had been a teller at Michigan State Bank in Detroit at the same time Chilton was the paymaster for the army stationed there. As paymaster, Chilton kept an account at the bank and Pittman was familiar with his signature on checks and account records.
The Orders Today:
At present there are three known original copies of Special Orders 191 in existence. D.H. Hill's copy resides at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The National Archives retains a copy. The Orders found by the Union Army stayed in General McClellan's possession for the remainder of his life. Between 1911 and 1916, his son, George B. McClellan, donated several collections of papers, including Special Orders 191, to the Library of Congress. |