Barton W. Mitchell

Okay, so what are the odds that another soldier in Captain van Buskirk's outfit- F company of the 27th Indiana Infantry Regiment- would make a MAJOR contribution to the Union victory- and the course of American history? Ah, here comes the story of one of America's great unsung heroes: Corporal Barton W. Mitchell. (No relation- my ancestors wore butternut gray.) Corporal Barton W. Mitchell was quite old to be a soldier- he was at least 45 years old when he enlisted in September, 1861, leaving a wife and four children at home. On Septeber 13, 1862, (coincidentally exactly one year and one day after he enlisted) while his unit was taking a break from marching near Fredrick, Maryland, he noticed a package in the grass by the road. Upon examining it, he discovered three cigars wrapped in a document- which happened to be a copy of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Special Order 191, which laid out Lee's plans to invade Maryland. Within the hour, those plans were in the hands of General George McClellan, Commander of the Army of the Potomac, who declared, "Now I will beat Lee or go home."

Unfortunately for the the Union cause, McClellan had an amazing capacity for passing up golden opportunities; he did bring Lee's army to battle on September 17, 1862, at Sharpsburg/Antietam in the bloodiest single day of American history. The two armies suffered 23,000 casualties in a tactical draw and a strategic Union victory- since it forced Lee to abandon his invasion of Maryland. It also resulted in President Lincoln finally relieving General McClellan (with General Ambrose Burnside- another spectacular incompetent). Even more importantly, several months earlier, Lincoln had decided to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, but had been counseled not to issue it until the Union Army won a victory- lest the measure be seen as an act of desperation. Antietam gave Lincoln the victory he needed. September 22nd, 1862, Lincoln issued the Proclamation. Corporal Mitchell never got any recognition during his lifetime- he was severely wounded in the leg at Antietam, and was discharged due to his wound in 1864. In the days before antibiotics, such wounds tended to be lifelong afflictions. Apparently it was a factor in Mitchell's death in 1868, when he was only 52. (His wife did manage to get a pension- in 1890) Until WWII, the story of America's treatment of its veterans has not been a happy one.