U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865
Harper's Ferry Captured Before General McClellan Could "Smoke 3 Cigars"
Jacksonville and Telfair Men In On Crucial Offensive
This article is compiled by Julian Williams.
Major Jonathan Rivers, the 49th's regimental commander, had been wounded at Chantilly and his foot had been amputated.
And John McCrimmon of Jacksonville still had not comprehended the magnitude of the death of General Phil Kearny which he had brought about.
He really did not have time to think about it much because he and the other Telfair men were swiftly moving toward one of the most important objectives of the war - Harper's Ferry.
Probably unknown to him at the time was the fact that one of his younger brothers, Lt. Farquhar McCrimmon of the 20th Georgia Regiment, was moving toward Sharpsburg, Maryland.
At that place would be a battle, the worst one-day affair of the war (or at least the bloodiest), which the Yankees would call "The Battle of Antietam".
John and Farquhar would be close to each other again.
But that will be another story and surely something to write home to Jacksonville about.
But the most interesting thing about Harper's Ferry and Antietam was something that happened just before those engagements.
We might call it "The Blunder of the Three Cigars."
Here's what happened.
General Lee, in his desire to invade the North, thought it best to divide his army into four (later five) parts.
Three would secure the capturing of Harper's Ferry and its vast store of food and armament.
It would also, if successful, result in the capture of over 12,000 Federal soldiers.
Such a victory would put material and psychological stress on the cautious "Little Mac" McClellan who had now replaced General Pope.
Pope had fallen into such a sorry state of grace with Big Abe (Lincoln) that he was ordered to fight Sioux Indians in the West.
The rest of General Lee's army would be advancing toward the Maryland state line with the objective of ultimately wreaking havoc in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, including tearing up vital railroads.
All this would also serve notice to European powers that the South had indeed invaded the North.
The South hoped that this maneuver would cause them to be recognized by those powers as a bona fide country.
Besides those important and strategical movements it would also, hopefully, allow Lee's soldiers to get much needed shoes and boots because most were barefoot at this time.
They were also hungry and the fields of Maryland and Pennsylvania would look good.
It would also call attention away from the South where Lee hoped the remaining citizens would be able to gather the Fall crops without much harassment.
Then, at the appropriate time, the units of the army would reunite.
It was a big gamble.
Especially if anyone found out that the units were separated.
They could be hunted down and picked off - one by one.
So, the stage was set for Union General McClellan to mess up again.
And he did. Just as his men camped near Frederick, Maryland, (where the Confederates had just camped), two of his soldiers found three cigars in a wrapper.
Inspecting the wrapper they found the words "Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia."
They figured they had found something important.
When the wrapper finally made its way to McClellan, he said (after he was convinced it was not a trick), "If I cannot beat Bobbie Lee with this, I will be willing to go home."
He didn't realize at the time what prophetic words those would become.
If the other Confederate generals had taken the care that Longstreet exercised, the top secret Special Orders No. 191 of General Lee would never have been lost and found.
General James Longstreet, knowing the consequences of such orders falling into enemy hands, ate his copy after reading it.
Another officer did not eat his.
He thought keeping it for a Civil War souvenir would be a better idea.
So he wrapped it around three cigars and lost it.
And we know what happened then.
But, poor McClellan was slow as ever in "smoking over" the great significance of the message that came with the three cigars.
Clearly, he knew where all of Lee's units were and their military objectives.
Only trouble - he was too cautious about moving.
Again he was counting more enemies than were present (must have had Allan Pinkerton helping him again).
His "slows" this time would start a series of events which would become his final undoing.
Not only did he give Stonewall Jackson and A.P. Hill time to do their work at Harper's Ferry in destroying everything over there and capturing over 12,000 Federal soldiers, but he gave General Lee time to adjust to the blunder caused by the loss of Special Orders No. 191.
And there was also time for A.P. Hill to drive swiftly to the aid of the Confederates at Antietam.
Had he not arrived in the nick of time the war would probably have ended there.
And could have anyway.
But McClellan would not pursue. Despite his being a talented engineer his math was just not very good when it came to estimating numbers of Confederate soldiers.
They simply weren't there in the multitudes he envisioned.
But "Little Mac" thought they were.
And the war continued.
And the Telfair men marched on to fight another day.
