Barton Mitchell Gravesite

An unlikely hero of the Civil War, Barton Mitchell played a pivotal role in the Civil War on Sept. 13, 1862, in Maryland, when he happened across General Lee’s Lost Order, rolled around three cigars at his company’s campsite. The aftermath of that event is said to have changed the direction of the Civil War, by warding off a devastating attack on Union forces in the North, and stalemated Gen. Robert E. Lee of the Confederacy.

And all that history was changed by a man who would later settle near Hartsville in Bartholomew County. His name was Barton Mitchell, and he is the undisputed finder of Lee’s “Lost Orders,” which revealed the strategic plans and location of General Lee’s army. Because of Mitchell’s discovery, the Union was able to overcome Lee’s army in what became the Battle of Antietam – the bloodiest day in American history. Winning this battle gave President Lincoln the confidence to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, and Barton Mitchell’s role became a legendary stroke of good fortune in the history of the Civil War.