1 Sorry, I was busy playing WOW.    Entirely from memory: I don't remember the name of the battle offhand (Antietem?), but IIRC, the Confederate and Union armies were marching all over the approaches to Washington.  The Union army was about to find itself out of position when the Confederate plans were found in a bundle on the side of the road; the papers wrapped around three cigars as a gift for the general.

A courier had unknowingly lost them from his coat pocket.  At first, the Union commander didn't believe it, but when the timing and units involved began to show as listed, he rushed his army to the correct place and forced the Confederates to a battle on his terms.  Washington was saved, and the Union went on to win the war.  

Now I'll hit Wikipedia and see how much I remember correctly.

2 Heh.  Well, I started to say it occurred in VA and MD,  not PA, and that 1863 sounded kind of late...but I thought, "Nah, You're not going to make that mistake..." From Wikipedia.

"The Battle of Antietam (also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the South), fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek, as part of the Maryland Campaign, was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Northern soil. It was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with almost 23,000 casualties. While McClellan's 90,000-man Army of the Potomac was moving to intercept Lee, two Union soldiers (Corporal Barton W. Mitchell and First Sergeant John M. Bloss of the 27th Indiana Volunteer Infantry) discovered a mislaid copy of Lee's detailed battle plans—Special Order 191—wrapped around three cigars. The order indicated that Lee had divided his army and dispersed portions geographically (to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and Hagerstown, Maryland), thus making each subject to isolation and defeat if McClellan could move quickly enough. McClellan waited about 18 hours before deciding to take advantage of this intelligence and reposition his forces, thus squandering an opportunity to defeat Lee decisively."

So it was West Virginia, not Virginia (If, that is, you accept the extra-constitutional method by which Virginia had thirteen counties removed and made into another state.).

3

Was just drunk enough to see "three cigars wrapped with ..." and I blurted "Lee's first invasion of the North!"  My wife quickly shushed me as the girls were just to bed, but I knew I was right.  Anime neophyte I may be, but you tyros can bite me on military history.  Except for Prof. Dr. Den Beste, of course.

Looking back at the post... you had to make a hint?!?  Bloody Bog, Steven, wait 'till I get back online next time!

PS  This msg brought to you by far too many Manhattans. 

PPS  [pointing at ubu's comment] Unchi!

4 Muahahahahahaa!  This is what I get for reading all those alt-history and s-f war stories by Turtledove, Kratman, and Ringo!  I can remember half of what really happened, and confuse it with half of what didn't happen -- which was one reason I was conservative in my first post.. 

In the series he started with How Few Remain, Turtledove postulates the three cigars & plans aren't lost.   Lee goes on to outmaneuver the Union army and capture Washington.  The war effort collapses as a Copperhead congress is elected, and then Lincoln gets the boot in '64.  World politics turn out much differently over the next century, as the two Americas intrigue against each other and find allies in Europe.  The first book was the best, but I had a hard time believing the CSA would have the wealth 20 years later to buy most of Mexico.  After that, the whole thing just got absurd.  A disgraced Lincoln helps found the American Socialist Party?  What an imagination....

5 History aside, I'm getting a feeling that the colony is doomed.

I mean, the humans appear to by and large be pretty stupid.  Meanwhile, the robots are being built with an adaptive AI intended for biologicals, and they're busy discovering art, religion, and social theory with humanity not even noticing that something is wrong.

If this was a novel instead of a comic, I'd be near certain that it would end with the enslavement or death of the humans on the colony, and a nigh-unstoppable threat to the rest of humanity.

6 It certainly has taken some strange turns recently, that's for sure.