McPherson, James M. "If the Lost Order Hadn't Been Lost: Robert E. Lee Humbles the Union, 1862" [vt "Gettysburg, 1862"]
Divergence: 1862 CE
What if: Robert E. Lee's Special Orders No. 191 were not found in a field by two Union soldiers.
Summary: Article speculating that without McClellan learning the plans of Lee's campaign around Harper's Ferry there would have been no battle at Antietam. Instead, Confederate forces advanced into Pennsylvania until finally the armies met at Gettysburg in October 1862, with the Confederates gaininga decisive victory just a month before elections in the North.
Published: As "If the Lost Order Hadn't Been Lost", in What If? The World's Foremost Military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been (ed. Robert Cowley), q.v.; and What Ifs? of American History: Eminent Historians Imagine What Might Have Might Have Been (ed. Robert Cowley), q.v.
— As "Gettysburg, 1862 (Alternate History's Approach to Changing Historical Events as They Really Happened)", in American Heritage, September 1999;.
Original in: English.
Translation: Italian by Renzo Peru and Orietta Putignano as "Se l'ordine perduto";… non fosse stato perduto", in La storia fatta con i se (ed. Robert Cowley), q.v.