What was so special about the cigars that the Union troops found?

Three cigars, with Lee's battle plans wrapped around them, had been inadvertently lost by a Confederate officer. With this information in Union hands, the South's anticipated victory was cut short. The Confederate Army had been unstoppable - within weeks of winning the Civil War. General Robert E. Lee had won the Second Battle of Bull Run and was marching 55,000 Confederate troops into Maryland on September 3, 1862.

The Confederate Army was welcomed, as anti-Union protests had filled Baltimore's streets.

On September 13, 1862, President Lincoln met with Rev. William Patterson, Rev. John Dempster, and Methodist, Baptist, and Congregational leaders who presented him with a petition to emancipate the slaves Lincoln told them: I am approached with the most opposite opinions and advice... I hope it will not be irreverent for me to say that if it is probable that God would reveal His will to others, on a point so connected with my duty, it might be supposed He will reveal it directly to me;

Explanation:

frederick william of brandenburg-prussia trained his son, frederick, to be a hardy soldier. but frederick disliked rifle shooting and horseback riding. unlike his father, he was interested in french literature. he enjoyed poetry and music and, like some others of the enlightenment, he scoffed at religion. his father thought him soft, frivolous and unmindful of his duties. and when frederick refused to put his signature on a right to succession, for a few moments his father strangled him.