paul first of all, robert e. lee hoped that on july 4, the armies face each other, with the hopes even on late july 3rd he hopes to meade will attack him so he can get his army back. the army of northern virginia's badly defeated, but they are not vanquished. they are still fighting the skies. more importantly predates the battle is not the the marching before hand as disorganize the union for the potomac almost as badly as disorganize confederates. that means he owns tens of thousands of one good. his units involved in the fighting are out of ammunition. some haven't been fed for three days. there's no water. the dead are everywhere. casualties are interesting. the union army loses casualties by and large were an army should take casualties. that's the company regimental brigade level. had kroft pointed on the third day. so they borrow the brigadier general as amended by and large is the junior guys who were supposed to be out on the fighting line. and as a result, you have to start moving guys around. captains are

robert e lee doing a better job. holding down west springfield. but was it enough to spank the spartans coming up next. >>> it's time for usa today high school sports presented by toyota. >> welcome back to high school football, week three. nothing like a little northern virginia love fest to get things started. robert elee west springfield just 10 miles apart. do you think you can stop the defensive. good luck. they're averaging 41 points a game. let's get to it. that is jordan right there walking out with west springfield. he's a former plard diagnosed with a terminal -- player diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor. good stuff there. dude, that's a wrong direction. the west springfield defense trapping him and doing it well. and then the offense doing it well too. jonathan dunn right up the gut. they scored 23 points. johnny rogers, you are an arm zeeler. nice play but not enough. west springfield remaining unbeaten. they win 33-14. >> this is a special season for us. we have our teammate number 68 who suffered from brain cancer and we wanted to

when robert e. lee was asked to write a memoir, he said, "i refuse to trade on the blood of my men." that's the traditional military attitude towards these kind of things. i think the tell-all culture is not particularly consistent with the military culture, particularly of special forces where these are unbelievably effective guys, but they're effective because they're quiet. so i think there's something at stake here. >> yeah, and some of the revealing it's training and the organizational structure of these units has been very upsetting to people in the military who guard those secrets as if-- they are national security secrets. it is a breach of the culture internally, as much as some of the legal concerns. >> john, let's talk about the political ramifications, if there are any. you heard scott pelley say mark owen resists this idea this was put out to influence the presidential campaign. it was put out to be on the 9/11 anniversary, which happens this week. what-- what context do you think it has at

they soon realized it was an enemy battle plan, they say, from the confederate general, robert e. leeal george mcclelland found out about t he reportedly said, and i quote, if i cannot whip bobby lee, i will be willing to go home. general mccell plan squandered an opportunities to demolish the army right then and there, by waiting 18 hours to advance. president lincoln fired him later that year. but some misplaced intelligence put general lee on the defensive for the first time, 150 years ago today. now you know the news for this thursday, september 13, 2012. i'm shepard smith. not going to be here tomorrow. seems bevo wants his horn sheared off. so he's going to the grove. very good idea. hope to see threw. should be fun. we're very

the confederate general robert e. lee advanced it into territory.ern troops were there to meet him. soon after dawn, battle plans for both sides fell apart leaving to a brutal fight at very close range. by sun set that same day, more than 23,000 union and confederate soldiers were dead miss wounded or missing. general lee and remaining men

. >> reporter: general robert e. lee'sof victories had crossed into union territory for the first time. hoping that a victory here would end it all. union soldiers, 90,000 of them, led by general george mcclellan were desperate to push them back. >> dear mother, it is a misty morning. >> reporter: one of those soldiers, wilder dwight, lieutenant colonel of the second massachusetts infantry, began a hopeful letter to his mother as he waited for his unit to be called. >> he's riding his horse right in this cornfield and says, mother, so far i am safe and well. if you look at this document, you can see that the handwriting suddenly changed. >> dearest mother, i am wounded. so as to be helpless. dearest love to father and all my dear brothers. our troops have left the part of the field where i lay. >> reporter: rick burns' documentary airs this week on pbs's american experience. he says that deadly day at antietam changed our country forever. >> people brought to the civil war remarkable romantic ideas about what war was, abou