[General Questions and Answers] hal2001:
Please try to be patient with me. I will recount what I did to the best of my ability to remember.

I began with the Samsung_Epic_4G:_Full_Update_Guide on the cyanogenmod site.

I'll quote the guide and, along the way, I'll indicate what I did:

"Download DRockstar's ClockworkMod Recovery, and the Heimdall Suite:

DRockstar's ClockworkMod Recovery: download

md5: 9ae119a8202d594226e88796dfb8d0c2

Windows:

Heimdall Suite 1.3.2: Download

Windows ONLY:

Power off the Samsung Epic 4G and connect the microUSB to the computer but not the Samsung Epic 4G.

Boot the Samsung Epic 4G into download mode by holding down the 1 key on the physical keyboard and Power.

Connect the microUSB cable to the Samsung Epic 4G.

Run the included zadig.exe in the drivers folder of the Heimdall Suite.

From the menu, choose Options » List All Devices.

From the drop down, select Samsung USB Composite Device or Gadget Serial.

Click Install Driver.

NOTE: A prompt may appear warning that the installer is unable to verify the publisher of the driver. Ignore it and select "Install this driver anyway."

Heimdall can now be used safely on the Windows computer.

Power off the Samsung Epic 4G and connect the microUSB to the computer but not the Samsung Epic 4G.

Boot the Samsung Epic 4G into download mode by holding down the 1 key on the physical keyboard and Power.

Connect the microUSB cable to the Samsung Epic 4G.

Untar DRockstar's ClockworkMod Recovery into the Heimdall directory.

On the computer, open terminal and run the following command from the Heimdall directory:

heimdall flash --recovery recovery.bin

A blue transfer bar will appear on the phone showing the recovery being transferred. The device will reboot automatically.

The Samsung Epic 4G now has ClockworkMod Recovery installed. Continue to the next section."

I completed all of the above steps successfully. Next, it says,

"Flashing CyanogenMod

NOTE: In order to flash CyanogenMod via ROM Manager, root access is required. Attaining root access is outside the scope of this wiki page.

If the Epic 4G has been rooted, unlocked, etc. through steps other than the method described above or running a custom ROM other than CyanogenMod and you are having issues flashing or booting CyanogenMod, it is recommended the Epic 4G be returned to stock & start over with the full instructions provided above."

At this point, I decided to root the phone so I could use rom manager to flash CyanogenMod. I used the root samsung epic 4g at the androidauthority site to try to root the phone. I was able to complete all of the steps, that is:

Download the rooting package (SamsungEPIC4GRooting-Kit.zip, 6.48 MB) from here to your PC.

Extract the downloaded ZIP file using any extraction software such as WinZIP or 7-Zip. You will get 3 files; place the extracted files inside a single folder.

On your PC, launch the Odin application by double-clicking the odin3 v1.85.exe file. This should launch the Odin3 application on your PC.

Switch off your Galaxy Epic 4G.

Boot into Download Mode. You can do this by pressing the number 1 key on your phone while turning the phone on.

With Odin3 running, connect your phone to your computer via USB cable.

Odin3 will automatically detect your phone. If successful, the word “Added!” will appear in Odin3’s message box.

If you don’t receive any message, you need to install or reinstall the appropriate device drivers on your computer. Also make sure that USB debugging is enabled on your phone.

Select the PDA tab in Odin3’s user interface. A dialog box will appear, asking you to browse for a file. Browse for the extracted .tar file; in this case, select acs-eb30-clockwork-epic-touch-4g-sep-20-4-00-pm.tar.

Make sure that you do not change any other settings in Odin3, as it may cause irreversible damage to your phone.

Select the Start button in Odin3 to start rooting your Samsung Epic 4G. It may take about 2 to 5 minutes for the whole rooting process to finish. If rooting is successful, you will get a “PASS” message in Odin3’s message box.

Disconnect your phone.

Congratulations! You have successfully rooted your Samsung Epic 4G SPH-D700. Enjoy the many benefits of having a rooted device such as installing custom ROMS, mods, hacks, and themes.

Next, returning to the cyanogenmod wiki (Samsung_Epic_4G:_Full_Update_Guide). I did these steps:

Downloaded the latest version of CyanogenMod.

Downloaded the Google Apps for the device.

Placed the CyanogenMod update.zip file on the root of the internal memory.

Placed the Google Apps .zip on the root of the internal memory also.

The next step was to Boot into the ClockworkMod Recovery.

When I tried to do so, I think I got into the <3e> screen that I described in my first post.

I Selected the option to Wipe data/factory reset.

Then selected the option to Wipe cache partition.

Next, Selected Install zip from sdcard.

When I tried to do that, however, I got an error saying the file signature was not verified.

That's how I got stuck in the <3e> recovery mode.