... How would the wires get crossed? .... The new wires looked like you could attach them to the old wires either way. I attached the old black to the new black and old white to the new orange. ....
you've answered your own question, wires get crossed when you make assumptions about different colors - you should check which filament the orange wire is for, should be the brighter ['old' white = brake/turn] one, the black should be the dimmest [tail] filament, and you should insure you didn't make any changes elsewhere in those circuits
for the ground, from your description it sounds like you have a fleetside, so, yes the screws that mount the light assembly to the bed provides the ground, but the bed needs a good ground to the frame, which can easily be missing, best practice is to add a wire from the rear cross sill directly to a bolt on the frame
Bill
