Lee’s Lieutenants: Leadership Lessons from the Civil War for the Battlefield and the Boardroom
Mike Hennelly
May 8, 2017
Commentary
In the summer of 1862, the Army of Northern Virginia went into battle for the first time under its new commander, Robert E. Lee. In volume one of Lee’s Lieutenants, Douglas Southall Freeman provides a short and almost off-hand account of two of the actors in the drama that was unfolding. As the Confederates approached Union positions, two Confederate commanders rode their horses to the front of their attacking units. The first commander “rode along the front, and when the men cheered him he raised his hat. ‘Boys,’ he cried as he pointed toward the enemy’s position, ‘you can take it!’†The second commander is quoted as saying to his soldiers— “Drop your knapsacks and blankets, we are going to take that line. I am going to lead you.’â€
https://warontherocks.com/2017/05/lees-lieutenants-leadership-lessons-from-the-civil-war-for-the-battlefield-and-the-boardroom/
