Mission Command Of General Lee At The Battle Of Gettysburg

Mission command belongs to the Army’s list of seven war fighting functions. While the other six of the Army’s war fighting functions specifically align to the application of combat power, mission command applies to leadership and its application. Mission command redefines the old construct of C2, command and control, by morphing the ideology into two distinct thoughts, the art of command and the science of control. Although mission command is a relatively new concept, it’s principles and application transcend time. This paper examines General Robert E. Lee’s application of the mission command principles at the Battle of Gettysburg.

The Civil War, composed of the Union run by numerous generals replacing one another, and the Confederacy lead by Robert E. Lee, was and still is one of the most gruesome wars in American History, and the Battle of Gettysburg is considered by most as an incredible turning point of the war. This is due to how the Union brought down the Confederacy’s winning streak, and gave the Confederacy a huge blow to their manpower, supplies, and overall strength to win (Battle of Gettysburg, 1). Robert E. Lee, though a great general throughout the Civil War, was a failure during the Battle Gettysburg because he was not able to get his men to their jobs done in time. Another reason he was a failure was because of his plan to attack again on July 3rd which

The types of challenges that the Generals have faced during The Battle of Gettysburg are, location, following orders, and the weaponry. In a life or death situation, the position of where your men are stationed is crucial due to the fact if the opposite army crawls up behind or has the higher ground then there is a greater chance of getting murdered. General’s must accept the system that a more experienced General has stated and to not promote their individual procedures. Finally, the rifles, pistols, muskets, cannons and other artillery the Generals had to work with may have been difficult to shield or perform with. In conclusion, the Generals faced many complications when battling in the Battle of

The Battle of Gettysburg was a short lived battle with tremendously tragic amounts of bloodshed and casualties. The physical battle, lasting the short span from July 1st to July 3rd 1863, is considered by many, the most significant and important battle of the American Civil War. Unfortunately what many consider the most significant battle of the American War was also indeed the bloodiest battle fought on American soil. Confidence can be to blame for the outset of this battle and how it began. In May of 1863, the Confederate army leader, Robert E. Lee was fortunate enough in Chancellorsville, Virginia when he and his army claimed the victory against the Army of the Potomac. Lee experienced a high of confidence from the victory, which ultimately

The Foreword began with describing the armies of the two armies. It states that the Confederate armies had a strong union among its men, because of their similarities in traditions, language, and religion. The soldiers had a strong belief in their leaders and were stronger together. This resulted in them beating much larger armies. The leader of this group on the battle of Gettysburg was Robert E Lee. A man who loves Virginia, who doesn’t partake in any bad habits, and who is a calm and composed man. However, the Union army was more diverse in their traditions, language, and religion, but this didn’t stop them from volunteering for their country. The leader of this group was George Gordon Meade. Unlike Lee, Meade was far more irritable and

When Lee headed North and started invading he had been checked again at Gettysburg. The assault was called Pickett's Charge that had a wide spread which cost the South badly. The musket was replaced by the rifle which made attacks much more hopeless. Lee had failed to notice how well the effect was. Lee fought again to try and regain power back but could not succeed. President Davis wanted Lee to become general in chief in the confederate armies. By that time had come around the Confederates had lost the war. Many people had thought that Lee was to bloody minded for wanting to keep fighting and keep putting his army on the line. Lee did not want to accept that he had lost. People say what the mind knows the heart might not except. He was not alone when he was fighting, his crew was fully ready to fight with him until they ended up having to surrender. After the war was all over he became president of Washington College. “He applied to have his application restored but his application was [lost]” (History www.history.com). Lee had died in 1870 of heart disease. His last words were “strike the

Lee's Army was not very prepared for the battle with two of its three Corps having new commanders appointed. Lee did not do much to prepare these new commanders as they were

Michael Shaara depicted General Lee as a widely respected, admired and wise commander who was decisive, regardless of whether the odds were in his favor or not. The decision to attack at Gettysburg had tremendous disapproval however Lee felt as if he had two choices-- fight in the enemy's face or retreat. Longstreet advised the General against the assault on Gettysburg given that the position of an uphill battle on open ground would be disastrous; however Lee was insistent that it be done. While the Confederate Army lost the Civil

Civil War historians view the Battle of Chancellorsville as General Robert E. Lee’s “greatest and most remarkable” victory (Sears 1). Lee, facing an army twice his size, defies all military doctrine and divides his army multiple times in order to out-maneuver and surprise the Union forces. The daring maneuver succeeds and ultimately forces the Union’s Army of the Potomac to retreat. The victory was another major blow to Union troops, but it came at a huge cost to the Confederacy: the loss of General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson. By evaluating the battle through the lens of the mission command activities, one can see how Lee’s daring maneuver was actually very calculated and his only option for victory. Throughout the rest of this paper, I will describe the timeline of the battle and how General Lee used the mission command activities of understand, visualize, assess, and lead to ultimately achieve victory at Chancellorsville.

The Battle of Antietam could have been a devastating and fatal blow to the Confederate Army if Gen. McClellan acted decisively, took calculated risks, and veered away from his cautious approach to war. There are many instances leading up to the battle and during the battle in which he lacks the necessary offensive initiative to effectively cripple and ultimately win the war. This paper is intended to articulate the failure of Mission Command by GEN McClellan by pointing out how he failed to understand, visualize, describe and direct the battlefield to his benefit.

The Battle of Gettysburg was amongst one the most important turning points during the Civil War. It was a three-day bloody battle between the Union and Confederate forces which would ultimately lead up to the victory of the Union. In The Killer Angels, Michael Shaara shows a depiction of the battle through the eyes of the officers and tries to give the reader a first-hand look into the daily struggles that they had to deal with when it came to distinguishing between what’s best for their men and chances of success in the battle. In the book, we are introduced with two important officers: Colonel Chamberlain of the Union force, and General Lee of the Confederate force. Throughout the book, we witness different leadership strategies and philosophies between both officers which ultimately serve as their road to success or failure in the battle. Focusing on General Lee’s philosophy on leadership, “To be a good soldier, you must love the army. But to be a good officer you must be willing to order the death of the thing you love.”, it reinforces the idea that in order to fully succeed at battle, you must set aside and sacrifice your sense of sympathy towards your soldiers as a way to avoid making emotional decisions.

The Congress delayed for additional month then hardly agreed by only one election in the Senate. In the past hundred days of the war Lee’s army almost to nothing meaning his army didn’t really hold many men, he only hold thirty-five thousand men while Grant’s hold one hundred and twenty thousand. As the Confederates were not doing so well, the confederate postpone their final effort, by employing their own slaves they could not forever afford the five to one loss. The wives of these men begged for them to come home to feed their empty family

It is our duty, as soon to be Second Lieutenants in the Army, to learn from history. Learning from mistakes in the past is necessary to understand the responsibilities we will soon have. The Battle of Gettysburg shows prime examples of the nine principles of war: Objective, Offensive, Mass, Economy of Force, Maneuver, Unity of Command, Security, Surprise and Simplicity. In the military today, we are overwhelmingly blessed with every asset that we have including technology and monetary resources the list could go on forever but the most invaluable asset is history. Although all nine principles of war are pertinent to success on the battlefield, only five will be discussed in this analysis.

General Robert E. Lee’s impact on his leadership style have provide his men hope and loyalty, even on the day he surrendered at the Battle of Appomattox Court House in 1865, which is one also one of the last battles of the American Civil War. His men would be willing to fight, under his command, even to the very end. One of his men stated that they will go in and fight some more, if he order them to do so. General Lee’s leadership impacted even the most exhausted, dirty and hungry men, who were willing to fight and to give their ultimate sacrifice, simply because they believe in him. (Gipson, 2003)

According to Army ADP 6-0, Mission command is the exercise of authority and direction by the commander using mission orders to enable disciplined initiative within the commander’s intent to empower agile and adaptive leaders in the conduct of unified land operations. Effective mission command can generally be analyzed according to the six principles outlined in ADRP 6-0. The six principles of mission command are: build cohesive teams through mutual trust, create shared understanding, provide a clear commander’s intent, exercise disciplined initiative, use mission orders, and accept prudent risk. This paper provides a brief overview of the Battle of Chickamauga and examines the performance of Confederate General Braxton Bragg during the