This session will take a bus to the Gettysburg National Military Park, where a licensed battlefield guide will lead a tour across the field where Pickett’s Charge occurred. This session will include a review of Generals Lee and Longstreet’s relationship and decision-making styles, as well as time for questions and discussion with our guide. Attendees will start and end the session with a classroom-style discussion highlighting leadership lessons learned from Pickett’s Charge and applying those lessons to today’s health care executives.
Pickett’s Charge may be the most infamous incident at the Battle of Gettysburg. Retrace the steps of General Robert E. Lee and General James Longstreet as they made the decisions that would ultimately determine not only the outcome of the Battle of Gettysburg but possibly the outcome of the Civil War.
On the final day of the Battle of Gettysburg, the commander of The Army of Northern Virginia, General Robert E. Lee, found himself at odds with his trusted commander, General James Longstreet. Generals Lee and Longstreet disagreed at several critical points during the Battle of Gettysburg. The most significant disagreement between the two officers came when Lee first talked to Longstreet about the planned Pickett’s Charge on the afternoon of July 3. Longstreet reluctantly agreed to Lee’s plan. This is an example of leader vs. follower command disagreement. The assault required the Confederate troops to march nearly a mile over an open field and climb several fences under open fire from the Union line. This disastrous end to the battle resulted in a fifty percent casualty rate among the Confederate troops and is seen as the decisive end to the Battle of Gettysburg and the turning point or high-water mark for the Confederacy in the Civil War.