Over three days, commanders on both sides of the Battle of Gettysburg faced excruciating decisions that hold key lessons for leaders today, according to authors of a new book.

“We firmly believe leadership is fungible,” said retired Col. Jeff McCausland, who co-wrote Battle Tested! Gettysburg Leadership Lessons for 21st Century Leaders with retired Col. Tom Vossler. “It doesn’t matter whether you were leading in ancient Rome, or you were leading in the Revolutionary War or leading in business during the industrial revolution or business today or the United States Army, there are certain concepts of leadership that are fundamental.”

McCausland and Vossler, who discussed their book June 29 during the Association of the U.S. Army’s Thought Leaders webinar, both served at the Army War College and participated in many staff rides to the Gettysburg battlefield, which gave them the idea to write their book.

“This was a classroom, a crucible, where the leadership lessons stick out in bold relief,” McCausland said, “and can be a useful classroom for any leader.” 

The Battle of Gettysburg, July 1–3, 1863, culminated in the Union victory that ended Gen. Robert Lee’s second and most ambitious invasion of the North. With more than 50,000 estimated casualties, it was the Civil War’s bloodiest single battle, according to the American Battlefield Trust, and the inspiration for President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. 

In Battle Tested! Vossler and McCausland tell the stories of several battlefield commanders to help readers delve more deeply into the decisions they made in the heat of battle, from Union generals John Buford and George Meade to Confederate leader Lee.

“We used that type of technique to humanize the story, to humanize the delivery of the leadership lesson,” said Vossler, who commanded troops in Vietnam and Germany and taught military history, strategy and leadership at the Army War College before retiring from the Army in 1998.

As an example, the book highlights how Brig. Gen. John Buford, upon arriving at Gettysburg, quickly assessed the situation and called on his boss, Maj. Gen. John Reynolds, to send infantry reinforcements. 
“At that point, he’s leading his boss,” McCausland said about Buford. “These two guys had worked together, and that trust had been established, so they can make decisions at the speed of trust.”

The book also contrasts the actions of Lee with that of Maj. Gen. George Meade, commander of Union troops, on the evening of the second day of the battle. Lee, frustrated by battlefield failures, adjusts his leadership style and turns inward, while Meade calls on his Army’s senior leaders for their counsel. Together, the Union leadership votes to stay and defend the ground at Gettysburg, said McCausland, who retired from the Army in 2002 and is a former dean of academics at the Army War College.

History helps us study leadership and organizational effectiveness, Vossler said. “A military organization in a time of combat, in battle, you need a very sound leadership foundation in order for that organization to survive,” he said. “What we’re seeking to build … is a survivable, sustainable, high-performing organization, and that applies to any military organization, but it applies to any non-military organization.”

To buy a copy of Battle Tested! click here.