Audio read by Dr. Jeff Mccausland
excerpt written by Jeff McCausland and Tom Vossler
On June 29th. 1863 Union Brigadier General John Buford received orders to move his cavalry division north from Jefferson, Maryland west of Frederick to the vicinity of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in search of Confederate forces known to be in Pennsylvania. He was also told to leave behind in Maryland his Reserve Brigade – 1,300 men — who were ordered to guard the wagon trains of the Cavalry Corps.
Upon arrival in Gettysburg, Buford’s patrols found strong evidence of Confederate forces gathering only a few miles west and north of the village. Buford identified the high ground running south from the village as the key terrain that must be held by friendly forces to be victorious in the impending battle. With this fact in mind Buford deployed his troops on McPherson’s Ridge west of the town. He clearly believed that this would allow his to slow the Confederate advance and, if need be, trade space for time if he had to fall back while still controlling the key terrain.
Still in his study of the terrain surrounding the village Buford realized there was a fair chance that the enemy might get to the key terrain before friendly forces arrived. Also, with a third of his division left behind in Maryland there was physically more area than he could defend with the forces available to him. It became apparent to him that in these circumstances the normal way of doing things as outlined in tactical manual would not be successful. Therefore, he had to adapt the forces available to him to the terrain and be innovative in their deployment to protect the key terrain at Gettysburg for the Union Army.
ADAPT, INNOVATE, AND OVERCOME
In the modern world, all leaders want to believe that they are leading organizations that continuously seek to innovate and can adapt to changing circumstances. Peter Drucker, an Austrian-born American management consultant, expert, and educator, once observed, “innovation is change that brings on a new level of performance.” As a result, “innovation” differs from “invention.” Many historians credit the Wright brothers, for example, with the “invention” of the airplane. But air travel or the use of aircraft to transport goods or the mail were the actual “innovations” that the invention of the airplane allowed to occur. Organizations can innovate in three ways -- their products, processes, or organizational structure. “Adaptation” is behavior in any organization or living organism that helps it to survive and function better in its current environment. Leaders will often draw on their experiences from the past to adapt and innovate particularly during challenging moments for themselves and their organization.
Clearly, General John Buford would “adapt, innovate, and overcome” with his actions on the first day of the battle of Gettysburg. As previously suggested, Buford had spent most of his military career prior to the Civil War against the Indian tribes on the Western Frontier of the United States and had learned that his cavalrymen were far more effective firing their weapons when placed on the ground than when they were mounted on a prancing, nervous horse. Buford ordered his men to dismount in preparation for the defense of McPherson’s Ridge even though this meant that roughly a quarter of his force (one soldier out of each four) would now have to be occupied caring for the horses while the others were on the firing line. He knew from experience that the carbine his men were equipped with offered them some important advantages that outweighed the loss in manpower.
Infantry during the Civil War were largely equipped with a standard musket that fired a fifty-eight caliber Minnie ball with a maximum effective range of roughly three to four hundred yards. Most of these weapons were either the Springfield Model 1861 or the Enfield 1853. A well-trained infantry soldier could load and fire three rounds per minute, but his weapon could only be loaded from the muzzle one round at time. The length of the weapon (56 inches) meant that he had to stand to reload effectively and was thus fully exposed to enemy fire while doing so.
Cavalry carbines fired a smaller cartridge and had a shorter maximum effective range, but the carbine could be loaded from the breech of the weapon. This meant that the rate of fire was normally six to seven rounds per minute, and a soldier could load and fire his weapon while kneeling or lying flat on the ground behind a fence, tree, or other protection. Buford believed that his men would mount a better defense if placed on the ground and perhaps also confuse the Confederates into believing that they were confronted by Union infantry as they moved towards Gettysburg. Buford “adapted and innovated” at a critical moment to provide his organization a greater chance to succeed in attaining its goal of slowing the Confederate advance.
Parts of this article are excerpted and adapted from Battle Tested! Gettysburg Leadership Lessons for 21st Century Leaders written by Jeffrey D. McCausland and Tom Vossler. Book is available September 1, 2020. Pre-order sales available now at: https://bit.ly/battletestedbook.