Question

Ch 07 - Leadership Moment (BW13)

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You are now a leader. What you do and say is important. Please read the following situation in its entirety.  

1) Write 3 sentences or more about what you will say to the new men now under your command?

1. You can write a script of what exactly you would say, or
2. Write about the topic or thing you would want to convey to the men.

After you are done. Go find Prof. Grooms' comment. There is a video of what possibly the real Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain said.

You are also free to comment on your classmates' posts, but you are not required.

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A Leadership Moment

It is May 24, 1863, and you are 34-year-old Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, commanding officer of the 20^th Maine Regiment of Infantry. You have been with the 20^th Maine since it was founded less than a year ago in late summer, 1862, but you took command of the regiment only four days ago. Your unit is currently marching through Virginia as part of a larger Union army that is on course to engage General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army.

Everything you know about military command you have learned in the last nine months. Prior to the war, you were a professor of modern languages at Bowdoin College in Maine, with no military experience. To the surprise and regret of your academic colleagues, your passion for the Union cause led you to sign up. Your colleagues had sent a message to the Governor of Maine saying that you were “no fighter,” but the Governor had nonetheless appointed you a Lt. Colonel in Maine’s newest regiment.

You have just received a message that you are to be given charge of about 120 new troops from the 2^nd Maine. You need them – your unit began with about a thousand men when it was formed, but a combination of illness, injuries, deaths, and desertion have left you with fewer than 400.

The new troops would be good news except for the fact that they are mutineers. The 2^nd Maine has been decommissioned. A majority of its members had signed two-year contracts, and they have gone home. Left behind were 120 survivors who had signed for three years. After fighting in 11 battles and losing most of their fellow soldiers, they are tired and discouraged. They want to go home too, and they have stubbornly refused assignment to any other regiment.

In transferring these soldiers to your regiment, General George Meade has ordered you to “make them do duty or shoot them down the moment they refuse.” The mutineers have just been dropped in your regiment’s lap, still in uniform but disarmed. One of their number has been elected as a spokesman to relate their grievances. You meet him, and he explains that they had not been fed in several days (part of an effort by the Army to whip them into line), most of their fellow soldiers had died or gone home, they had fought and suffered in numerous battles, they were discouraged with the pace of the war and expected that the Union would probably lose, in no small part because the leadership of Union officers was so poor.

Your regiment will be moving out shortly. You need to talk to the 120 soldiers from the 2^nd Maine. They’re yours now. What is your plan, and what will you say to them? Will you bring them along under guard? Order them to fight? Shoot them if they refuse? Persuade them to join your unit? If so, how? You don’t have much time to choose a course of action and put it into motion.

Answer 1

My plan is to first get the 120 men fed. Then I will ask them to come and meet me for interaction. I will not take any action like shooting them or order them to fight. Rather I will ask them to join the unit and will motivate them to give their best to the unit as I am getting 120 trained soldiers who can strengthen my existing regiment.

My address to the soldiers now under my command will be as follows:

“You are the brave countrymen who have fought against many armies. You have families at home who want to see you return with stories of courage and bravery. You might die fighting but there are people home who will always remember you with pride if you die fighting for your cause. You want to be known for your valor and bravery, not for treachery, injury, or revolt. So let us all join hands to combat the Confederates army bravely. Let us make more memories to cherish and stories to share with our loving family whether we live or die”.

I will be motivating and encouraging them to become a part of history and the courageous stories, which they can share with family and friends. I will motivate them to live and die for a cause rather than being known as soldiers who did not perform. Being fed and feeling fresh they will feel charged up and encouraged to join the fight. My intent is to encourage and push them towards positive goals. They will release their negativity and distress. Therefore, I am using my leadership traits of being a good communicator and motivating my team to join hands with the regiment and fight for a cause. I am showing them how they will be rewarded by being recognized and by making the family members proud of their actions. The motto is to show them how their joining the regiment will be an act of valor that will remain with them forever as a reward.