Sunday, January 25, 2015
The Battle
of Gettysburg was fought during the first three days of July 1863. During the night of July 4, Lee
began to retreat southward while storm clouds deluged the country with rain.
When Lee reached the Potomac with his defeated army, he found a swollen,
impassable river in front of him, and a victorious Union Army behind him. Lee was
in a trap. He couldn't escape. Lincoln saw that. Here was a golden, heaven-sent
opportunity-the opportunity to capture Lee's army and end the war immediately.
So, with a surge of high hope, Lincoln ordered Meade not to call a council of
war but to attack Lee immediately. Lincoln telegraphed his orders and then sent
a special messenger to Meade demanding immediate action.
And what did General
Meade do? He did the very opposite of what he was told to do. He called a
council of war in direct violation of Lincoln's orders. He hesitated. He
procrastinated. He telegraphed all manner of excuses. He refused point-blank to
attack Lee. Finally the waters receded and Lee escaped over the Potomac with
his forces. Lincoln was furious, " What does this mean?" Lincoln
cried to his son Robert. "Great God! What does this mean? We had them
within our grasp, and had only to stretch forth our hands and they were ours; yet
nothing that I could say or do could make the army move. Under the
circumstances, almost any general could have defeated Lee. If I had gone up there, I could have whipped him
myself." In bitter disappointment, Lincoln sat down and wrote Meade this letter.
And remember, at this period of his life Lincoln was extremely conservative and
restrained in his phraseology. So this letter coming from Lincoln in 1863 was
tantamount to the severest rebuke.
My dear General,
I do not
believe you appreciate the magnitude of the misfortune involved in Lee's
escape. He was within our easy grasp, and to have closed upon him would, in
connection With our other late successes, have ended the war. As it is, the war
will be prolonged indefinitely. If you could not safely attack Lee last Monday,
how can you possibly do so south of the river, when you can take with you very
few-no more than two-thirds of the force you then had in hand? It would be unreasonable
to expect and I do not expect that you can now effect much. Your golden
opportunity is gone, and I am distressed immeasurably because of it.
What do you
suppose Meade did when he read the letter? Meade never saw that letter. Lincoln never
mailed it. It was found among his papers after his death.
My guess is
- and this is only a guess - that after writing that letter, Lincoln looked out
of the window and said to himself, "Just a minute. Maybe I ought not to be
so hasty. It is easy enough for me to sit here in the quiet of the White House
and order Meade to attack; but if I had been up at Gettysburg, and if I had
seen as much blood as Meade has
seen during the last week, and if my ears had been pierced with the screams and
shrieks of the wounded and dying, maybe I wouldn't be so anxious to attack
either. If I had Meade's timid temperament, perhaps I would have done just what
he had done. Anyhow, it is water under the bridge now. If I send this letter, it
will relieve my feelings, but it will make Meade try to justify himself.
It
will make him condemn me. It will arouse hard feelings, impair all his further
usefulness as a commander, and perhaps force him to resign from the army."
So, as I have already said, Lincoln put the letter aside, for he had learned by
bitter experience that sharp criticisms and rebukes almost invariably end in
futility.
Reference: How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie
LESSONS:
* Sever criticism, especially directed when the leader is tensed, hurts and starts to repel from the leader.
* Anyone at any situation may possibly do not know what is happening to behind his scene (which he actually thinks he knows very well).
* Suppressing anger will earn trust and love.
LESSONS:
* Sever criticism, especially directed when the leader is tensed, hurts and starts to repel from the leader.
* Anyone at any situation may possibly do not know what is happening to behind his scene (which he actually thinks he knows very well).
* Suppressing anger will earn trust and love.
Labels:
Incidents
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“It is obliged for the bright person to use his ears twice as much in stead of his tongue and to realise that he has received two ears and just one mouth, so that he will be listening more than that he speaks.
"Rawdah Al-Uqala: 1/45
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