Chancellorsville plan threatens U.S. military leadership training

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Date published: 11/4/2002

CENTERVIEW. Mo.--The Dogwood Development Group has announced plans to convert 800 acres of farmland east of the Chancellorsville battlefield into 2,350 homes, apartments and townhouses, plus shops, restaurants and up to 15 hotels. What is at issue here is not just some more of Virginia's beautiful ground going under the bulldozer, but the loss of a unique national military training asset.

I ran the United States Marine Corps Reserve Command and Staff Course at Quantico for four years and was an instructor for four years before that. The Chancellorsville Staff Ride was the most valuable segment of the curriculum.

If the U.S. has a Cannae, it is Chancellorsville. Napoleon said that history is the laboratory of the warrior, and if Mars himself had designed an example of the battle of maneuver in all its traits he could not have improved upon Chancellorsville: commanders forward; fix and flank; understanding commander's intent at all levels; mission orders; subordinate initiative, even in contradiction of orders; economy of force; lose the fight, but accomplish the mission; fog of war; assumption of risk; centers of gravity

It's all there in crystal contrasts, and we have used it again and again. McArthur's landing at Inchon and Schwarzkopf's taking of Kuwait are two ready examples of Chancellorsville being America's operational template. It is as much a pillar of our collective consciousness as the Caldron Battle was of the German General Staff.

The specific 800 acres lie to the east of McLaws Drive, the eastern edge of the National Military Park. The Army of Northern Virginia pushed Hooker's men across this land and off the ridge where the blocking position was established that allowed Jackson to make his flanking march. The Federals had the ridge and Hooker, without visiting this key terrain, ordered it abandoned. Had Hooker held it, it is highly unlikely that Gen. Lee could have sent Jackson across the front of the Federal army.

It is a perfect illustration of when a subordinate should comply with the "duty of disobedience." I have used it repeatedly, standing on the ridge looking eastward over the undulating ground--where 2,350 homes are about to appear--and watched the faces of a score of majors light up with understanding of how vital the ridge was to the Federal purpose.

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Date published: 11/4/2002