Welcome to Antietam

The Maryland Campaign of September 1862 witnessed Robert E. Lee's first attempt to carry the Civil War to the north. Stymied when his campaign plan was discovered by Union soldiers, he decided to fight before aborting the effort to woo Maryland to the Confederacy and strike as far north as Harrisburg. His Army of Northern Virginia fought a rear guard action at South Mountain, conducted a brief but successful siege of Harpers Ferry and waged an all-out battle along Antietam Creek with the Army of the Potomac. This last engagement was the single bloodiest day in American military history - some 21,000 casualties combined on both sides. We will walk the ground at all three locations, using Civil War predicaments to ask some broader questions: How should one assign responsibility for failure? Is there a difference between leadership in a campaign as opposed to a battle? What makes some leaders risk-takers and others risk-avoiders? Why is the collective senior management of some organizations more effective than that of others?" Other topics will surely arise as the day progresses.