The NJ Police Chief Magazine Volume 26, Number 2 | Page 12

The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | October 2019
The Antietam Leadership Staff Ride for Law Enforcement: Award-Winning Program in
a Historic Location
Since 2004, the NJ State Association of Chiefs of Police has presented Staff Rides for Law Enforcement
Leaders. These programs were predicated upon adapting the military staff ride concept for the needs of police
professionals. Our Staff Rides to Gettysburg, Antietam, Washington’s Crossing and Monmouth Courthouse have
been among our most popular programs of any type or form.
This year, we returned to Sharpsburg, MD, the site of the battle of Antietam. From October 4 th – 6 th we walked
upon that hallowed ground where over 150 years ago the events took place – a day that is known for the
“bloodiest one-day battle in American history.”
What contemporary leadership and administrative lessons can today’s
law enforcement professionals bring home from a Civil War battlefield? If
we examine the leadership and management challenges—then and now—
we will find many striking parallels. There are the pressures of limited
resources—people, supplies and equipment. There are also pressures
from those above to perform at a peak level, despite these limited
resources. There are personnel challenges from those who bring with
them emotional issues and then cannot perform with clear minds. There
are those driven by political concerns—the drive for recognition or the
fear of risking too much. And there are others who are set in their
ways—the “old” ways that do not fit today’s circumstances. The
communications issues, as always, are there: from unclear
communications to lack of information.
These challenges are with the contemporary police leader as they were with the leaders at the Battle of Antietam.
Not only is the Antietam Staff Ride for Law Enforcement Leaders immensely popular with chiefs and other
police executives around New Jersey, but it also caught the attention of association leaders outside the law
enforcement community. NJSACOP received the 2005 Positive Impact Award from the New Jersey Society of
Association Executives for the Antietam Staff Ride. The program was chosen for this honor as an example of
“original thinking to successfully implement a project that produced a positive impact on the organization, its
membership, and its vital communities….NJSACOP looked for an innovative approach to broaden the horizons of
law enforcement leaders. [The] ‘Staff Ride’ is a certified program that helps police commanders learn from the
past by analyzing the Civil War battle of Antietam through the eyes of those who were there. This 3-day
experience focuses on strategies, command structures and battlefield leadership and helps professionals evolve
their own decision making skills.”
The Battle of Antietam (or Sharpsburg, as it is called in the South) took
place just 18 days after the Confederate victory at Second Manassas, 40
miles to the southeast in Virginia. Our program began by exploring the
strategic dilemma facing Confederate General Robert E. Lee following his
stunning success at Second Manassas. He could attack Washington, DC,
he could put his army in camp, or he could set
them on the march.
If he chooses to move his army, why would he choose to go North instead
of East, West or South? How does Union General George McClellan react
to Lee’s decision to invade Maryland? What choices do Lee and McClellan
make that force the battles at South Mountain and Sharpsburg?
We explored what General McClellan was planning for September 17, 1862 and analyzed General Lee’s Strategy
for that fateful morning. We followed General Hooker’s flank march toward the north end of the field with stops at
the North Woods and the Bloody Cornfield, sites of furious fighting by, among others, the Iron Brigade and Hood’s
Texas Brigade. We followed Sumner’s Second Corps to the Dunker Church, one of the most noted landmarks on
this great field of combat. The Dunker Church ranks as perhaps one of the most famous sites in American military
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