The Virtue of Leadership

Standing on a grassy hill in Gettysburg where Union troops had withstood 15,000 Confederate soldiers, the faculty and graduating men of St. John Paul II Seminary listened to a retired Army general. The United States, he said, didn’t just happen: courageous men forged it on the field where we were standing.  

The ten graduating seminarians were well-prepared for this excursion to Gettysburg. Last summer we read The Killer Angels, Michael Shaara’s novel that chronicles the battle. We also had a world-class guide for the day: General Robert Ivany, the father of Washington’s Vocations Director Fr. Mark Ivany, walked us through the sights of the three-day battle and offered insights from his own military career and encyclopedic knowledge of the battlefield. He also explained how each day of the battle had been a lesson in leadership.

Consider General John Buford, a Union cavalry officer and one of the heroes of the first day. He could have retreated, but he held his position even when he realized the entire Confederate army was marching towards him. Buford’s dismounted cavalry made their stand in order to preserve the Union’s hold on high ground.

General Ivany noted that Buford had made his decision because he knew the intent of the Union Army. He couldn’t fall back on orders because his cavalry was riding ahead and there were no superiors nearby to consult. But he knew the larger goal—to fight the Confederates on ground favorable to the Union—and this framework gave him a freedom within which to act with confidence.

And then there was Colonel Joshua Chamberlain. On the second day of battle, his 20th Maine regiment held the extreme left flank of the Union Army on Little Round Top against six waves of Confederate attacks. Before the end, when his men were low on ammunition, he ordered a bayonet charge to sweep the last Confederates down the hill and win the day.

How did so few men hold out against so many enemies? While we stood on Little Round Top, General Ivany read us excerpts from a speech Chamberlain gave on the 25th anniversary. One excerpt contains an answer:

“Something more than youthful ardor and dash was demanded for such a test…In thought, in habit, in experience, in discipline, you were veterans. It was a matter, as I have said, of character.”

It was character, not momentary whim, that carried Chamberlain and his men in their final charge against the Confederates. His leadership at Little Round Top began long before the battle—and even before the war. It must have begun in his studies, his friendships, his perseverance in army training and combat. His leadership was forged, not fallen into.  

On the ride home, one seminarian asked General Ivany what we could do now to prepare for our future leadership roles in parishes. Part of the answer is Chamberlain’s: that the virtue of leadership is forged long before a public moment of decision. Our seminary formation, studies, and daily prayer must begin now. Only then can we hope, by God’s grace, to lead souls—not into military battle, but into eternal life.

Mr. Gayou is a Second Pre-Theology seminarian for the Archdiocese of Washington.