The best leaders know how to lead volunteers.

The best leaders know how to lead volunteers.

When Col Eliakim Parker Scammon assumed command of the 23rd Ohio, Major Rutherford B. Hayes knew they were in trouble. The very caricature of a martinet, Scammon was old Army, a West Point grad & Mexican War veteran, all "spit and polish." Small in stature, he strutted around camp, impatient and insulting to the volunteers of the 23rd. The men called him "old granny" behind his back, laughing at his habit of delicately taking snuff. The rumor spread that Scammon had demanded a private railroad car en route to camp, refusing to ride with common soldiers.

From the start, Hayes found Scammon intelligent but irritating, educated but lacking in "vigor of nerve." Scammon knew his stuff, for sure. And the 23rd needed rigorous military training. But could the ramrod Scammon lead volunteers? Hayes doubted it.

With all the problems of equipping a volunteer Army, Ohio sent old flintlock muskets, converted for percussion caps to Camp Chase. When the proud men of Ohio—having volunteered to save their nation—saw the guns, they refused to accept them. They left the training field by companies, leaving the inferior guns and their rusted bayonets behind. Scammon flew into a rage & immediately arrested all the company commanders for not controlling their men.

Fortunately for Scammon, Major Hayes understood volunteers and what was at stake. Hayes gathered the men, one company after another, and did two things.

First, he explained the situation:

The weapons were the only ones available to the state—at this time.
The weapons are for temporary use only; we need them to practice the manual of arms. Better models are coming.

Second, after laying out the facts, Hayes went beyond them to a place of inspiration.

"Even though these current weapons are inferior," Hayes explained, "the man is more important than the weapon. Your ancestors won the jewel of American freedom in the Revolution with muskets even poorer than these. Would their descendants then refuse any weapons in an hour of even greater peril?"

At this the crisis passed, one volunteer expressing the sentiment of all: "Bully for Hayes . . . let's get our guns."