Friday, March 17 (6:30pm) – Sunday, March 19, 2023 (12:30pm)
Tour registration:
Conference only: $295
Conference + Bus Tour: $440All previous conference and tour credits will be honored at no additional cost.
HQ: Williamsburg, Virginia
Edward G. Lengel—Head of Faculty – Chief Historian, National Medal of Honor Museum
Maj. Gen. Jason Bohm, USMC – “George Washington’s Marines: The Origin of the Corps and the American Revolution”
John “Jack” Buchanan – “Picked Men, Well Mounted’: The Battle of Musgrove’s Mill, 1780”
Benjamin Carp – “’Many Circumstances Lead to Conjecture That Mr. Washington Was Privy to This Villainous Act’: George Washington and the Great New York City Fire of 1776”
Kaitlin Fergeson—Emerging Scholar – “Thompson’s Black Dragoons – A Study in Loyalist Cavalry in the American Revolution”
Kylie Hulbert – “America’s Revolutionary War Privateers: The Untold War at Sea”
Cole Jones – “Captives of Liberty: British, German and Loyalist Prisoners of War and the Politics of Vengeance”
Mark Lender – “Fighting for the Key to the Continent: Fort Ticonderoga, 1777”
Margaret Sankey – “Oh the Things They Said: The Yorke Family’s Opinions of British Generals”
Eric Schnitzer – “In Memoriam: Rediscovering the Stories of Americans Who Died in the Battles of Saratoga”
David O. Stewart – “The Real Miracle at Valley Forge: George Washington’s Political Mastery.””
Cocktail Reception on Friday Evening at 6:30pm for All Speakers and Attendees
Friday Bus Tour (8am-4:30pm): Beyond Redoubts #9 & #10
18th Century Siege Warfare at Yorktown with Dr. Glenn Williams
**Limited to one bus, so please register early!**
/wp:quote –> Conference Registration: includes cocktail reception, lunch and refreshment breaks
Friday Bus Tour: includes admissions, lunch, refreshment breaks, map package and all gratuities – Bus leaves Woodlands Hotel promptly at 8am.
Exclusive Offer: Discounted tickets to the Colonial Williamsburg Historic Area will be available to all attendees to use before or after the conference.
Conference Hotel: We have booked a block of rooms at the Colonial Williamsburg’s Woodlands Hotel next to the Colonial Williamsburg Visitor’s Center at a rate of $99.00 per night (double or single occupancy) or suite $129.00. This hotel provides a buffet breakfast each day. You may reserve a room by calling 800-261-9530 and identifying yourself as an America’s History conference attendee.
Our Featured Sponsors: Westholme Publishing Company, Tim Sampson’s Battlemaps.us and Knox Press
**Our last four Conferences prior to the Covid pandemic sold out. The Covid pandemic is now over, so please register early to avoid disappointment.**
Friday Bus Tour, March 17, 2023 (8am to 4:30pm)
Beyond Redoubts #9 & #10: 18th Century Siege Warfare at Yorktown
Led by Dr. Glenn Williams, US Army Center for Military History (ret.)
**Lunch will be provided as well as our customary snacks and beverages during the tour**
Most narratives that deal with the Yorktown campaign tend to emphasize the fighting at Redoubts 9 and 10, then describe the surrender of Lord Cornwallis’ army with British regimental bands allegedly playing “The World Turned Upside Down.” Emphasis on classical eighteenth century siege doctrine in practice receives little ink.
Yet, the actual conduct of the siege operation can be an intriguing study compared to the brief, albeit spectacular, nighttime assaults on the two redoubts found in the Revolutionary War’s secondary literature
As far as military engagements go, a siege may seem passive, and therefore, less exciting to the casual observer than the kinetic action of an open field fight; or the mythical contest between American riflemen firing at dressed redcoat ranks from behind trees and rocks.
However, exploring such an intricate operation as a siege in detail can be an enlightening experience.
Join us on this guided tour of the Yorktown battlefield that will examine eighteenth century field fortification construction, employment of artillery weapons and ordnance, and the application of siege warfare doctrine. Explore the British defensive positions and the Franco-American coalition army’s parallel and approach trenches as well as the logistical support areas that ensured the stunning victory. Siege warfare can be seen as dynamic and as interesting as any battlefield fighting.
At the tour’s conclusion, participants will better understand how the combined allied forces were able to destroy the combat power of a major British field army that was defending well-fortified positions without resorting to bloody frontal assaults.
Although it did not mark the complete end of hostilities, the siege of Yorktown proved to be the decisive campaign and last major engagement of our War for Independence.
About our tour leader: At last year’s conference, Glenn Williams delivered a terrific “stand-in” talk on siege warfare at Yorktown when one of our speakers could not attend. We invited Glenn back to put you “on the ground” with him as he explains the intricacies of 18th century siege warfare. Glenn Williams is a former army officer and retired from the U.S. Army Center of Military History. He is the author of Year of the Hangman: George Washington’s Campaign against the Iroquois. He also wrote USS CONSTELLATION: a Short History of the Last All-Sail Warship Built by the U.S. Navy. His latest book, Dunmore’s War: Last Conflict of the Colonial Era was published by Westholme. He is currently working on a biography of “Light Horse” Harry Lee with Ed Lengel.
when will the 2024 conference be announced?