Thursday, May 31 (5:30PM) to Sunday, June 3, 2012 (4:00pm)
Led by Horace Mewborn, Scott Mauger, Rick Britton and Bruce Venter
Based in Richmond, VA
Tour Registration Fee: $475.00
In the Eastern theatre, the names Jeb Stuart and Wade Hampton evoke images of fabled Confederate cavalry successes against their Union opponents. Our tour will highlight some of these classic operations with the chance to walk a number of private property sites, not accessible to the general public.
In Stuart’s Ride around McClellan’s Army of the Potomac in 1862 we will visit Hickory Hill, the Wickham family home (private property) where Stuart stopped the night of June 12 to visit Williams Wickham who was recuperating from a battlefield wound. Then it’s on to historic Hanover Court House where the Gray Cavalier ran into a detachment of Federal cavalry. As we follow Stuart’s plume, we’ll have a chance to stop at the site of the 1864 cavalry battle of Haws Shop. Returning to Stuart’s ride we will see many sites associated with it like Linney’s Corner, Old Church, Tunstall’s Station, Garlick’s Landing, Talleysville, Forge Bridge, Charles City Court House and Rowland’s Mill where Stuart stopped for a cup of coffee. As we return to the hotel we’ll come past Yellow Tavern, the battle site where Stuart was mortally wounded in 1864.
We’ll begin Hampton’s 1864 Beefsteak Raid at Violet Bank, Robert E. Lee’s headquarters during the Petersburg siege where he and the South Carolinian discussed the raid. From there, we’ll see Wilkinson’s Bridge where Hampton crossed Rowanty Creek, then stop at Belsches’ Mill where he picked up his guide for the raid. We’ll also see Cook’s Bridge, Laurel Springs, Sycamore Church where Tom Rosser attacked the 1st D. C. Cavalry and the Harrison Farm site where the cattle were corralled. We will stop at Edmund Ruffin’s Farm (private property) where his old house still stands. We’ll see Cocke’s Mill, the site of James Dearing’s defensive position against a Federal effort to retrieve the herd and the Donnan House site where Hampton’s aide gave a captured cow to 12 year old Margaret Donnan. We’ll go to Hawkinsville where cattle crossed the Jerusalem Plank Road while Tom Rosser blocked the road at Ebenezer Church, Freeman’s Ford where the cattle crossed the Nottoway River and the intersection of the Boydton Plank and White Oak roads where the herd was penned after reaching Confederate lines.
On June 11-12, 1864 at Trevilian Station, Lt. Gen. Wade Hampton stopped Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan from joining Maj. Gen. David Hunter’s command and destroying the Virginia Central Railroad at Charlottesville. Hampton’s victory will be our focus on the tour’s third day. We will stop at all the major sites associated with the battle, including Sheridan’s camp at Clayton Store; Bibb’s Crossroads where the first shots were fired; the Poindexter House site and the reconstructed Netherland Tavern, used by Hampton was his HQ. There is also the site where Custer captured the Confederate wagon train, but was surrounded and forced to give it up. We will stop at the Ogg Farm site where Confederate cavalrymen dug in, repulsing blue-coated Yankees at what became known as the Bloody Angle. A final stop will be Oakland Cemetery, the final resting place of several Confederate heroes of the battle. In the afternoon we’ll visit the historic Exchange Hotel in Gordonville which served as a Confederate hospital during the war and has a fine collection of war-related items.
Registration Fee: $475.00
What’s included: motor coach transportation, three lunches, beverage and snack breaks, a map and materials package, all admissions and gratuities, and the services of four experienced tour guides/historians. Our headquarters hotel will provide a complimentary breakfast buffet each morning. Tour participants are responsible for transportation to the headquarters hotel, and securing a room reservation, if necessary. Dinner is on your own. Tour goes out rain or shine. Please see our policy page for information about cancellations.
Hotel: We have arranged with the headquarters hotel for a group rate of $84.00 per night plus tax. Please call the Holiday Inn Express, 9933 Maryland Ave., Richmond, VA (Innsbrook area) at 804-934-9300 and ask for the America’s History group rate. This rate will be guaranteed until May 21, 2012, so please make your reservations early.
About our Tour Guides/Historians:
Horace Mewborn is an experienced tour leader, lecturer and co-author of the 43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry: Mosby’s Command. He compiled and edited From Mosby’s Command: Newspaper Letters & Articles by and about John S. Mosby and his Rangers, and has written several feature issues for Blue & Gray magazine including “Stuart’s Ride around McClellan” and “Hampton’s Beefsteak Raid.” He is currently writing a history of the North Carolina cavalry brigade and a regimental history of White’s 35th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry.
Scott Mauger is a local historian in the Richmond area and a former president of the Richmond Civil War Round Table. Over the years, Scott has developed relationships with area landowners which will give us access to several historic sites located on private property.
Rick Britton is an experienced tour leader, lecturer and professional cartographer from Charlottesville who has led many battlefield tours of Trevilian Station.
Bruce M. Venter, president of America’s History is an experienced tour leader and lecturer whose special interest is Union cavalry. His articles have appeared in Blue & Gray, Civil War and the Washington Times. He is currently completing a book-length study of the Kilpatrick-Dahlgren raid on Richmond.
Are these dates correct? We can get all that done in two days?