Friday, March 23 (6:30pm) – Sunday to March 25, 2018 (noon)
Williamsburg, Virginia
Conference Registration: $245
Conference Registration + Bus Tour: $355
DOWNLOAD CONFERENCE AGENDA
Edward G. Lengel, Head of Faculty — Light Horse Harry Lee at Fort Motte, 1781
Nathaniel Philbrick – Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold and the Fate of the American Revolution
James Kirby Martin – The River that Mattered Most in the Revolutionary War
Stuart Leibiger – Washington and Lafayette: Father and Son of the Revolution
Christian McBurney – The Rhode Island Campaign: The First French—American Operation of the Revolutionary War
Eric Schnitzer – Feuds and Friendships: Horatio Gates, Benedict Arnold and Philip Schuyler during the Saratoga Campaign
Richard J. Sommers – Founding Fathers and Fighting Sons: The Revolutionary War Forbearers of Civil War Soldiers and Statesmen
Glenn F. Williams – Dunmore’s War and the Battle of Point Pleasant
Stephanie Seal Walters – Emerging Scholar—Civil War of the Heart: Virginia’s First Families & the Revolution’s Devastation at Home
Fifes & Drum Cocktail Reception on Friday Evening for Speakers and Attendees
Williamsburg Prerelease: “Benedict Arnold: Hero Betrayed” Docudrama—
Antony Vertucci and Tom Mercer (producers)
Update on Campaign 1776 from the Civil War Trust
Friday Bus Tour: Benedict Arnold’s Raid on Richmond, 1781 with Mark Lender**
Conference Registration: includes welcome reception, lunch and refreshment breaks
Optional Friday Bus Tour: includes lunch, refreshment breaks, map package $110. View/Download the Friday Bus Tour Description.
Exclusive Offer: Discounted tickets to the Colonial Williamsburg Historic Area will be available to all attendees to use before or after the conference at a special price of $20.00 per person. Regular price tickets are normally $49.95 per person.
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 $92.00 per night (double or single occupancy) or suite $112. This hotel provides a hot and cold breakfast buffet each day. You may reserve a room by calling 800-261-9530 and identifying yourself as an America’s History conference attendee and using code 41963W.
Our Featured Sponsors:Westholme Publishing Company, Tim Sampson’s Battlemaps.us and Knox Press
Benedict Arnold’s Raid on Richmond, 1781 – Friday, March 23 (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) – Led by Mark Lender (Bus Tour)
On 4 January 1781 a British expeditionary force under Brig. Gen. Benedict Arnold landed at Westover Plantation, some thirty miles from Richmond. The next day Arnold’s command arrived in Richmond. The British met no resistance as they sacked and burned public buildings; some private property also went up in flames as collateral damage. The state foundry at Westham also fell to Arnold’s raiders before he withdrew. Heading down the James, Arnold sent detachments to scatter militia concentrated at Charles City Courthouse and pillage the grounds of the neighboring plantation of Berkeley, home of Virginia patriot Benjamin Harrison. Arnold sailed for Portsmouth on 10 January. Arnold’s expedition marked the beginning of British operations in Virginia which ultimately ended with the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
Our tour will trace Arnold’s movements during his Richmond raid on the north side of the James. Tour attendees will receive a copy of the Virginia Historical Society’s Magazine of History and Biography which includes Mark Lender and James Kirby Martin’s new article on Arnold’s raid with an excellent map.
Some of the sites we’ll visit include Charles City Courthouse where Arnold sent Simcoe’s Queen’s American Rangers to hit patriot militia on 8 January; Westover Planation on the James where Arnold arrived on 4 January and Berkeley Plantation where 40 slaves left with British troops. We will follow the route Arnold followed going to and coming from Richmond. The route is clear on period maps. At Church Hill in Richmond, a militia position, we’ll stop at St. John’s Church (clearly marked on the Simcoe map), where Patrick Henry gave his “Liberty or Death” speech. Various sites in Richmond will be pointed out that are associated with the raid.
This tour is an opportunity to learn about an overlooked operation led by Benedict Arnold who will be wearing a red uniform for the first time in the War for Independence. We expect Arnold’s biographer, James Kirby Martin will be along with us to add his perspective on the military hero-turned-traitor.
Our 2018 Williamsburg conference is at capacity. Please call Bruce at 703-785-4373 to be put on the waiting list.
Register by phone, e-mail or postal mail:
- Phone: 1-703-785-4373
- Email us at: info@AmericasHistoryLLC.com
- Postal mail: America’s History LLC, P. O. Box 1076, Goochland, VA 23063
Visa, Master Card and Discover accepted. We take checks too!
Not having attended one of these prior to this year, will there be copies of the JAR annual volumes for purchase?
Bruce Morgan
Yes, Westholme Publishing is a vendor at our Conference and will have copes of the JAR annual volumes for sale.
Where exactly in Williamsburg will the conference be held?
BK Morgan
The conference will be at the Woodlands Hotel, a Colonial Williamsburg property located next to the Visitors Center.
outstanding, thank you.
Will there be publication of the addresses by speakers at this conference? Sounds like an excellent conference. thanks.
We intend to have a daily agenda for the conference on the web site about the 1st of February. The specific topics and speakers are already there.
Will there be an alternative program at the Conference Center at Williamsburg for those who do not wish to take the tour?
Jerry Kroll