Monday, September 6 (3:00pm CST) – Saturday, September 11, 2021 (10:00am CST)
Led by: A. Wilson “Will” Greene
HQ: Nashville, TN
Tour Registration: $1995.00
Ron Chernow’s award-winning biography, Grant, focused renewed literary attention on the man most responsible for leading Union forces to victory during the American Civil War. Ulysses S. Grant rose from obscurity in 1861 to become a national hero by 1865 and three years later, president of the United States. America’s History, LLC is proud to announce the first of a projected four-year study of this pivotal figure, the armies he commanded, and the brave men he opposed: Grant Takes Command, Cairo to Corinth.
Our tour will journey to the places that between the fall of 1861 and the following autumn elevated Grant from his position as a lowly district commander to the leadership of one of the nation’s premier armies. After our rendezvous near the Nashville Airport, we will start in Cairo, Illinois where Grant made his headquarters in the late summer of 1861, with a stop at the iconic confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and a visit to the historic Cairo Customs House Museum, a treasure trove of Cairo memorabilia.
We’ll continue on to Columbus, Kentucky, the Confederate Gibraltar on the Iron Banks, whose occupation by Leonidas Polk shattered Kentucky’s fragile neutrality in September 1861. Grant immediately countered by occupying Paducah at the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers. This showdown resulted in the Battle of Belmont, Missouri, which we will see from across the Mighty Mississippi. In Paducah we will have a private dinner in one of Paducah’s oldest buildings, now a museum of city history, and visit the Lloyd Tilghman house, former home of Paducah’s own Confederate general and now a museum. We will spend two nights in Paducah.
We are then off to study the campaign that lent Grant his famous nom de guerre: Unconditional Surrender Grant. In addition to a thorough tour of Fort Donelson National Battlefield, we will explore the remains of Confederate Forts Heiman and Henry on opposite sides of the Tennessee River. Then it’s off for Corinth, Mississippi with a quick stop at Parker’s Crossroads Battlefield Park, where Nathan Bedford Forrest completed his remarkable interruption of Grant’s movement toward Vicksburg in late 1862.
We headquarter in Corinth for two nights. One day will be spent entirely at Shiloh National Military Park. Our extensive walking tour at Shiloh will primarily concentrate on the first day’s battle, in which Albert S. Johnston’s Army of the Mississippi pushed back Grant’s Army of the Tennessee nearly three miles, only to see their gains erased by a determined (and reinforced) Grant the following day.
We will devote our last day in the field to studying the two actions around Corinth—the siege and capture in the spring of 1862 and the battle of Corinth the following October. As a part of our exploration, we will drive in the footsteps of the armies from Corinth to Davis Bridge to discuss the aftermath of the bloody fight on October 3-4, 1862. After a picnic lunch and visit to Corinth’s wonderful Civil War Interpretive Center, we head straight back to Nashville, where we will have our farewell dinner and spend the night.
Parts of the tour will involve a good deal of walking, some of which is off trails, so attendees who wish to participate in all of the tour stops should be prepared with the appropriate footwear.
Please note that this tour is different from other tours offered by America’s History because we are including hotel accommodations for five nights and five dinners as part of the registration fee, in addition to our usual hotel breakfasts and lunches. Alcoholic beverages are not included in the registration fee, but are not frowned upon. You must register for this tour by August 1, 2021 to insure that we will have hotel rooms for you as we travel from one location to another.
If you have a credit of $1895 from the 2020 Grant tour that was canceled due to Covid, there is no additional cost for you to attend the 2021 Grant tour. Please call or email us indicating that you plan to attend and we’ll guarantee your seat.
IMPORTANT: This tour will leave the Country Inn and Suites, 590 Donelson Pike, Nashville, TN 37214 promptly at 3 PM Central Time on Monday, September 9, 2021. If you are driving to Nashville, you will be able to leave your car in the hotel’s parking lot. If you are flying to Nashville, please make sure your flight arrival time gives you enough time to get to the hotel by 3 PM Central Time. The hotel will provide free shuttle service from the airport; just call the hotel at 615-874-8040.
What’s included: motor coach transportation, hotel accommodations for five nights, five dinners, four lunches, beverage and snack breaks, a map and materials package, all admissions and gratuities, and the services of an experienced tour guide/historian. Tour goes out rain or shine. Please see our policy page for information about cancellations
Hotel: If you would like to stay at the headquarters hotel on dates before or after the tour, you may reserve a room at the group rate of $115.00 per night plus tax (double or single occupancy) which includes a complimentary hot and cold buffet breakfast. Our headquarters hotel will be the Country Inn and Suites, 590 Donelson Pike, Nashville, TN 37214. To make a reservation, please call the hotel at 615-874-8040 and mention America’s History’s group rate for the Grant Civil War tour. This rate is guaranteed until August 9, 2021. If you have any problems, please contact Bruce Venter at 703-785-4373.
Our Tour Guide/Historian: A. Wilson Greene was executive director of the Pamplin Historical Park and a very popular leader of Civil War tours for our company. In his early career, Will was a historian at the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Military Park. He is the author of more than 20 published works on Civil War military history, including Final Battles of the Petersburg Campaign: Breaking the Backbone of the Rebellion. His newest book, A Campaign of Giants: The Battle for Petersburg, was published in 2018 by the University of New Carolina Press as the first volume of a trilogy of the Petersburg campaign. It has won numerous awards, including the Society for Military History’s Annual Book Award.
Register Online: $1995.00
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!
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