250th Anniversary Tour:
Washington vs. Howe: White Plains, Fort Washington, Fort Lee and the Revolutionary War in Westchester County, NY
Wednesday, October 21 (7pm) to Saturday, October 24 (5pm)
Led by Dr. Edward G. Lengel
Registration fee: $675.00
It was 250 years ago, October-November 1776 that marked a turning point for George Washington and the Continental Army. Defeated on Long Island, driven from Manhattan, Washington led his battered Continentals from Manhattan at Kingsbridge and withdrew to the village of White Plains in Westchester County. There he established defensive positions on Chatterton Hill above the Bronx River. On the morning of October 28, German and British troops appeared, and attacked in two columns, determined to seize the heights. Washington barely had time to tell his officers, “Gentlemen, you will repair to your respective posts, and do the best you can,” before the battle began.
Musketry and grapeshot flew as British and Germans, some of them under Colonel Johann Gottleib Rall, who would fall two months later at Trenton, stormed the hill. Militiamen and Continental troops, especially Marylanders, fought valiantly in bloody combat at close quarters, and even counterattacked, driving the enemy back down the hill. Finally, Washington’s troops were defeated and withdrew—burning White Plains—but they were visibly toughened for the long war ahead. Heartened by their grit, Washington and General Nathanael Greene elected to garrison Fort Washington on upper Manhattan. From Fort Lee across the river in New Jersey, Washington watched it fall to a bold German-British attach on November 15. The long retreat across New Jersey began.
In this tour, we will mark the 250 th anniversary of the vital three-week campaign for upper Manhattan and Westchester County, studying rarely visited but scenic and revealing battlefield vistas.
From Kingsbridge to Pell’s Point and Heathcote Hill, to White Plains and places like Chatterton and Miller Hills and Mount Misery, we will take an intimate look at actions fought by patriot and loyalist American troops and militia, and British and German forces, before heading to Fort Lee and the site of Fort Washington. Join us on this unique anniversary tour to some of the Revolutionary War’s most fascinating and compelling sites, marking a critical watershed in the fight for independence.
We’ll gather at the headquarters hotel for a “meet and greet” on Wednesday evening, October 21, to distribute map packages and name badges.
What’s included: motor coach transportation, three lunches, beverage and snack breaks, a map and materials package, all admissions and gratuities, free breakfast buffet at the headquarters hotel, the services of an experienced tour guide and Lynne’s world-famous brownies. 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 on the America’s History
website for information about cancellations,
Hotel: We have arranged with the headquarters hotel for a group rate of $189.00 per night plus tax (single or double occupancy.) Our hotel is the Baymont by Wyndham White Plains-Elmsford, 540 Sawmill River Road, Elmsford, NY. Please call the hotel at 914-592-3300 and ask for the AHT group rate. This rate is guaranteed until September 21. It is not mandatory that tour attendees stay at the headquarters hotel.
Our Tour Guide/Historin: Dr. Edward G. Lengel is an award-winning historian and educator. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, where he directed the Washington Papers Project for many years. An author, speaker and battlefield tour guide, Lengel has written fourteen books on American history. These include the official history of Colonial Williamsburg; General George Washington: A Military Life; and Never in Finer Company: The Men of the Great War’s Lost Battalion. Lengel is a co-recipient of the National Humanities Medal and has won two awards from the Army Historical Foundation. He makes frequent television and radio appearances, including in the new Ken Burns American Revolution documentary.
Register Online: $675
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 18, Diamond Point, NY 12824