Wednesday, June 27 (7:30PM) to Saturday, June 30, 2012  (5:00pm)
Led by Dan Tortora
Based in Cherokee, NC
Tour Registration Fee: $425.00

The French and Indian War in the South had taken a back seat to more well-known events that occurred in New York and Pennsylvania. Our Defending the Southern Frontier: The Cherokee War of 1759-61 will remedy that shortcoming.

By 1760 the fate of the British colonies in North America was determined by the capture of Quebec. But in the South, the Cherokee Indians continued a war against South Carolina and British troops. The war was the result of a corrupt deerskin trade and other longstanding Cherokee grievances, a collapse in the Cherokee-British military alliance, and bungled diplomacy by South Carolina’s colonial governor. The “peace,” if you could call it that, left festering tensions on all sides which would influence the coming American Revolution. Focusing on the Middle and Overhill Cherokee villages, we will discuss the scope of the southern theater in the French and Indian War by visiting a number famous and some lesser known sites.

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Wednesday, August 1 (7:30PM) to Saturday, August 4, 2012  (5:00pm)
Led by Ed Bearss, Horace Mewborn and Bob O’Neill
Based in Leesburg, VA
Tour Registration Fee: $495.00

Ever since the Gettysburg campaign ended, participants, historians and Civil War enthusiasts have debated the results of Jeb Stuart’s ride to Gettysburg, placing blame, on one hand, or exonerating the “Bold Dragoon” on the other hand, for his decisions. Some have said Stuart’s delay in reaching the Confederate army in Pennsylvania may have cost General Robert E. Lee the battle. Others contend Stuart’s absence made little difference in the military scheme of things. Our “Jeb Stuart in the Gettysburg Campaign” tour will try to sort out these issues by retracing the steps the Gray Cavalier took once he left his commander on June 24, 1863. We will cover Stuart’s ride, his contribution to the battle itself, his part in Lee’s retreat and the ongoing controversy surrounding his performance. Our analysis will include the facts, the geography, the myths and the unanswered questions about Stuart’s decisions.

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Wednesday, August 22 (7:30pm) to Saturday, August 24, 2012 (5:00pm
Led by Edward Lengel and William Welsch

“Naked and starving as they are, we cannot enough admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the soldiery.”

These words of Washington on the National Memorial Arch describe the suffering the Continental Army endured at Valley Forge. Our Howe vs. Washington tour will trace the Philadelphia Campaign of 1777 from Washington’s defeat at Brandywine through the army’s march out of Valley Forge heading to its success at Monmouth in June, 1778.

In the summer of 1777, British General William Howe launched what he believed would be the decisive campaign of the war. His goal was to capture Philadelphia, capital of the new nation. On our first day we will begin with a visit to Brandywine battlefield, where the British decisively defeated Washington’s army on September 11, 1777. We will start with the beginning action at Kennett Meeting House, tracing the diversionary attack on Washington’s position at Chad’s Ford. Next we’ll visit the British flanking position at Osborne’s Hill; then it’s on to Birmingham Meeting House, where the battle culminated. In the afternoon, we’ll visit the site of Fort Billings, a fortification in New Jersey used to prevent the British navy from communicating with Philadelphia. We’ll also visit Fort Mercer, an excellent site where American troops defeated a Hessian force under Colonel Carl von Donop on October 22.

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Wednesday, September 5 (7:30PM) to Saturday, September 8, 2012  (5:00pm)
Led by Thomas Cartwright
Based in Franklin, TN
Tour Registration Fee: $475.00

Admirers of Confederate Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest are legion. Many Civil War enthusiasts would say he belongs in any pantheon of great Southern military leaders. This skilled battlefield tactician, cavalry leader and raider evoked controversy during the war and in the aftermath of reconstruction. He was a truly larger than life individual.

Our tour will explore Forrest’s exploits in middle Tennessee where you’ll see some familiar battlefields and many little-known sites thru the eyes of one of the most knowledgeable and zealous historians of the “Wizard of the Saddle,” the incomparable Thomas Y. Cartwright.

On our first day we will travel to Fort Donelson, the site where Forrest first distinguished himself. The Gray cavalryman not only captured a Union artillery battery, but broke Grant’s siege by leading nearly 4,000 men out of Confederate lines, across the Cumberland River, before the fort was surrendered, trapping another 15,000 soldiers. This daring deed made Forrest an instant hero in the South. We will have adequate time to explore the Fort Donelson battlefield.

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Wednesday, October 24 (7:30PM) to Saturday, October 27, 2012  (5:00pm)
Led by A. Wilson “Will” Greene and Terry Winschel
Based in Vicksburg, MS
Tour Cost: $475.00

Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s campaign to capture Vicksburg on the east bank of the Mississippi River was a wide-ranging military and logistical operation. It was also a major component in the North’s strategic plan to defeat the Confederacy. Our tour of the Vicksburg campaign will live up to this analysis by ranging far beyond the National Military Park’s boundaries as we look at Grant’s masterpiece in depth. Our lead historian, Will Greene did an exemplary job last year at Shiloh, so we are fortunate to benefit from his expert services again here at Vicksburg.

An important site in the early Federal attempt to get at Vicksburg will be our stop at Chickasaw Bayou, where Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s troops suffered a setback in December 1862 delivered by Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton’s Confederates. From this battlefield, we’ll cross the Mississippi to explore the area around “Grant’s Canal” where Union forces attempted to cut a waterway that would essentially bypass the city, rendering the heavily gunned fortress powerless. Then it’s on to Grand Gulf to see the strongly fortified Confederate position which proved too much for Union Admiral David Dixon Porter’s gunboats, despite a heavy bombardment. After the setback at Grand Gulf, Grant decided to cross the river near Port Gibson. We will stop at Bruinsburg where Union infantrymen forced the bluffs to start the final effort to capture Vicksburg. We will tour the battle sites around Port Gibson where Grant was finally able to dent the Confederate lines, but only after dogged fighting on both sides. We’ll also see the ruins of Windsor Plantation, made famous by Hollywood as well as the Civil War.

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