Burgoyne’s Campaign of 1777: The Second Stage

Friday, September 19, 2014 (8:30 AM to 5 PM)

Ticonderoga, New York

Our Tour Leaders: Michael Gabriel and Bruce Venter

Tour Fee: $125

America’s History is proud to continue its partnership with Fort Ticonderoga by again offering a one-day tour of British Lt. Gen. John Burgoyne’s campaign of 1777. Led by Michael Gabriel and Bruce Venter, we will visit many sites important to the second phase of the campaign, including Skenesborough Harbor (present-day Whitehall), Fort Ann, the three gravesites of Jane McCrea, Fort Edward, and the Bennington battlefield on the Walloomsac River.

During the summer and fall of 1777, one of the great military campaigns of world history was fought in the dense forests and rolling fields of upstate New York. John “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne led a combined force of some 9,000 British Redcoats, German hirelings, Tories and Native Allies. This army descended from Canada, aiming to cut off the Mid-Atlantic colonies from New England.

Burgoyne’s invasion was part of a three-pronged strategic plan to break the back of the rebellion. His army marched directly south through a near-impenetrable wilderness, attempting to reach its final objective: Albany. But American fortunes changed decisively on the west bank of the Hudson River near Saratoga. The surrender of Burgoyne’s army in October 1777 was more important to the Patriot cause than any other single event during the American Revolution; this “turning point” arguably led to Yorktown four years later.

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Thursday, September 25 (7:30pm) – Saturday, September 27 (5:00pm)

Frederick, Maryland

Our Tour Leader: Dr. Thomas G. Clemons

Registration Fee: $325

While Gettysburg has been termed the Confederacy’s “High Water Mark,” the battle at Antietam Creek is acknowledged by many historians as the South’s real chance to win the war. This two-day tour will include all the major sites you have read about: the North Woods, Miller’s Cornfield, the West Woods, Dunker Church, the Sunken Road or “Bloody Lane” and Burnside’s Bridge. But you will also visit sites not normally seen by visitors to this pristine battlefield location. Many of these sites are off the beaten track and some are on private property. By touring this campaign with a historian who is known by his colleagues as “Mr. Antietam,” you will enjoy a truly unique battlefield experience. Here are some of the sites that are seldom seen: the Smoketown Road, Hooker’s approach to the northern end of the battlefield still maintains the historic integrity of an 1862-era road; the different sites of McClellan’s headquarters during the battle because the Pry House was not his only headquarters; Nicodemus Heights (private property) was the site of Jeb Stuart’s horse artillery; the Shepherdstown Ford and A. P. Hill’s approach to the Sharpsburg in the eleventh hour of the battle; and the Alfred Poffenberger/Locher Farm behind the West Woods. We’ll also visit several hospital sites and generals’ headquarters: Pry’s Mill, Hoffman Farm, Smoketown hospital site, Crystal Spring Farm and the Jacob Cost House. In addition, we’ll walk to several locations like the Roulette Farm, the Ninth Corps’ attack field and we’ll visit the 16th Connecticut Infantry monument. [Read more…]

Wednesday, October 15 (7:30pm) – Saturday, October 18 (5:00pm)

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Our Tour Leaders: Edward G. Lengel, William Welsch and Richard Bellamy

Registration Fee: $475

“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 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.

Next will be a brief stop to discuss the Battle of the Clouds – the battle that never was. After lunch at a local restaurant, we’ll head to the wonderfully interpreted Battle of Paoli site, where Anthony Wayne’s Pennsylvania Division was surprised in a night attack by General Charles “No Flint” Grey in the so-called Paoli Massacre of September 21. Was it really a massacre?

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Friday, March 22 (7pm)-Sunday, March 24 (Noon)
Williamsburg Hospitality House
Williamsburg, Virginia

Conference Package: $225
Friday Bus Tour 8am-4:30pm (not included in package): $95

Edward G. Lengel, Head of Faculty: “Revolutionary Rivals: Horatio Gates and George Washington”

Douglas Cubbison: “Man on a Mission: John Burgoyne and the Campaign of 1777”

Joshua Howard: “The Swamp Fox: Francis Marion, Revolutionary War Hero of South Carolina”

James Kirby Martin: “Benedict Arnold: Revolutionary America’s Heroic General”

Andrew O’Shaughnessy: “Fighting with Friends and Enemies Simultaneously: Sir Henry Clinton”

Jim Piecuch: “Frustrated Ambitions: “Light Horse Harry Lee’s Conflicts On and Off the Battlefield”

John V. Quarstein: “Closing the Door on Cornwallis: The Battle of the Capes September 1781”

Glenn F. Williams: “Lord Dunmore’s War: Training Ground for Continental Officers”

Two Panel Discussions:

1. “The Best and Worst Military Commanders of the Revolutionary War”
2. “A Revolutionary War Bookshelf: What You Should Own and What Books will be Published Soon”

Optional Friday Bus Tour to Petersburg, Green Spring and Spencer’s Ordinary (includes lunch) led by William Welsch

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Thursday, April 18, 2013 (8 AM to 5 PM)
Led by Dr. Thomas Clemens
Leaving from the Eisenhower Hotel and Conference Center, Gettysburg, PA
Tour Registration Fee:  $155.00

America’s History’s fourth annual tour for the Company of Military Historians will focus on Lee’s first invasion of the North which ended with the battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single day of the Civil War. You do not need to be a member of the Company to attend this tour. We are fortunate to have engaged Tom Clemens, known as “Mr. Antietam” for his scholarship, preservation efforts and guiding skills, to lead our one-day tour of the battlefield.

While Gettysburg has been termed the Confederacy’s “High Water Mark,” the battle at Antietam Creek is acknowledged by many historians as the South’s real chance to win the war.

This full day tour will include all the major sites you have read about: the North Woods, Miller’s Cornfield, the West Woods, Dunker Church, the Sunken Road or “Bloody Lane” and Burnside’s Bridge.

During our drive from Gettysburg to Sharpsburg, Maryland, Tom will discuss the strategic situation in the east in the early fall of 1862 as well as the major personalities involved in this campaign. We will follow the action as Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker initiates the Union army’s attack from the North Woods. You’ll tramp the Miller Cornfield where Hood’s Texas Brigade won everlasting glory. We’ll also go to the site where Confederate artillery was massed to turn back the Federal attacks which Confederate Col. Stephen D. Lee later termed “Artillery Hell.” You will stand in the Sunken Road, bravely defended by Alabamians, Georgians and North Carolinians against attacks by such famed units as the Irish Brigade. And you’ll walk across Rohrbach’s Bridge, now immortalized as Burnside’s Bridge, where Union IX Corps troops sought to roll up Lee’s right. We’ll also take you to some little known and seldom-seen parts of the battlefield which will give you a truly unique battlefield experience.

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Wednesday, June 12 (7:30pm)-Saturday, June 15 (5pm)
Fredericksburg, VA
Led by A. Wilson “Will” Greene
Tour Registration: $495.00

Spring 1864 found the great armies of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and Union Maj. Gen George G. Meade facing each other along the Rapidan River. But that situation would soon change as a new man from the western theater, Lt. Gen Ulysses S. Grant took command of all Federal armies. Grant would be in the field, not at a desk in Washington; Meade would have to adapt to a new command structure. Grant had set his sights on Lee’s army. He was out to destroy the fabled Army of Northern Virginia and in the course of time capture Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy.

Our tour will focus on the Overland Campaign from April to June 1864 and include all the major engagements and some lesser known ones as well. Our tour leader, Will Greene has previously led two tours for America’s History. He has garnered a reputation for putting all things in perspective: strategy, tactics, command decisions, personalities, human interest stories and “what if” scenarios. His knowledge and sense of humor make him one of the most popular Civil War historians leading tours today.

We’ll start our tour on Thursday at the Wilderness battlefield, where the opening round of a bloody slugfests began. We’ve allotted a full day to understanding what happened at the Wilderness. We’ll stop at Saunders Field where a seesaw fight erupted on May 5. Some of the heaviest combat of the battle occurred in the fields surrounding the Higgerson House. You’ll also see the Chewing Farm which was occupied by both armies during the battle. A highlight of the Wilderness battlefield is the Widow Tapp Farm where Lt. Gen. James Longstreet rescued Lee’s army from disaster. One of the “Lee to the rear” incidents occurred during the Tapp Farm fighting. You’ll also see where Longstreet was wounded by “friendly fire.” And we’ll visit “Ellwood,” an 18th century home that served as headquarters for Maj. Gen. Gouverneur Warren. Spending a day at the Wilderness will give you an appreciation for why it is important to continue the fight to save land on this battlefield.

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