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Kill Jeff Davis: The Union Raid on Richmond, 1864 (Campaigns and Commanders Series)

December 8, 2015 by Leave a Comment

The ostensible goal of the controversial Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid on Richmond (February 28–March 3, 1864) was to free some 13,000 Union prisoners of war held in the Confederate capital. But orders found on the dead body of the raid’s subordinate commander, Colonel Ulric Dahlgren, point instead to a plot to capture or kill Confederate president Jefferson Davis and set Richmond ablaze. What really happened, and how and why, are debated to this day. Kill Jeff Davis offers a fresh look at the failed raid and mines newly discovered documents and little-known sources to provide definitive answers. [Read more…]

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Sally Gets to Run around Hatcher’s Run Battlefield

February 13, 2015 by 1 Comment
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Sally Seddon

We had a rare opportunity on Saturday to see the newly acquired land purchased by the Civil War Trust at Hatcher’s Run. This special Sesquicentennial event was made possible by Will Greene and the Pamplin Historical Park staff. The land at Hatcher’s Run is not yet open to the public, but PHP members were invited to walk the lines with Ed Alexander, a ranger historian at PHP. Of course, our beagle, Sally Seddon was anxious to experience another battle walk and add Hatcher’s Run to the long list of battlefields and forts she has visited—her list stands at 58.

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Finance Can be Fun and a Journey through History

January 22, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Bruce Venter

Bruce Venter

Welcome to a New Year at America’s History LLC.

The General is busy working on a marketing plan with the University of Oklahoma Press for his Kill Jeff Davis book. He is trying to persuade the university to provide a bus for the book tour! Those of you, who know the General, know this is written in jest, well sort of!!!!!! But he is consumed with the requirements from the University and on a deadline to complete so it is up to me to keep you informed on what is happening with America’s History.

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We Begin Again From The VP

January 22, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Bruce Venter

Bruce Venter

As you can see, the General has been very busy (finishing two books for publication in 2015) and not able to attend properly to his blog.  REALLY!!!!!! Three years Bruce?

This was brought to Bruce’s attention on several occasions by good friend and fellow historian Bob O’Neill, who happens to enjoy reading blogs.   Why advertise a blog on our website and not update it?  Excellent point Bob!!!!

Timing is everything!  It came up for discussion at Bob and Teresa’s house a few weeks ago right after the final tour of the year, Mosby’s  Confederacy led by Horace Mewborn and Bob. Thank you Bob and Teresa for giving us that wonderful respite. It was rough getting out of Northern Virginia by car and how welcome was the sight of your fortress near the Rappahannock.

And so it is the right time, the perfect time, to reflect on the past year and thank all our participants and historians for a most amazing year. The right time to do our best to keep communication on the General’s Blog current and reach out those who share with us a love of America’s history.

When we walk in the footsteps of the men and women who made history, we honor them.

Please come back to the General’s blog for more highlights of our 2014 tour season.

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Remembering Dave Hinze

August 22, 2011 by 4 Comments

Bruce Venter

We must take time to remember our good friend and business partner, Dave Hinze who left us suddenly one year ago on August 18, 2010.

But this one year anniversary is not the only day that I think of Dave. On our kitchen countertop, we have a 3×4 framed picture of Dave and me doing the Swamp Fox tour in South Carolina in 2009. The tour was Dave’s brainchild (he was crazy about Francis Marion) and so far it’s been the most successful tour of either Stars & Stripes Events or America’s History. The picture shows me lecturing to our tour group about the British Navy’s 1776 attack on Charleston’s Fort Moultrie where Marion was stationed as an officer long before his famous career as a partisan. I’m pointing with my left arm extended out to the harbor where the Royal Navy was firing round shot at the fort. Dave, with his head down looking at a map, is mimicking me by also pointing with his left arm extended out to the Charleston harbor. It was so characteristic of Dave, making sure everyone understood what was going on.

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Leatherstocking Country: A Successful Combination of America’s History with Literature

August 15, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Bruce Venter

Our July tour entitled Leatherstocking Tales: The Real Historic Sites of James Fenimore Cooper’s Novels proved to be a good bet as we combined familiar titles (and some not so familiar) from American literature with the historic sites that influenced the famous American author. I wasn’t sure how this concept would play when I first conceived it sometime last year, but finding the right tour leader made all the difference. Dr. Wayne Franklin, professor of English and department head at the University of Connecticut proved to be “the man” when it comes to Cooper expertise. Wayne did a fantastic job, demonstrating not only a knowledge of Cooper’s writings but also being familiar with the historical background of 18th and 19th century sites and personalities which influenced Cooper. Wayne has Albany, NY roots as does your humble blogger, so we were able to reminisce about the city’s rich, colorful political history which we shared in common. We had a great, mixed group of participants who came because of their interest in Cooper as well as American history. As always, there were a number of repeat customers along with some new faces. Wayne also brought along his lovely wife, Suzanne who provided much enjoyable conversation. It was great to have my cousin, Ann O’Brien Teta with us. One of America’s History’s tour leaders, Bill Welsch also joined the tour.

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Fredericksburg: Not Just the Sunken Road

July 22, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Bruce Venter

To paraphrase a famous depiction used to describe Major General Winfield Scott Hancock, I would have to say that our Fredericksburg tour leader, Frank O’Reilly was simply “superb.” I knew there was more to the battle of Fredericksburg than just the maniacal assaults at the Sunken Road. But Frank’s incredible expertise brought many other aspects of this campaign to a new, higher level of comprehension for me and our tour participants. Frank’s understanding of the campaign’s political, logistical, cartographic, and command and control problems made this tour unforgettable. He also included a good dose of personal valor stories, descriptions of the idiosyncratic personalities of various leaders on both sides and leadership questions for us to consider on different parts of the field. As Tom Lannon from Phoenix, Arizona put it, “From my point of view as a tour attendee three days with Frank O’Reilly on the Fredericksburg battlefield was a real treat. The guy has an amazing amount of knowledge about the history there and did an outstanding job of conveying what happened and why. I could not have asked for more. And all the things you did to make it comfortable with the accommodations, the lunches, snacks and transportation were just first rate. Thanks for everything and I am sure I will see you on another tour in the future.”

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Congratulations, Dr. and Mrs. Richard J. Sommers

July 15, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Bruce Venter

Recently, Lynne and I were honored with an invitation to the long awaited nuptials of Dick Sommers and his lovely bride, Tracy. As many of you know, Dick has lived the bachelor life for many years. But one day last year, Tracy came into his life at a Civil War conference and “the rest is history” as they say. Being from California, it was a bi-coastal relationship for Dick and Tracy for a year, but now that’s over. Dick and Tracy will be living together in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Dick and Tracy were married on June 25, in Carlisle where Dick has lived for over 40 years, witnessed by over a hundred relatives and friends. (We don’t see any coincidence between that date and an equally famous historical event in Montana 135 years previous, but the 2011 event will remain every bit as memorable.) The wedding ceremony took place in Dick’s church, the First Presbyterian, a congregation that is 275 years old. Of course, you’d expect a historic occasion to take place in a historic setting. All the arrangements were planned out in meticulous detail by Dick and Tracy. Dick’s best men (his brother, Walter, his friend from 1st grade, Flint Whitlock and his college roommate) all sported Boston Terrier ties, reflecting Dick’s lifelong love of the breed. The vows were finalized by a kiss that would have made Rudolph Valentino blush. Incidentally, the bride and groom’s smooching continued throughout the reception, as guests clicked their glasses to urge the newlyweds into myriad lip locks as though they were teenagers. And Dr. Sommers did not shirk from his duty as the bearded professor grabbed his lovely lady time after time in swooping embraces.

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Shiver Me Timbers—Our Blackbeard Tour was a Big Success!

June 21, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Bruce Venter

Wow! Our Blackbeard and the Pirates of the Chesapeake tour was terrific. We had excellent weather and our historian, the affable and incomparable John Quarstein excelled in his descriptions of pirate history and legend. Plus he did not limit himself to just pirate history. John brought in Civil War and Revolutionary War history at the appropriate times, even describing the little-known 19th century Oyster Wars between Maryland and Virginia.

But Edward Teach or Thatch, if you prefer, (alias Blackbeard) was the focus of our adventure. After a drive along North Carolina’s Outer Banks, we had a pleasant 45 minute ferry ride from Hatteras (near where the USS Monitor sank in a late 1862 gale) to Ocracoke Island. Lunch was at Howard’s Pub, a local favorite. After lunch, we stopped at Teach’s Hole where the nasty pirate leader sheltered his ship. Then John regaled us along the island’s inner shoreline with the story of how Lt. Robert Maynard of the British Navy attacked and overwhelmed Blackbeard and his crew in November 1718. Maynard’s stunning victory cost the bloodthirsty pirate his life as well as his head. Blackbeard’s head was cut off and legend has it that it was tied to the bowsprit of Maynard’s ship. It was displayed in the city of Hampton, Virginia as a warning to other would-be pirates. After a two hour ferry ride from Ocracoke to Cedar Island, we spent the night in Moorhead City.

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America’s History adds new photos to the website from Washington’s Winter Surprise

June 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Bruce Venter

We’ve recently added pictures to our photo gallery from our Washington’s Winter Surprise: the Battle of Trenton in Depth tour last April. The photos were provided by Bob Kotchian of San Jose, CA. Bob and his wife, Deborah are veterans of the tours we’ve offered in conjunction with the Company of Military Historians annual conference. Bob has some great shots of our tour including replica Durham boats, the Old Barracks museum in Trenton, the Swan collection at the New Jersey Washington’s Crossing Visitors Center and the Trenton Battle Monument. There’s even a picture of the imminent Revolutionary War collector, Harry Kels Swan who joined us at the visitors center for a special discussion of his collection. You’ll see that the weather did not entirely cooperate in a photo taken from inside the bus, but that did not deter our hearty trampers. Our tour leader, Bill Welsch is prominently pictured holding forth in a stirring description of General Washington’s crossing of the Delaware on that hazardous Christmas night in 1776. Thanks, Bob, for providing some great photos of a memorable America’s History tour. [Read more…]

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