Our schedule of meetings is set for 2024. Click on the Meetings tab above to see the dates, topics, and speakers. Our new 1st Vice President has lined-up a wonderful slate of speakers for us... thank you, Randy!
As a reminder, our January meeting will be ZOOM ONLY. Details will be in our January newsletter.
The November 15, 2023, meeting was held in the Westhampton Room, Heilman Dining Center, at the University of Richmond. Meeting attendance continues to grow towards pre-pandemic numbers.
Bill Welsch announced the retirement of Dr. Bruce Venter as 1st Vice President of Programs and thanked him for 15 years of truly significant, selfless, and important services to the Round Table. In recognition of his contributions, Bill presented Bruce a certificate of appreciation and an engraved Jefferson Cup. Bruce is an author, tour leader, and president of America's History, LLC, and conducts conferences for history enthusiasts (https://americashistoryllc.com). Bill announced that Randy Flood, Host and Executive Producer of The Real American Revolution Multimedia Center & Consortium for Civic Education, has been selected by the Board to replace Bruce. Randy will assume the position on January 1, 2024.
The evening’s presenter was Bob Thompson, author of Revolutionary Roads, Searching for the War That Made America Independent...and All the Places It Could Have Gone Terribly Wrong, published by: Twelve Books (https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/bob-thompson/revolutionary-roads/9781455565153/).
Bob Thompson, a longtime feature writer for the Washington Post, is known for his pieces on the intersection of history and myth. His book Revolutionary Roads, Searching for the War That Made America Independent...and All the Places It Could Have Gone Terribly Wrong was the product of his curiosity about which Revolutionary War battles were turning points towards victory and the actions of some relatively unfamiliar individuals and groups. His presentation focused on not so much battles and strategies but how he researched the stories he wanted to tell when Patriot forces encountered British and Loyalist forces and the outcome was uncertain or could have gone terribly wrong for either side. He described his travel history of going to battlefields, walking the ground, and seeking out local experts, from Quebec to Savannah, learning their stories of historical events and separating out mythical spins.
He presented examples of moments that played key roles in shaping the course of the war and, ultimately, the outcome of the American Revolution. Thompson emphasized his walks seeking out battlefield guides and revolutionary war enthusiasts gathering facts to pass along and educate future readers of a planned book. Speaking briefly about the Battle of Brooklyn (also known as the Battle of Long Island) that allowed Washington a nighttime retreat and saving a significant portion of his army. Thompson made his way through the 2nd Battle of Trenton, then spoke about his research methodologies concerning the nearly (or not so) famous Americans involved in particular actions like the Philadelphia dock workers, Brandywine, Monmouth, Charleston, Savannah, King’s Mountain, Saratoga, Cornwallis’ decision at Wilmington, African Americans (both enslaved and free) performing military duties in the Continental Army, and how the French fleet sailed to the Caribbean and then northward into Chesapeake Bay cutting off the British escape route by sea and trapping the British at Yorktown. Each a combination of strategic decisions, tactical competence or incompetence, and sometimes pure happenstance contributed to preventing potential disasters and leading to eventual victory for the United Colonies’ forces.
Fred Sorrell
Secretary
Our next meeting on November 15 will feature a presentation by Bob Thompson on "Revolutionary Roads: Searching for the War that Made America Independent... and All the Places It Could Have Gone Terribly Wrong." Be sure to mark your calendars now!
We will be returning to the Westhampton Room in the Heilman Dining Center. Regular dining service will be available beginning at 5:30 p.m. and the meeting will follow at 6:30 p.m.
Meeting was held September 20, 2023, in the Westhampton Room, Heilman Dining Center, University of Richmond
Our speaker will be Christian McBurney, president of the George Washington ARRT-DC and the author of a number of Revolutionary War books. He will be speaking about his newest, Dark Voyage: American Privateer's War on British African Slave Trade, describing one privateer's extraordinary task: to sail across the Atlantic to attack British slave trading posts and ships on the coast of West Africa. Christian is a return guest, having previously presented on both the capture and court martial of General Charles Lee. His books are available at 
the Fort Plain Bookstore.
We will be returning to the Westhampton Room in the Heilman Dining Center. Regular dining service will be available beginning at 5:30 p.m. and the meeting will follow at 6:30 p.m.
"Revolutionary Money & Finance," Edward Lewis
Administrative Items:
2.
Mark
Lender re-announced the 2022 Harry M. Ward Book Award co-winners:
a.
Winning
Independence: The Decisive Years of the Revolutionary War, 1778-1781, author John Ferling
b.
Francis
Marion and the Snow's Island Community: Myth, History, and Archaeology, author Steven D Smith
3.
Bill Welsch
announced the planning of an October 14 (tentative) tour of Revolutionary War
sites around the Newport News area. Details are to follow.
William L. Kidder spoke on the Battle of Trenton, entitled "That Unhappy Affair at Trenton" based on his book Ten Crucial Days: Washington's Vision for Victory Unfolds available from the Fort Plain Museum Bookstore [https://fortplainmuseum.square.site/s/shop].
The significance of the patriots' victory at Trenton was not forgotten in the ensuing years and two and a half years after the battle, it was Lord George Germain, the British Secretary of State for North America throughout the Revolutionary War, who remarked to the House of Commons on May 3, 1779 “…all our hopes were blasted by that unhappy affair at Trenton.” Germain shared a heavy amount of blame for Britain’s ultimate defeat by the American patriots under General George Washington.
While the American Revolution seemed on the verge of defeat, on December 25, 1776, Washington assessed the weaknesses and strengths of his situation as he moved his troops towards Philadelphia. He reacted to the complex situation and developments over the next ten days [December 25, 1776 through January 3, 1777] in ways not expected by the British military which became turning points for George Washington as America’s Commander-in-Chief and respect for American military capabilities against the world’s largest army.
Kidder walked through the events leading up to and through the turning point victory at the Battle of Trenton using a coalition of Continental soldiers, state and local militias, and local volunteers.
Washington’s forces retreated across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania to make a stand at defending Philadelphia, where the Second Continental Congress was meeting, and thereby allowed British control of New Jersey, The British commander, William Howe, had made a miscalculation and overextended his forces over a chain of winter garrisons, along the supply route from the stronghold at Staten Island southward to the Delaware River. At the southern end of the chain was the village of Trenton.
On December 8, 1776 Continental forces crossed the Delaware River into Pennsylvania for temporary sanctuary. On the morning of December 13, 1776, Major-General Charles Lee, second in command of the Continental Army, was captured by the British at Widow White's tavern, at Basking Ridge, New Jersey, during his troops’ slow march to help Washington. British-born Lee ranked next to Washington in command but believed he should have been named Commander-in-Chief because of his experiences as a British officer and services in European mainland armies. He spent 18 months as a prisoner. Major-General John Sullivan took over Lee’s command and continued the march to join Washington.
To rally his troops Washington planned a logistically complex surprise attack on the British garrison at Trenton that required his army to recross the ice jammed Delaware River. The route chosen for the main army’s crossing resulted in a longer march to Trenton because a patriot-friendly ferry point was chosen over a loyalist-leaning ferry point that was closer to the town. The Continental Army and various state militias led by George Washington attacked the winter quarters of a brigade on the morning of December 26, 1776. The Trenton garrison consisted of mainly German soldiers quartered in civilian houses throughout the village and commanded by German Colonel Johann Rall.
Colonel Rall made mistakes in both his defensive preparations around his garrison (no redoubts, no defensive plan) and his reaction to learning an attack was underway. Washington exploited British arrogance by leading his army, made up of Continental soldiers, state militia groups and volunteers, in maneuvers that humiliated His Majesty’s forces.
In just ten short days the course of history was changed. The Battle of Trenton was notable as the first open field success won by Washington. The victory at Trenton restored American morale and renewed confidence in Washington as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army thereby turning the tide of the Revolutionary War.
--Fred Sorrell
The Round Table meeting was held in the Ukrop Auditorium located in the Robins School of Business, at the University of Richmond. Our own Randy Flood spoke on: "The Real John Graves Simcoe."
Randy is a member of our ARRT-Richmond and of the Williamsburg-Yorktown Roundtable, as well. He is also Host and Executive Producer of The Real American Revolution Multimedia Center & Consortium for Civic Education, located at www.trar.us; a nonprofit organization established to educate Americans and others about what really happened during our American Revolution.
John Graves Simcoe was born into a military family in England. He was well-educated and joined the military. He was deployed to America during the Siege of Boston in 1775.
In America, he was involved in the Northern (New York, New Jersey), Mid-Atlantic (Brandywine, Quinton’s Bridge, Crooked Billet, Monmouth), and Southern (Charleston, Blandford, Point of Fork, Spencer’s Ordinary, Yorktown) Campaigns from 1776 to 1781
Simcoe commanded the Queen's Rangers in 1777, a Loyalist unit, and conducted successful “hit and run” raids in central New Jersey and along Virginia's Lower Peninsula.
Served with Cornwallis and Tarleton at Yorktown (Gloucester Point), then returned to New York and then England, due to sickness, and became a Member of Parliament.
Named 1st Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada (which is geographically south of Lower Canada) in 1791. His legacies included government reforms, influencing the first abolishment of slavery in the British Empire, founding the City of York (Toronto) as the capital of Canada, establishing British civil law, trial by jury, the use of British Winchester standards of measure, a provision for jails and courthouses and others considered on the same scale was Washington’s legacies to America.
He strengthened Great Britain's defenses against potential French invasion during the part of the Napoleonic wars.
Simcoe was chosen to succeed Lord Cornwallis as Governor General of India, but died before he could take office.
Importantly, John Graves Simcoe was, in real life, the complete opposite of the psycho-maniac character that is portrayed in the fictional television series "TURN." Simcoe emphasized: training and instruction of his troops; support of local farmers; anti-marauding; taking of prisoners to prevent unnecessary bloodshed; the reading of all written orders to the rank-and-file at daily parade; and verbal instructions of officers as to what was required of them to eliminate possible misunderstandings.
Some of the significant events depicted in the series simply did
not occur in real life.
--Fred Sorrell
We have been moved to the Ukrop Auditorium in the Robins School of Business (Building 102 on the attached map). This is right by the Campus Drive entrance. There is ample parking all around the building, but across the street is best. MAP IS HERE. (link at bottom of page)
Due to unforeseen circumstances, Mark Lender's presentation on Fort Ticonderoga will be rescheduled for 2024.
www.trar.us; a nonprofit organization established to educate Americans and others about what really happened during our American Revolution.Our next meeting, originally scheduled for May 17, 2023, will now be held on Wednesday, May 24, in the Gottwald Science Center auditorium. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. and dinner will not be available. Scheduling conflicts at the University necessitated this change. Remember:
Wednesday, May 24, 2023
Gottwald Science Center auditorium
6:30 p.m.
Our presenter will continue to be Mark Lender speaking on his new book, Fort Ticonderoga, The Last Campaigns of The War in the North, 1777-1783.
Hope to see everyone there!
The American Revolution Round Table of Richmond is very pleased to announce that the 2022 Harry M. Ward Book Prize honors two excellent but very different works on the War for Independence. Our winners are John Ferling’s, Winning Independence: The Decisive Years of the Revolutionary War, 1778-1781 (New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021), and Steven D. Smith’s, Francis Marion and the Snow's Island Community: Myth, History, and Archaeology (Ashville, NC: United Writers Press, 2021).
John
Ferling is (or certainly should be) a familiar name to anyone with more than a
passing interest in the Founding Era. He is one of the true deans of the
history of the Revolution and its related events. Winning Independence
takes a fresh new look at the later years of the War for Independence, when
after years of fighting, the course of the conflict continued to defy
prediction. The French Alliance had kept the patriot war effort war going, but
with the shift of major British operations to the South, there was seemingly no
end of the conflict in sight. Ferling’s perspective on the southern war is
provocative. He presents a new and positive re-evaluation of the strategic
vision of Henry Clinton, and thus takes a critical view of Cornwallis. Ferling
also suggests that time was not necessarily on the patriots’ side as the
American economy went into virtual free-fall and army and popular morale tanked
along with it. Clinton actually thought a British victory was within his grasp.
How Washington, the French, and any number of other patriots responded to all
of this, and how British miscalculations ultimately led to Yorktown, makes for
thoughtful and often dramatic reading. The book is based on an extraordinary
research effort and is beautifully written. Winning Independence is John
Ferling at his best.
Historians have looked at Francis Marion, the famous Swamp
Fox who so vexed the British campaign in South Carolina, from almost every
conceivable angle. Now, however, in Francis Marion and the Snow's Island Community, Steve D. Smith
has added a new dimension to the story. He has, so to speak, dug Marion up—by
excavating the territory that served as the partisan leader’s home base. Smith
is an archaeologist at the University of South Carolina’s Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, and his book is
based on an exhaustive study of Snow’s Island, a marshy and remote area north
of Charleston. The people living on and near Snow’s
Island were ardent rebels and were quick to join the rebellion against the
Crown. Many of them had become partisans as early as 1775, and after the
British capture of Charleston in 1780, they offered a haven to Marion when he
arrived to launch guerilla operations. Smith has used extensive archaeological
evidence to document the nature of the Snow’s Island community and how it
served as a base and as a source of supplies and recruits for the Swamp Fox.
Drawing deeply on the literature of partisan warfare, including the work of Mao
Zedong, Smith describes the interactions of Marion and the civilian population
and infrastructure that kept patriot resistance alive in South Carolina in the
face of enemy occupation and anti-partisan efforts. The book is a fascinating
read.
1/18/2023 – Washington’s Tent
The January 18, 2023 members’ meeting was hosted by the University of Richmond in conjunction with Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Richmond via Zoom.
Mark Lender announced Harry M. Ward Book Prize committee’s winner of the 2022 competition: A TIE! Winning Independence: The Decisive Years of the Revolutionary War, 1778-1781 by John Ferling, and Francis Marion and the Snow's Island Community: Myth, History, and Archaeology by Steven D Smith. Congratulations to both.
Tyler Putnam, Ph.D., manager of gallery interpretation for the Museum of the American Revolution, in Philadelphia, presented an object biography following General George Washington’s Revolutionary War marquee and headquarters tents.
Marquee tents were tents of unusual size and elaborateness. These officer's field-tents were large tents erected for temporary purposes, such as to accommodate a special occasion, or as temporarily housing for a commanding officer and providing personal space for command activities. Marquees were hard to come by throughout the war. After taking command of the Continental Army, Washington ordered two marquees from Philadelphia upholsterer Plunkett Fleeson which were used during the Valley Forge encampment. A second set, comprised of a dining tent and an office tent with a built-in smaller sleeping chamber, was ordered from James Abeel which survives today. As described by Putnam, Washington’s elaborate marquees were a metaphor signaling the importance of Washington’s leadership position. Today, the marquee is described as “the first Oval Office.”
During George Washington's military career, he owned a series of marquees. At war’s end, the tents were taken to Mount Vernon. After Washington’s death, the marquees were passed by Martha Washington eventually to her grandson George Washington Parke Custis. He passed them on to his daughter, Mary Anna Custis Lee, and her husband, Robert E. Lee. Their enslaved housekeeper, Selina Norris Gray, kept the tent fabric safe when Union Army soldiers ransacked Arlington House during the American Civil War. The tents and other related objects (exterior of the office/sleeping tent, poles of the dining tent, and a storage trunk) are owned and exhibited at the new Museum of the American Revolution. A complete history of Washington's War Tents can be found on the museum’s web site. An internet search of “Washington’s marquee tent” results in many interpretations of this important object.
11/16/2022 – “Forting Up”
Held at University of Richmond
Due to unforeseen events, there was a last-minute change in the evenings’ program speaker. Again, another ARRT-Richmond member was called on, at the last minute, as speaker for the evening’s program presentation. Dr. Bruce M. Venter is CEO of America’s History, LLC , an experienced tour leader, and has written for Blue & Gray, Civil War and the Washington Times. He has previously led tours entitled Rogers Rangers and the French and Indian War and Defending the Highlands: The Revolutionary War in the Hudson River Valley.
After general announcements, Bruce spoke on “Forting Up: Defending the Mohawk Valley through the Artwork of Rufus Grider.” Rufus Grider’s artistic endeavors relating to New York State history began in 1886. At that time, he came up with the idea of making a “collection of pictures of old” buildings of the Mohawk Valley. He decided he could draw these buildings that “formerly existed” if he could find individuals who could describe them and recognize them when drawn. Initially he drew views of buildings and landscapes then Indian relics and finally ”any object suited for illustration,“ including documents, which he copied by tracing the original. From 1886 to about 1900, Grider traveled up and down the Mohawk Valley, with occasional excursions to the Cherry and Schohoarie valleys and Lake George and Lake Champlain, in search of historic buildings, battlefields, the sites of forts the relics of Indians. All of which he drew or copied with explanatory notes. Bruce presented images of Grider’s works and provided architectural details about the buildings’ construction, function and Revolutionary War historical significance.
The New York State Library holds a large collection of Grider’s works
At meeting’s end, Bill Welsch offered the Board’s recommendations for leadership positions of ARRT-Richmond for the next two years and changes to the by-laws. A vote was taken and the Board’s recommendations were unanimously accepted.
9/21/2022 – Washington’s Lieutenants
Held at University of Richmond
Due to unforeseen events, there was a last-minute change in the evenings’ program speaker. Luckily, Bill Welsch stepped in and presented a program on the Continental generals under George Washington. Bill is a frequent speaker on and experienced tour leader of New Jersey Revolutionary War sites. He is a founding member and president of the American Revolution Round Table of Richmond, Virginia.
After general announcements, Bill began his presentation with a collective perspective about the 78 Continental Army’s leaders who were promoted or commissioned as major generals and brigadier generals and took part in the American Revolutionary War.
Summary level demographic information about the generals included: origins by state, pre-war military and political experiences, ethnic origins, professions, Masonic affiliations, and European origins. Bill also spoke about their relations with Congress, Washington, and each other; and offered bits of trivia about a number of the generals, as well as Washington’s opinions about his subordinates. He concluded with a slide show of generals’ portraits.
Bill offered Washington's Revolutionary War Generals (Campaigns and Commanders Series Book 68) by Stephen R. Taaffe as a good source for further information.
At our next meeting on March 15, 2023, Larry Kidder will speak on "That Unhappy Affair at Trenton."
We will be returning to the Westhampton Room in the Heilman Dining Center. Regular dining service will be available beginning at 5:30 p.m. and the meeting will follow at 6:30 p.m.
