Sunday, May 21, 2023

Forward Operating Base Valley Forge: George Washington’s Armed Camp on the Schuylkill

Travel by bus with Rick Herrera for a tour focused on the military strategy and tactics of Washington’s encampment at Valley Forge.

Travel on our chartered bus. Includes a box lunch.

Here’s the way author Rick Herrera describes this tour:

Most Americans have grown up thinking of the Continental Army’s winter encampment at Valley Forge as an experiment in suffering and stasis. While the winter of 1777-1778 was miserable, Valley Forge was a hub of military activity; it was the eighteenth-century predecessor to the modern Forward Operating Base (FOB) from which the Continental Army actively challenged the British Army for control of southeastern Pennsylvania. “FOB Valley Forge” will visit the battlefield of Whitemarsh, where Washington decided to march the army into winter quarters at Valley Forge. From there, we will visit and walk Valley Forge’s fortifications, the Pawling Farm (site of the the army’s supply hub and a marketplace for famers to sell their goods to Continental commissaries), and examine the encampment as a fortified camp from which the army challenged British rule in southeastern Pennsylvania from December 1777 through May 1778.

Rick is uniquely suited to delivering an outstanding tour with a military focus:

Ricardo A. Herrera is Professor of Military History at the School of Advanced Military Studies, US Army Command and General Staff College. He is the author of Feeding Washington’s Army: Surviving the Valley Forge Winter of 1778 (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 2021), For Liberty and the Republic: The American Citizen as Soldier, 1775-1861 (New York: New York University Press, 2015), the tentatively titled An American Soldier in Mexico: The Life and Letters of Edward Ashley Bowen Phelps, 1846-1848 (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, forthcoming), and of several articles and chapters on US military history. Herrera is a graduate of Marquette University and UCLA. He has also served as an Armor and Cavalry officer in the US Army.

You may have also seen Rick discuss his recent book Feeding Washington’s Army on our History Camp Discussion series. (You can view it in our archive here.) Rick will also be presenting a session at History Camp Valley Forge Saturday.

We will travel by bus and a box lunch will be provided.

Sold out. This tour can only accommodate 20 people.

Pick-up and drop-off location

Hampton Inn Philadelphia/King of Prussia, 530 W Dekalb Pike #202, King of Prussia, PA 19406. (Both the Philadelphia tour below and this tour have the same pick-up and drop-off location.)

Schedule

Board the bus in King of Prussia at 8:00 am on Sunday, May 21, 2023. We will be departing promptly at 8:30 am.

We expect to arrive back in King of Prussia by 3:30 pm.

Registration

Sold out. Registration for Sunday includes a chartered bus with a box lunch.

Note that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday each require their own registration.

Sunday, May 21, 2023

Revolutionary Philadelphia

Travel by bus to tour the Anthony Wayne House and then experience Revolutionary Philadelphia with three walking tours of historic downtown Philadelphia.

Four tours and transportation on our chartered bus. (Lunch will be on your own.)

The Anthony Wayne House, Waynesborough

The first stop will be the Anthony Wayne House in historic Waynesborough, PA. The “stately Wayne Manor” allows you to travel through time and US history through the rooms and experiences of seven generations of an influential US family from the early 18th century into the early 20th century. A rural, Georgian country estate with connections to the wider Atlantic world, through finance, war, slavery, and material culture. Rooms are tied to each generation and therefore each era of US history. This tour will provide insight on how people lived including similarities and differences.

Special for this History Camp Valley Forge tour—an opportunity to see a unique but simple architectural addition made to the house that provides a portal to discuss and understand global trade, slavery, smuggling, alternative currencies, and food preservation.

You’ll also get to see original documents including Major General Anthony Wayne’s original commission signed by President George Washington and Secretary of War Henry Knox, an American Philosophical Society Member induction for Anthony Wayne signed by Benjamin Franklin, land indentures from the Penn family, an original survey map for a proposed colony in Nova Scotia, and more.

Next we’ll head into Philadelphia for three tours led by the National Park Service, including:

Revolutionary Philadelphia

The Room Where it Happened—Independence Hall

Explore Independence National Historical Park on foot, uncovering stories of the nation’s founding through sites big and small. Join a Park Ranger to tour Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution were written and signed. See the Liberty Bell and reflect on the legacy of liberty and justice throughout America’s past.

The British Occupation of Philadelphia

While Washington’s army encamped 20 miles away in Valley Forge, British soldiers occupied Philadelphia. Explore sites of the occupation to discover what life was like for the civilians and soldiers in the city. Hear about the differing experiences and perspectives of loyalists, rebels, and Quakers during the winter of 1777–1778.

Dr. Franklin’s Philadelphia

Printer, politician, diplomat, inventor—get to know the real Ben Franklin as you explore the streets and sites of his beloved city. Franklin’s accomplishments continue to shape our city, country, and the world.

Pick-up and drop-off location

Hampton Inn Philadelphia/King of Prussia, 530 W Dekalb Pike #202, King of Prussia, PA 19406.

Schedule

Board the bus in King of Prussia at 8:00 am on Sunday, May 21, 2023. We will be departing promptly at 8:30 am.

We expect to leave Philadelphia around 3:30 pm and will arrive back in King of Prussia between 4:30 and 5:00 pm.

Registration

Sold out.

Note that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday each require their own registration.