Wil Greene’s “A Campaign of Giants” tour on September 25–28, 2019, did not disappoint. Populated with an intrepid group of 19 registrants, this was the BGES’s largest 2019 tour to date. After an opening overview of the Petersburg Campaign at the Hyatt Place hotel in Chester, Virginia, we started early the next morning, bringing the … Read more
American originals come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and textures. Some are flesh and blood, and walk among us. Others are the product of a vivid and boundless imagination. Bestselling author and BGES member Winston Groom is undoubtedly one of the former. His most famous character, Forrest Gump, is one of the latter. Fortunately for … Read more
The Civil War era—and all of American history, for that matter—has had its fair share of colorful characters. For BGES member Bryan Hagen, this undeniable fact is one of the things that makes the study of our nation’s past so fascinating. And it’s even more fun for him when he gets to be “in character.” … Read more
This lesser known private park, celebrating its twentieth anniversary in 2019, occupies the spot where the battle that ended the nine-month-long Petersburg Campaign took place on April 2, 1865, resulting in the Confederate’s evacuation of their capital at Richmond. Here you’ll find four antebellum homes, four museums, daily living-history demonstrations, hiking trails winding past important … Read more
The Revolutionary War wrapped up in Virginia, with the French assisting the Colonists in defeating the British at Yorktown. The final steps leading up to this final American/French victory—including why British Gen. Charles, Lord Cornwallis was there in the first place—are explored on an upcoming BGES tour, The Virginia Campaign of 1781, slated for November … Read more
Perhaps no one has done more to interpret and preserve Mississippi’s complicated Civil War past than Magnolia State native Parker Hills. A military veteran, Hills served for more than three decades in active and reserve roles, retiring as a brigadier general, Mississippi Army National Guard. Fittingly, it was during a military staff ride more than thirty … Read more
BGES’ tour schedule for 2020 has been released! Next year we have some twenty-five different tours to look forward to, as well as several new historians. Of particular interest is the long-awaited Gordon Rhea “Overland Campaign” series, in which the acclaimed historian begins a two-year, ten-day presentation of the famous 1864 Campaign between Grant and … Read more
September 14, 2019, will be a special day as we renew an annual tradition. We will be having a community luncheon in Sharpsburg for the cohort of Wounded Warriors and their families that participate in our series of Wounded Warrior tours. For about eight years, the good folks of Keedysville and Sharpsburg have prepared lunch for … Read more
After a nearly thirteen-year break, BGES Executive Director Len Riedel is editing the twentieth monograph in The Papers of the BGES series. Historian Parker Hills drafted the tome, his second in the series—the last one being the second in the series back in 1995. It is slated to be released later this fall. The monograph details … Read more
Between July 10 and 13, 2019, Felix Losco joined six intrepid BGES travelers, Len, and the resident expert, Kyle Sinisi, on BGES’ “An Uncivil War: St. Louis and Southeast Missouri: 1858–1865” tour, which extended from St. Louis to Cape Girardeau. Here is his field report. Day One We met at a convenient hotel near Lambert … Read more