Our next meeting is to be a hybrid meeting on Wednesday, June 12. We will be meeting in person at the Mount Vernon Inn at 6 p.m. (social hour) and 6:40 p.m. (dinner). For those who want to attend remotely, the Zoom meeting will start at 7 p.m. or a little later. Please let me know by responding to this email if you would like to attend the meeting in-person (which we much prefer) or by Zoom.
If you would like to attend, please fill out the attached reservation form and mail it to Richard Rankin. You can also let Richard or me know if you would like to attend and pay at the door (cash or check to ARRT). Please indicate if you want meat or salmon for dinner.
If you can only attend by Zoom, I will email you a Zoom link to the meeting the day of the meeting. Feel free to share this email with a friend who or family member whom you think may be interested.
This is out last in-person meeting until September.
Our next speaker will be Andrew Outten of the Society of the Cincinnati, who will be speaking on “You Cannot Conquer America”: British Logistical Failures in the Campaigns of 1777.” When Daniel Weir assumed the role of Britain’s commissary general in May 1777, he inherited a crisis surrounding the supply of provisions and other goods for British forces in North America. His predecessors had previously and continuously tried to solve the problem, yet all remained unsuccessful. Goods and supplies sent from England via Cork, Ireland, had been arriving in North America either spoiled or dead and because of American privateers, some did not arrive at all. Additionally, the costs associated with supplying the British military in North America had greatly increased throughout the first two years of the war, causing British treasury officials to place a heavy burden on British commanders to obtain goods and fresh provisions locally to help offset the high costs associated with the supplies shipped from England. As a solution to this problem was attempting to be solved, two British field armies were preparing to embark on two campaigns over two vastly different landscapes that would require a demanding number of provisions and supplies. This talk examines the 1777 campaigns of British generals William Howe and John Burgoyne, discusses the logistical problems both commanders faced, and asserts how the British army’s logistical problems not only had a direct impact on the outcome of 1777, but of the American Revolution itself.
Andrew Outten is the historical programs manager for the Society of the Cincinnati and its American Revolution Institute, where he is responsible for the development and management of the Institute’s public programming and videography. Prior to joining the professional staff of the Society of the Cincinnati in October 2021, he was the director of education and museum services for the Brandywine Battlefield Park Associates for nine years, where he developed and managed the site’s programmatic and interpretative initiatives, while overseeing its daily operations. During his employment at Brandywine Battlefield Park, he also served as the chairman for the Brandywine Battlefield Task Force, a coalition of government officials, museum professionals, and historians dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of Brandywine Battlefield, and as a historical consultant for various regional projects, programs, and studies surrounding the Battle of Brandywine. For these efforts, he was awarded the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution’s Historic Preservation Medal in 2021.
Election of Officers of the George Washington American Revolution Round Table of the District of Columbia
I am pleased to report that last Thursday, May 23, at a Zoom meeting at which all those who had paid dues were invited to attend and vote, the following were elected as officers of our ARRT:
President: Christian McBurney
Vice President: Eugene Procknow
Treasurer: Richard Rankin
Secretary: Doug Bonforte
The above will serve until either they resign or are replaced by a vote of the members of our ARRT.
Society of the Cincinnati / American Revolution Institute: John Trumbull: Painter of the American Revolution by Richard Brookhiser—June 4, 6:30 p.m.
John Trumbull experienced the American Revolution firsthand by serving as an aide to American generals George Washington and Horatio Gates and being jailed as a spy. Throughout his wartime experience, he made it his mission to record the conflict, giving visual form to the great and unprecedented political experiment for the citizens of the newly formed United States. Although Trumbull’s contemporaries viewed him as a painter, Trumbull thought of himself as a historian. Drawing on his new book, historian and biographer Richard Brookhiser focuses our attention on the complicated life and legacy of Trumbull, whose paintings portrayed both the struggle and principles that distinguished America’s founding moment.
George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Library Events and Programs
Mount Vernon has a number of upcoming events, including a Symposium on May 31, the 2024 Annual Martha Washington Lecture, and Richard Brookhiser on John Trumbull (in July). Click on the link below for more information:
https://www.mountvernon.org/library/library-events-programs/
Fort Plain Museum Revolutionary War Conference 250 in the Mohawk Valley
The excellent Fort Plain Museum’s Revolutionary War Conference 250 in the Mohawk Valley will take place this year on June 14-16 in Johnstown, New York. Registration is still open. The scheduled speakers (including our own Glenn Williams and Gary Ecelbarger) are: James Kirby Martin and guest host Mark Edward Lender having a fireside chat about the American Revolutionary War, its Sestercentennial, and their legacies as historians
Nancy Bradeen Spannaus, “Alexander Hamilton’s War for American Economic Independence Through Two Documents” (supported by the Alexander Hamilton Awareness Society)
Gary Ecelbarger, “‘This Happy Opportunity’: George Washington and the Battle of Germantown”
Shirley L. Green, “Revolutionary Blacks: Discovering the Frank Brothers, Freeborn Men of Color, Soldiers of Independence”
Mark Edward Lender, “‘Liberty or Death!’: Some Revolutionary Statistics and Existential Warfare”
Shawn David McGhee, “No Longer Subjects of the British King: The Political Transformation of Royal Subjects to Republican Citizens, 1774-1776”
James Kirby Martin, “The Marquis de Lafayette Visits the Mohawk Valley, Again and Again”
Kristofer Ray, “The Cherokees, the Six Nations and Indian Diplomacy circa 1763-1776”
Matthew E. Reardon, “The Traitor’s Homecoming: Benedict Arnold’s Raid on New London, September 4-13, 1781”
John L. Smith, “The Unexpected Abigail Adams: A Woman ‘Not Apt to Be Intimidated’” (supported by the Dr. Joseph Warren Foundation)
Bruce M. Venter, “Albany and the Stamp Act Crisis of 1765”
Glenn F. Williams, “No Other Motive Than the True Interest of This Country: Dunmore’s War 1774”
Chris Leonard, Schenectady City Historian, “Storehouse Schenectady: Depot and Transportation Center for the Northern War”
David Moyer, “Recent Archaeology Discoveries on the Site of Revolutionary War Fort Plain”
There will also be a bus tour of Revolutionary sites in the area with the theme of “1774: The Rising Tide.” In that year Schenectady saw a violent Liberty Pole riot while the British Indian agent Sir William Johnson passed away in July.
For more information, click on this link: https://fortplainmuseum.org/viewevent.aspx?ID=1062
Our Last Meeting
We had the largest in-person attendance at our last meeting since before the pandemic. And our speaker, Rob Orrison, came through wonderfully and gave a very informative talk on the Battle of Camden.
Patrick Wamsley attended the 100th Anniversary of Fort Frederick State Park last Saturday and Sunday. According to its website, the fort is the only stone fort built by a British colony during the French and Indian War. Patrick saw a display on the fort’s role during the Revolutionary War as a POW camp.
I visited Fort Miles Museum at Lewes, Delaware over the weekend. It was very well done. I am sure it is the best museum in the country on coastal fortifications in World War II. The tour inside was good (the fort was the largest underground fort of all the coastal fortifications built in World War II) and there are numerous large pieces of artillery on the park’s grounds (though almost all from the US Navy, the US Army having disposed of their historical pieces after the war). I came mainly to see a German U-boat’s 20mm anti-aircraft gun that was on the deck of U-853, which was sunk off Rhode Island and a salvage jerk in the 1970s removed it and showed it off at his dive store in Delaware; fortunately, the museum wound up with it and it has been nicely preserved). The park is in Cape Henlopen State Park at Lewes and has limited hours. The historical town of Lewes is also nicely preserved in many parts.
250 anniversary events are continuing. In May 1774, a peeved Lord Dunsmore shut down the House of Burgesses!
Have a great week!
- Christian McBurney
