Our next meeting is to be a hybrid meeting on Tuesday, October 15. 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.
Mark your calendars: our meeting following our October one is Tuesday, November 19. Our own Glenn Williams will be our speaker on the Annapolis Tea Party.
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.
- Christian McBurney
President, George Washington American Revolution Round Table of the District of Columbia
