Thursday Color Bearer Tours

Walking and Mobility: If you have limitations, please take note of the statement regarding the amount of walking anticipated on each tour that is included in bold at the end of each tour description.

Thursday Color Bearer Tours

Battle of Green Springs with Kirby Smith

Description:  We’ll begin the day discussing the movements of both the British Forces under General Charles Cornwallis and the movements of General Lafayette’s Patriot Forces in the days before the encounter between the two armies near old Jamestown. It was in the fields near the Green Spring Plantation on the hot afternoon of July 6, 1781, that an opportunity presented itself to Lafayette to engage the British forces on equal footing, or so he thought. We will walk the grounds of the 1781 battlefield and study the terrain where General Cornwallis laid his trap for Lafayette, and where Lafayette’s eagerness to engage Cornwallis led to a near disaster for the Patriot Forces. This 30-minute presentation, followed by an hour-long walking tour of the battlefield, will explore an overlooked aspect of the Revolutionary War on Virginia’s Peninsula. Thursday’s tour will involve light walking, on a paved path of roughly 500 yards. 

Civil War Walking Tour of Colonial Williamsburg with Drew Gruber

Description: Walk the famous Duke of Gloucester Street in Colonial Williamsburg and experience this town in a whole new way. Before, during, and after the May 5th, 1862 battle this sleepy town was the epicenter of the Civil War on the Virginia Peninsula. Join Drew on this walking tour and stand in the footsteps of soldiers, citizens, and the enslaved as we discuss the serious and sometimes comical events which played out here. This tour will involve walking on paved, flat surfaces with intermittent breaks and the option to climb some steps. The walk is one-mile total.

Fort Monroe and More with Garry Adelman

Description: Fort (or Fortress) Monroe is not only the largest stone fort ever built in the United States, but it’s also among the coolest and most consequential! Situated at the very tip of the Lower Peninsula, and held by the Union throughout the Civil War, the fort was ground zero in the “contraband” debate, witnessed the burning of the adjacent town of Hampton, was proximate to battles at Big Bethel and Hampton Roads, and is among rather few places that hosted Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis. Join Garry Adelman for a tour of the fort, the grounds, the Casemate Museum, and, time allowing, another area site or two around Hampton. Moderate walking level--expect roughly ½ mile of walking on paved surfaces and some optional stairways.