I am very excited that Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours will inaugurate our third Revolutionary War Tour, The Campaigns of George Washington, in the fall of 2026. This will round out our three-tour telling of the American Revolution.

Although I didn’t plan it this way, each of the two previous Revolutionary War tours—Boston to Quebec and the Road to Yorktown—has a central character.

For the Boston to Quebec Tour, which covers the period of 1775-1777, the central character is Benedict Arnold. In these days, long before he turned traitor, he was one of Washington’s most capable commanders. Audacious and daring, he was the hero of so many battles: Ticonderoga, Quebec, Valcour Island, and Saratoga. He takes over that tour.

The central character of our Road to Yorktown Tour, which goes from Charleston to Yorktown and covers the period o 1780-1781, is a villain: the British officer Banastre Tarleton. Like Arnold, he was headstrong and impulsive. From the massacre at Waxhaws to his defeat at Cowpens, we trace his rise from a nobody to one of the most hated British officers of the war.

The central character of The Campaigns of George Washington (1776-1780) is, no surprise, George Washington. The tour starts at West Point, which Benedict Arnold tried to turn over to the British in 1780. Then we head south to New York, where Washington fought his first major battle against the British—a catastrophic defeat for the Americans. But Washington did not give up, crossing the Delaware on Christmas Day, 1776, to defeat the Hessians at the Battle of Trenton the next day.

And so, by a slender threat, the cause continued.

On this tour we visit other Revolutionary War battlefields: Monmouth, Brandywine, Paoli, and Red Bank, as well as sites like Valley Forge and Independence Hall. It’s incredible to be able to look out at the fields where regiments of redcoats launched attacks or wooded hills where desperate colonials held their ground.

As I scouted this tour, I developed a deep respect for Washington in this period. He is constantly being knocked down, and constantly getting up again. He is dealing with a heavily armed and organized enemy, rebellious soldiers, a fractious Congress, and officers on the edge of mutiny. His plans go awry again and again—but he simply will not give in. He methodically manages every situation and molds a new country in the bargain. The internal strength he displays in this period is awe-inspiring.

As always on these trips, we visit famous battlefields and ones that hardly anyone has ever heard of. There’s lots of cool stuff to uncover. The Battle of Paoli contains one of the oldest battlefield markers still in existence, dating back to 1829, on the grave of 53 Revolutionary War soldiers who died there.

At the Battle of Red Bank, across the river from Philadelphia, a ragtag Rhode Island force dealt a heavy blow to Hessian attackers. There’s a marker here that dates back to 1817, and just recently, researchers unearthed the bodies of 15 Hessians killed there. It’s a reminder that even though these events took place nearly 250 years ago, the history is still alive today.

I hope you will join me in October 2026 for The Campaigns of George Washington Tour.

Rick Beyer
Historian
Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours

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