This will be the first of a series of tours commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the War Between the States. The year 1862 saw many great strategic movements in the East but these led only to some of the bloodiest battles of the war and the collapse of all hopes to end the conflict quickly.

The armies of the Union were afflicted with a steady procession of inadequate commanders who let many a fine opportunity for victory slip through their fingers. The Confederacy produced, in Lee and Jackson, one of the greatest command teams in military history but the steadily improving power of the North would frustrate their bold and imaginative plans. We shall pay full attention to the less well-known Peninsula campaign, in which George McClellan convinced himself he was beaten before he really got started, but in which his Army of the Potomac showed the South that they knew how to fight. We shall not neglect the important naval aspects of the war, and we shall cover some interesting smaller battles as well as the famous fights at Bull Run, Antietam and Fredericksburg.

Hotels in Richmond and Alexandria, Virginia, will enable us to explore all the principal sites of this terrible year. Your guide, John Lee, has conducted several civil war tours and specialises in evoking the experience of the ordinary soldiers in battle.

ITINERARY
Day 1 (Friday): Fly London Heathrow to Washington Dulles International. – Transfer to our hotel in Richmond for a 4 night stay. Welcome dinner.
Day 2: The Peninsula Campaign – McClellan's amphibious operation up the peninsular between the James and York rivers in April 1862.
Day 3: The Seven days Battles; the Confederates under Robert E.Lee drive McClennan back but fail to destroy the army of the Potomac; Confederate Richmond.
Day 4: Hampton Roads: the Merrimac, newly converted to become the ironclad CSS Virginia vs USS Monitor. The first fight between ironclad warships. Visit the Mariners' Museum at Norfolk News and Fort Monroe.
Day 5: We study three battles: Fredericksburg, a serious defeat for the union forces; Cedar Mountain where the Federal Army is forced to retreat and Harpers Ferry, the greatest defeat of the Union forces. We travel to Alexandria for a three night stay.
Day 6: We look first at the fierce fighting between Stonewall Jackson's Brigade General Pope's Army of Virginia, at Brawner's Farm and Second Bull Run (second Manassas) following up with the inconclusive action at Chantilly. The high point of the Confederacy.
Day 7: The Maryland campaign, September 1862. The battle of South Mountain followed by the battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single-day battle in American history. Farewell dinner.
Day 8: Return to Washington where you will have free time before the evening flight back to London.
Day 9: Arrive London Heathrow.