As a tactical intelligence officer, Brand analyzed contemporary battlefields for the U.S. Army. As a military historian, he continues to do so in historical battlefield studies. Here are some of the battlefield tours he has led for groups like the Clements Center for National Security and the John Jay Institute. Like his research, tours focus on citizen armies, republican statesmanship, and civic militarism.
Tours from the American War of Independence
The Philadelphia Campaign was the crucible that transformed America’s citizen armies into a professional fighting force capable of holding the field against the British regulars. Following the Americans’ disastrous losses in New York and their retreat across New Jersey, the Philadelphia Campaign saw the American army remain intact, but only just. The American story of survival showcases two of the war’s largest battles, the harrowing winters at Valley Forge and Morristown, and the explosive naval and siege warfare along the Delaware.
Howe Triumphant!:
The Battle of Brandywine
Walks the battlefield where Washington tried to hold Philadelphia against Howe and Cornwallis, examining the intelligence failures, decisions in the midst of crisis, and tragic ironies of a day that began and ended with shots fired at pacifist Quaker meeting houses.
Tours the entire breadth of this largest of Revolutionary War battlefields, from the American defenses along the river to the British advance from the north that decided the day.
image from author’s collection
The Fog of War:
The Battle of Germantown
Analyzes the stages of Washington’s audacious attempt to retake Philadelphia, and the unlikely mistakes of his subordinates that led to another American defeat.
Sifts through the now sprawling urban landscape and reconstructs the key sites of the battle at sites like Philadelphia National Cemetery, Germantown Road, and the Chew House.
image from Wikimedia Commons
Explosive Vacillations:
The Sieges of Forts Mifflin & Mercer
Explores the naval actions along the Delaware River as Howe attempted to relieve the siege of Philadelphia. Features the vacillating fortunes of both sides when the Hessians suffered a defeat worse than Trenton, when a ship-of-the-line fantastically exploded, and when Howe nonetheless persevered to crown his land battles with a naval triumph.
Tours the Delaware River & Forts Billingsport, Mercer, & Mifflin.
image from authors collection
Continentals Rising:
The Battle of Monmouth
Traces step-by-step the decisions that cascaded into the largest artillery battle of the war, where Washington gambled on a much needed victory that nearly cost him a defeat but ended with the newly trained Continentals holding their own for the first time in a large-scale set piece battle.
Tours the route followed by the retreating British, the pursuing Americans, and the extensive battlefield farms, gullies, ridges, and hilltops where they clashed.
imagimage in Public Domain
Tours from the Texas War of Independence
Texas has witnessed four centuries of geopolitical diplomacy, crisis, and warfare that began with Native American, Spanish, and Mexican decision-makers. The of 1835-36 War of Independence redefined who these decision-makers would be and what would characterize their spirit. Brand has conducted battlefield and historical site studies that cover the entire war and the foundation of Texas’ Republic.
Native & Colonial Texas
Explores Texas as a crossroads of Old World colonial empires and surveys the Spanish legacy of warfare, the Mexican War of Independence, the 1824 Constitution that the Texian rebels were defending, and the causes of the revolt.
Tour sites include museums and historical sites in Austin and San Antonio.
image from author’s collection
Come & Take It: From Gonzales to Fort Lipantitlan
Investigates the political and military escapades, schemes, and follies that culminated in the War for Independence.
Tour sites range from Gonzalez down to San Patricio near the coast.
image from authors collection
Texians Triumphant:
The Battle for Bexar
Explores General Austin¹s approach to the city, the Mexican defenses in town and in the Alamo, and the original Texian headquarters.
Tour sites include the key Texian camps at places such as Mission Espada, Concepcion Battlefield, San Fernando Cathedral, and the culminating battlefield in the plaza.
image from author’s collection
For Glory, Folly, & the Republic:
Last Stand at the Alamo
Examines Texas’ Thermopylae, the famous doomed siege where Texians led by Bowie and Travis and Tennesseans led by Davy Crockett held out against impossible odds for 13 days until they were overwhelmed and slaughtered to a man.
Tours the Alamo grounds and museums in old San Antonio near the River Walk.
image from author’s collection
Mexicans Invincible:
The Gulf Coast Campaign
Surveys the Mexican army’s string of successes as General Urrea swept up the Gulf Coast and reversed all of the Texian gains from the last year. Includes the famous defeat, capture, and massacre of Fannin’s army from Goliad.
Tours include the Presidio La Bahia and the battlefields at San Patricio, Refugio, and Coleto.
image from author’s collection
Texians in Retreat:
The Runaway Scrape
Follows the route of the Texians as they fled across the eastern rivers, pausing at each crossing in preparation for a final stand that seemed impossible to take.
Tours the river crossings and Texian encampments from the Guadalupe to the Colorado to the Brazos.
image from author’s collection
A New Nation:
The Declaration and Constitution
Walks the political center of the revolt, where the Conventions of 1832 and 1833 and the Consultation of 1835 met. This “birthplace of Anglo-American Settlement” personified the new Republic.
Tours Washington-on-the-Brazos and San Felipe de Austin.
image from author’s collection
Victory Unexpected:
The Battle of San Jacinto
Explores the site where General Sam Houston decided to make a final stand at the San Jacinto River and how, in one of history’s most stunning and rapid reversals, the Texians swept through the Mexican lines and routed the army in a mere eighteen minutes.
Tours Galveston and San Jacinto Battlefield.
image from Wikimedia Commons
The Republic of Texas
Concludes the Texas battlefield series by examining how Texas’ victories and struggles represent those of the West. Texians’ insistence on freedom and self-reliance in 1835-36 still offers challenges and insights to our own age.
Tours museums and historical sites in Houston.
image in Public Domain
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