Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
BATTLEGROUND TOURS
walk a battlefield with ed bearss
FAMOUS U.S. BATTLEFIELDS
A battlefield tour with Ed Bearss is a transcendental experience.
—Dennis Frye, historian
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This entry doesn't have a company or an organization attached to it, because Ed Bearss,
the chief historian emeritus for the National Park Service, gives battlefield history tours for
many different organizations—National Geographic Expeditions, Smithsonian Journeys, and
the National Trust for Historic Preservation, to name a few illustrious ones that have enlisted
his services over the years. To tell you the truth, if you're lucky enough to get Bearss (pro-
nounced Bars) as your tour leader, it's not going to matter who organizes the tour—you could
sleep in a tent and eat beans from a can as long as the “Pied Piper of History,” as Bearss has
been called, is your trusty leader.
Although Bearss is often pegged as a Civil War historian thanks to his prominent role in
Ken Burns's popular PBS documentary series, he can also give what the
Washington Post
de-
scribed as “Homeric monologues” on the Revolutionary War, the Mexican War, World War
I, World War II, and probably any war since. As he said in the preface to his book
Fields of
Honor,
“I served in the United States Marine Corps and know how a battlefield feels, sounds
and smells.” And after a Bearss-led tour, so will you. Just Google his name and you'll find
several options for studying under this indefatigable tour leader.
