Venerable History Tours

Welcome to Venerable History Tours! We offer battlefield tours for families, churches, and Christian schools. We give visitors an immersive learning experience by walking the actual ground, sharing fascinating stories, conducting scavenger hunts, and engaging in hands-on military demonstrations.We are excited about guiding your next tour and look forward to working with you to create an unforgettable day.

• GETTYSBURG
• ANTIETAM
• Fort McHenry

About the Guide

Jonathan Peters’ interest in history began in the mid-1990s after visiting Gettysburg and watching the movie. From henceforth, he devoted his labors to studying history, especially the American Civil War. As a boy, he gave informal tours of Gettysburg to friends and family. He went on to earn bachelors and masters degrees in history from Bob Jones University. After graduation, he taught history for two years in Centre County, PA, and then came to Harford Christian School, a ministry of Reformation Bible Church in Darlington, MD. In June 2012, Jonathan transitioned to the role of an administrative assistant at the church and school. He continues in this capacity today, and has added on the responsibility of 5th grade Civil War instructor for a month and half each fall. As his schedule permits, he also leads costumed tours of local battlefields for interested parties. He is occasionally accompanied by his wife, Andri-Ellen, attired in her Victorian hoopskirt.Brady Crytzer interviewed Jonathan on Battlefield Pennsylvania: Battle of White Marsh, which premiered on the Pennsylvania Cable Network in September 2019. Since then, Jonathan edited and published Our Comfort in Dying: Civil War Sermons by R. L. Dabney, Stonewall Jackson’s Chief-of-Staff (Sola Fide Publications, 2021). He has also written for educational and theological journals, and given presentations at various academic, religious, and historical organizations.Picture courtesy of Victorian Photography Studio.

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Gettysburg

In June of 1863, Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia invaded the North, seeking to win independence for the Confederacy. George Meade and the Army of the Potomac pursued with 90,000 men, staying between Lee and Washington D.C. The armies collided at Gettysburg, PA in the bloodiest three-day battle of the Civil War. On July 3, Lee ordered a massive artillery bombardment to soften the Union center and then sent 12,500 men across an open field to split the federal line in two. The Yankees held firm, forcing Lee to retreat back to Virginia for two more years of bloody conflict.Venerable History Tours overviews these events, while guiding visitors to key sites on the battlefield, including the Eternal Light Peace Memorial, Little Round Top, the High Water Mark, and the Soldiers National Cemetery, where Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous Gettysburg Address. During the four-hour costumed tour, guests take part in a digital scavenger hunt with prizes for the winners. Tourists likewise can look forward to walking the fields of Pickett’s Charge and engaging in an artillery crew demonstration.Contact Venerable History Tours today to schedule your next trip.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What should each person bring on a Venerable History Tour?Visitors are asked to bring good walking shoes, plenty of water, a sack lunch, a pen or pencil, a clipboard, a digital camera or phone, and comfortable clothing. Be sure to look at the forecast ahead of time to see what you should wear. In the event of severe weather (thunderstorm, downpour, heatwave, etc.), VHT will seek to reschedule your tour for a later date.What are the best means of transportation to and around the battlefields?Venerable History Tours does not provide transportation to and around the battlefields. To save on costs and to cut down on park road congestion, we recommend that small groups carpool as much as possible. For large groups, we strongly recommend bringing or hiring a bus or 15-passenger vans. Aside from the visitor centers, there are limited parking spots at the various stops on the Gettysburg and Antietam battlefields. If you save a front row seat, the VHT guide can join you at the battlefield and do some of the tour from the convenience of your vehicle.How much walking will there be on each battlefield?We will drive around much of the Antietam and Gettysburg battlefields, and get out at various stops. We will typically walk only 25-50 yards from your vehicles to the tour site at each stop. At Gettysburg, there will be more walking on Little Round Top and across the fields of Pickett’s Charge (1 mile), but groups can choose to forgo these things if they wish. Each battlefield tour includes a scavenger hunt in a confined space, but this also can be omitted. The Fort McHenry tour is done exclusively on foot, and there are some stairs we will climb to reach the parapets. Visitors to the fort should expect to walk at least a mile to the various stops throughout the day.

We are not sure that we can do both a Venerable History Tour and one of the museums at Gettysburg. What do you recommend?If you are visiting Gettysburg for the first time, we recommend that you take a Venerable History Tour, and save the museums for your second visit. There is nothing quite like touring the actual battlefield with a costumed guide, walking the fields where the soldiers died, taking a digital scavenger hunt, and engaging in hands-on military demonstrations. It is an immersive experience you will not forget, and we trust, it will inspire you to want to learn more and to explore more of the area on your own in the future.To save on costs, if you are a small school, we recommend that you take more than one class at a time. VHT can attest that a one-room schoolhouse model works well on a battlefield tour, especially if the students are above 1st grade and well behaved.How soon should we contact VHT for a trip?Visitors should contact VHT at least a month in advance to better ensure availability. If you would like to do the signal corps activity at Antietam, please contact us three to four months in advance so we can coordinate things with the national park.Does VHT do any classroom lectures or customized tours, say just of Little Round Top, East Cavalry Field, Burnside’s Bridge, or an entirely different battlefield?If you are interested in a classroom lecture or specialized tour, please contact VHT with your suggestion (preferably several months in advance), and we will get back with you regarding feasibility, availability, and costs. VHT does not guarantee that it can fulfill all specialized requests.Where did you get your costumes?We acquired our costumes from the Gettysburg Emporium. Some of our accoutrements also came from the Regimental Quartermaster, The Maryland Sutler, and C&C Sutlery.

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Our Comfort in Dying

Our Comfort in Dying: Civil War Sermons by R. L. Dabney, Stonewall Jackson’s Chief-of-Staff. Destin, FL: Sola Fide Publications, 2021. Painting by Julia Akers.The Heidelberg Catechism asks: “What is thy only comfort in life and in death?” Answer: “That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.” Robert Lewis Dabney preached this doctrine in Confederate camps throughout the American Civil War, serving as the chaplain of the 18th Virginia in 1861 and the parson-adjutant to Stonewall Jackson during the Valley and Peninsula Campaigns of 1862. Poor health forced Dabney eventually to resign, but his “sturdy piety,” gripping sermons, and fervent prayers were “a great impetus” to the religious awakening which later swept through the Army of Northern Virginia.In the 1880s, Dabney wrote out a number of his wartime sermons which “were formed indelibly impressed upon [his] memory,” hoping to have them published under the title, Army Sermons, or Discourses. These sermons lay forgotten in the archives of Union Seminary for a century, but Jonathan Peters transcribed them during the covid pandemic and published them through Sola Fide Publications in 2021 with a new title, glossary, and introduction. Eyewitness accounts were also included to illuminate Dabney’s effectiveness as a minister of the Protestant faith in the Confederate armies. Never before was such an extensive set of Civil War camp sermons ever published. The book is now out of print, but Jonathan is working on publishing an updated second edition, which will contain additional research and Dabney’s two wartime tracts.

Praise for the First EditionExcellent research, a detailed bibliography, and numerous photographic images bring Dabney’s sermons to life. This work is especially suited for those interested in the spiritual influences of the Civil War. However, all readers will benefit from the excellent life lessons that are covered in this book.
– Richard J. Blumberg, Civil War NewsJonathan Peters and Sola Fide Publications have done a great service in publishing the Army Sermons of Robert Lewis Dabney. Those of us who have benefited from reading Dabney’s Sacred Rhetoric will also benefit from reading some of his own sermons, which tell us nearly as much about Dabney’s audiences as they do about Dabney.
– T. David Gordon, author of Why Johnny Can’t Preach: The Media Have Shaped the Messengers“The reader will find that Dabney’s sermons read like something out of the Westminster Confession of Faith for their deep insight and wisdom; yet they maintain a penetrating practical application aimed at the heart of the hearers.
– Stephen Lee, founder of SermonAudioRead as a history of the times, this book has merit. Read as a challenge by a preacher to holy living, this book provokes deeper thought and study.
– Scott Mingus, Sr., author of Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Confederate Expedition to the Susquehanna River, June 1863All who have become aware of Robert L. Dabney will be thankful for the work of Jonathan Peters in recovering these rare sermons by one of the most eminent preachers of Virginia, and with them he brings together much little-known and illuminating comment from other sources. Here is a great reminder that, whether in life or death, the word of God is the strength of all who belong to Christ.
– Iain H. Murray, co-founder of the Banner of Truth TrustThese sermons by one of America’s greatest ministers and theologians are valuable for their content as well as for the important insights into that fratricidal conflict known as the American Civil War. Peters does not side-step the problems with Dabney’s views concerning the African slaves, but addresses that problem head-on in his introduction to this volume.
– Dewey Roberts, author of Samuel Davies: Apostle to VirginiaOne aspect likely to strike the reader is that the war takes a relatively minor role in most of the sermons. Generally, they are expositions of Scripture likely to be edifying to any Christian regardless of their context.
– Mark Sidwell, author of Free Indeed: Heroes of Black Christian HistoryOur Comfort in Dying brings together significant works by a Virginian who was notable not only as one of those who ‘rode with Stonewall,’ but also as a major spiritual and intellectual thinker in the Civil War South.
– Jonathan M. Steplyk, The Civil War MonitorDabney’s sermons deserve our consideration; they will promote our spiritual health. It is good to have them available. Set aside any prejudices you may have and grow in grace.
– C. N. Willborn, editor of Selected Writings of Benjamin Morgan Palmer