Council on America's Military Past

43rd Annual Military History Conference

Pittsburgh, PA

May 6-10, 2009

This year's military history conference covered Pittsburgh, PA and the surrounding historic region.  With headquarters is the Hyatt Regency Airport Hotel.  Participants began checking in Wednesday afternoon and gathered for a reception that evening.

Thursday activities included paper presentations in the morning, a luncheon with the Society of Military History at noon and afternoon membership meeting.  The day was filled out with presentations on the sites to be visited during the next two days of the conference.

The first stop on Friday's tour schedule was Shanksville, PA and the Flight 93 National Memorial.  This new National Park site commemorates the heroic actions of passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco, CA on September 11, 2001.  A temporary memorial was established and a permanent memorial is planned to open in the summer of 2011.  You can find out more about the Flight 92 Memorial at by visiting the National Park Service web site or clicking on the link.

Next we visited Fort Ligonier, a British stockade built in 1758 as the first effort of the British to control the back country and gateway to the Ohio Valley during the French and Indian War.  The fort site was abandoned in 1766. 

Saturday morning began at the Air Heritage Museum and Aircraft Restoration Center at Beaver Falls, PA where a group of volunteers donate their time and talent to restoring and preserving historic aircraft.

Brushy Run Battlefield, the site of the turning point in the Pontiac War followed then we moved to the site of the Ambridge Shipyard LST shipbuilding facility that produced the shallow bottom ships essential to the Pacific Island Campaigns during World War II. 

And finally it was Fort Pitt Museum followed by the site of the Allegheny Arsenal that produced the large 15 and 20 inch smoothbore cannons during the Civil War.  A drive through the Allegheny Cemetery was followed by the Soldier's and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum.

The conference ended with a formal banquet and an additional add-on trip to Fort Necessity and sites of George Washington's early military career.

THIS PAGE LAST UPDATED MAY 16, 2009

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Post Office Box 4209

Charlottesville, VA 22905