Council on America's Military Past
42nd Annual Military History Conference
Red Lion Hotel
161 West 600 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
May 14-18, 2008
THE HOUSING CONNECTION WILL MAKE BOTH THE CONFERENCE AND HOTEL RESERVATIONS FOR YOU. TO MAKE RESERVATIONS ON LINE CLICK THE LINK BELOW AND FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS OR CALL 1-800-217-0002. CONFERENCE REGISTRATION FOR THE FOUR DAYS, MAY 14-17 IS $340.00 AND THE ADD ON SUNDAY TOUR IS $65.00 PER PERSON. ROOMS IN THE RED LION HOTEL ARE $104.00 PER NIGHT.
This year's conference will focus on the military history of northern Utah from the early fur trading post to modern air combat facilities. Participants will visit 19th century military sites significant in the Utah and Ute wars and turn of the century Army posts that contributed to the development of our modern Air Force.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Wednesday May 14, 2008
1:00pm Book Exhibits, Conference Registration, the Director's Meeting and a Department Head Symposium will take place during the afternoon. From 6:00pm to 8:00pm the opening reception and briefing will be conducted at the hotel.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
8:00am The first day of the conference will begin with papers until 11:00am when participants board buses for the trip to Hill Air Force Base, an Air Force Materiel Command base that carries out many operational and support missions. The post was first established for the Army air mail experiment in 1934 then named Hill Army Air Field in 1940. In 1947 when the U. S. Air Force was created the base ended its association with the Army and became Hill Air Force Base. Today, with the Ogden Air Logistics Center serving as the host command, the base provides worldwide engineering and logistics management for the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the A-10 Thunderbolt II, Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.
12:00m Conference Opening Ceremony will take place at Hill AFB.
12:15pm Move to Hill AFB Officer's Club for lunch.
1:00pm Tour Hill AFB and the Aerospace Museum.
4:00pm Visit Fort Buenaventura (1847-1860), the site of the earliest European settlement in what is now Utah. The fort began as a simple trading post where a cottonwood stockade was built in 1845. The nearby settlement became Brown's Fort, then grew to Brownsville and finally Ogden, UT.
7:00pm Back at the hotel, the Annual Dinner with Society of Military History will begin with a social hour followed by dinner at 8:00pm. The speaker will be Dr. Gene Sessions who will talk about the Utah War of 1856-1861.
Friday, May 16, 2008
8:00am Concurrent sessions of papers to be presented at the hotel.
9:00am Travel to and tour Camp Floyd near Fairfield, UT. The post was built by the U.S. Army in 1858 to house troops sent to suppress a rumored rebellion that never materialized but was later called the Utah War. The post was named Fort Crittenden in 1860 and in 1861 the troops were withdrawn and the fort abandoned.
10:00am Travel to Camp W. G. Williams, a 28,000 acre National Guard Training Site at Riverton, UT. After lunch at Camp Williams' Officer's Club the group will pass the Mormon Cedar Fort (1847), and tour Tooele Depot.
12:00m Travel to Wendover AFB, the primary training site of the Utah National Guard. One of the most preserved and historic military post, Wendover began in 1040 as an Air Corps bombing and gunnery range that was named Wendover Army Air Field in 1942. Eventually housing over 17,500 military personnel with the mission of training heavy bomber groups, the post included a three million acre bombing and gunnery range. The crew that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan trained at Wendover and crews tested cruise missiles during world War II. Renamed Wendover Air Force Base in 1947 the post was inactivated two years later only to see service for a short period after the Korean War. Today the air field is a municipal airport named Decker Field and the Historic Wendover Airfield, a local preservation group, work diligently to preserve the remaining military structures.
2:00pm Tour Wendover AFB and Enola Gay Hanger and loading pit. Before leaving the area participants will have an opportunity to cross the border to West Wendover, NV and enjoy a buffet dinner at the casino.
4:00pm Return to hotel.
7:00pm Yount-Windsor Book Auction at the hotel
Saturday May 17, 2008
8:00am Concurrent paper sessions at the hotel then travel to the site of Camp Douglas, a small post established in 1862 to protect the overland mail route and telegraph lines and served as Headquarters for the District of Utah. Renamed Fort Douglas in 1878 the post continued to guard the transcontinental railroad and was used as an internment camp for German immigrants and housed German naval prisoners of war. Fort Douglas became an Army Air Field during World War II and was used as a reserve training post after the war. The post was closed in 1991 and most of the buildings turned over to the University of Utah. The Military Museum at Fort Douglas is administered by the Utah National Guard and supported by the Fort Douglas Foundation.
12:00m Lunch at the Fort Douglas Officer's Club
1:00pm Tour Fort Douglas and the museum then return to the hotel.
7:00pm The Annual Banquet begins with a social hour followed by dinner at 8:00pm. The after dinner speaker will be Robert K. Sutton, Chief Historian, National Park Service.
Sunday, May 18, 2008 Optional Add-on Day
1:00am Travel to Fort Bridger State Historic Site in Wyoming with stops at the Utah War's Echo Canyon defensive earthworks along route.
12:00m Lunch and tour of Fort Bridger, the site of a 19th century stockade fur trading post established by mountain man Jim Bridger in 1843. Bridger's well stocked shelves quickly became a primary supply point for westbound immigrants on the Oregon Trail and a small town, appropriately named Fort Bridger, soon sprang up outside the fort walls. In 1847 Mormon pioneers arrived and Jim Bridger sold his interest to the Mormons in 1853. The fort was burned in 1857 to prevent it from being occupied by the U.S. Army sent to the area during the Utah War. The Army occupied the site in 1858 then abandoned it in 1861 when most of the western army was sent back east during the early days of the Civil War.
3:00pm Depart Fort Bridger and return to the hotel.
Hotel reservations as well as conference registration is being carried out by Housing Reservations that can be reached at 1-800-217-0002. A link to their website is be provided at the top of this page so you can make your reservations on the web.
THIS PAGE LAST UPDATED APRIL 18, 2008
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