Now, 150 years later, the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation kicks off the Sesquicentennial commemoration of that famed campaign with "’A chapter in history...without parallel’: Perspectives on Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign,” a conference that will be held at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia, from 9am-4:30pm on Saturday, March 3, 2012. Speakers will include renowned Civil War historians and authors Ed Bearss, Brandon H. Beck, Peter Cozzens, Gary L. Ecelbarger, and Jonathan Noyalas.

Registrations are now open; pre-registration is required. The cost to attend is $20 per person. To register, download the registration form at the Battlefields Foundation’s website, then mail the completed form with your payment to: Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, P.O. Box 897, New Market, VA 22844.

Conference topics will include:

Ed Bearss: The Significance of the Valley Campaign
Brandon Beck: Winchester’s Strategic Role
Gary Ecelbarger: “We Rejoice in Your Brilliant Success”: Richmond’s Involvement in the Campaign

Peter Cozzens: The Valley Campaign: A Study in Command Jonathan Noyalas: “We Are Prisoners in Our Own Houses”: The Valley Campaign’s Impact on the Civilian Population

About the Speakers:

Edwin C. Bearss is a world-renowned military historian, author, and tour guide known for his work on the American Civil War and World War II. Ed served as Chief Historian of the National Park Service from 1981 to 1994 and is the author of dozens of books and articles.

Dr. Brandon H. Beck is the author of eight books on Civil War history. He is the founder and director of the McCormick Civil War Institute at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia.

Peter Cozzens is the author of sixteen critically acclaimed books on the American Civil War and the Indian Wars of the American West, including “Shenandoah 1862: Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign,” which was a Choice "Outstanding Academic Title" for 2009 and was called " the best single work on any Civil War campaign to appear in many, many decades."

Gary Ecelbarger is a Civil War historian who has written or co-written eight books, including “Three Days in the Shenandoah: Stonewall Jackson at Front Royal and Winchester” and “We Are in for It!: The First Battle of Kernstown.”

Jonathan A. Noyalas is assistant professor of history and director of the Center for Civil War History at Lord Fairfax Community College in Middletown, Virginia. He is the author or editor of eight books on Civil War Era History including “Stonewall Jackson’s 1862 Valley Campaign: War Comes to the Home Front.”