We are excited to offer live streaming via Zoom of our lecture day during Jackson's 1862 Valley Campaign conference on April 19!

Our in-person conference will proceed as usual in Staunton, Va. On Friday, April 19, we will live stream the lectures from the Holiday Inn Conference Center from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The talks will be given by Michael C. Harris, Don Pfanz, Scott Patchan, Frank O'Reilly and Bill Miller.

How it works: You will pre-register for the event and receive the Zoom login information. You will receive a virtual packet of information and on April 19, we will stream the in-person conference on Zoom.

Virtual guests will be muted, but you can type questions in the chat to be addressed at the end of each talk. Please note, the talks will not be recorded.

Schedule: The virtual lectures will follow the flow of the in-person conference, but here's the general timeline:

8:30 a.m. Welcome & Civil War Preservation Project Overview

8:45 a.m. "An Overview of the U.S. Army general's adjutant general reports project with specific reference to the 1862 campaign" by Michael C. Harris

"In 1864 and again in the 1870s, the U.S. Army's adjutant general's office asked the then living Union generals to submit accounts of their war service.  These are now being edited for the first time for publication.  Michael Harris will discuss this project and make specific reference to those reports which discuss aspects of the 1862 Shenandoah Valley campaign."

Biography: Michael C. Harris  is a graduate of the University of Mary Wash­ington and the American Military University. He has worked for the National Park Service, New Jersey State Parks and the Penn­sylvania Historical and Museum Commission. His Brandywine: A Military History of the Battle that Lost Philadelphia but Saved America, from which his article in Hallowed Ground magazine adapted, is available from Savas Beatie publishers.

10:30 a.m. "Jackson's Right Arm: Dick Ewell in the Valley" by Don Pfanz

"Although he initially considered Jackson "crazy," Dick Ewell later became "Stonewall Jackson's most loyal supporter.  Jackson, for his part, highly valued Ewell's services, placing more than half of the Valley Army under his command.  This odd, but highly successful, partnership that would last until Ewell's wounding at Second Manassas two months."

Biography: Don Pfanz is a staff historian at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. A native of Gettysburg, Pa., Pfanz graduated from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg in 1980, then joined the National Park Service. Prior to joining the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park staff, Don served at Petersburg National Battlefield and Fort Sumter National Monument. He has written two books: Abraham Lincoln at City Point and Richard S. Ewell: A Soldier's Life.

12-2 p.m. Lunch Break

2 p.m. "Col. Nathaniel McLean and the Road to McDowell" by Scott Patchan

This talk will trace the saga of the McLean family from the role of Justice John McLean of the United States Supreme Court in the anti-slavery movement to the outbreak of the Civil War and the actions of his son in organizing the 75th Ohio Infantry to his heroism at the battle of McDowell.

Biography: A life-long student of military history, Scott C. Patchan is a graduate of James Madison University in the Shenandoah Valley. He is the author of many articles and books, including The Forgotten Fury: The Battle of Piedmont (1996), Shenandoah Summer: The 1864 Valley Campaign (2007), and Second Manassas: Longstreet’s Attack and the Struggle for Chinn Ridge (2011) His book “The Last Battle of Winchester,” was published in 2013. He most recent work is “Worthy of a Higher Rank: The 1864 Journal of Colonel Joseph Thoburn,“ 2021. Patchan has served as a Director on the board of the Kernstown Battlefield Association in Winchester, Virginia, and as a member of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation’s Resource Protection Committee. He was twice president of Bull Run Civil War Round Table and is active with the Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation in many capacities.

3 p.m. "The Liberty Hall Volunteers Return Home: Jackson's College Boys in the Valley" by Frank O'Reilly

Biography: Frank O’Reilly is a Historian for the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park with eight videos in the C-SPAN Video Library.

4 p.m. "Crossed Signals at Cross Keys" by Bill Miller

At Cross Keys -- a field of battle from an artilleryman's dream -- the two armies brought almost 50 guns into lively play for several hours on June 8, 1862. The battle stands as a near perfect demonstration of how the use, and misuse, of the long arm could determine the results on a Civil War Battlefield.

Biography: Bill Miller is an award-winning author who has been researching, writing, speaking and preserving Civil War history for more than 40 years. A retired teacher, he now focuses on Shenandoah Valley history and leads public and private tours of the Valley’s battlefields.

5 p.m. Virtual Session Ends

Cost for the Virtual Lecture is $150/person.