For fifteen years, on the first weekend of October, the Middleburg Community Center is home to an event that may not make the front pages of the local newspapers, but nevertheless is of national significance: The Conference on the Art of Command of the Civil War.

This first-class conference, organized by the Mosby Heritage Area Association, brings nationally known Civil War authors and historians to town for two days of talks and a guided battlefield tour. The theme in 2012 is the Chancellorsville Campaign, arguably one of the most studied military campaigns in history. The Conference kicks off on Friday afternoon, October 5th.

"We get people from all over the country at the Conference," said Childs Burden, the MHAA President who conceived of the event in 1997, two years after the non-profit preservation and historic association was formed. "I can't think of another regularly scheduled Civil War history conference that includes more well-regarded military historians or one that attracts as many participants." In recent years the conference has focused on Stonewall Jackson's 1862 Shenandoah Valley; the Battles of Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville, Mosby's Rangers, and actions around Unison; the Second Battle of Manassas; the Battle of Fredericksburg. Last year, Burden said, "we had a record number of participants, and we believe that the stellar line-up of historians we have to discuss the Chancellorsville Campaign this year will attract another great crowd."

It's also worth noting, Burden added, that the Conference is the signature event of the year for the Mosby Heritage Area Association, which works to educate about, and advocate for, the preservation of the historic, cultural and scenic resources in the Northern Virginia Piedmont. "Our motto is 'Preservation Through Education,'" Burden said, "and the Conference more than lives up to that goal. It has helped raise more than $175,000 for our educational programming for children and adults."

At this year's Conference an array of historians will present nine talks on various aspects of the pivotal April 30-May 6, 1863, Battle of Chancellorsville. In that engagement, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee outmaneuvered Union Gen. Joseph Hooker, but only after there were some 30,000 casualties on both sides. That included the death of famed Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson.

The talks begin on Friday afternoon and continue throughout the day on Saturday. The conference ends with a day-long tour of the Chancellorsville Battlefield on Sunday.

Among this year's speakers is longtime conference favorite, Jeffry Wert, the author of seven books on the Civil War. Other speakers include Gary Ecelbarger, the author of The Battles of Front Royal and Winchester; Kim Holien, a renowned U.S. Army military historian; Frank O'Reilly, the leading expert on the Battle of Fredericksburg; and Eric Wittenberg, a Civil War cavalry specialist and the author of eleven books.

Admission for the entire Conference is $425 or $200 for the Friday and Saturday talks, but excluding the Saturday night dinner. To register and to find out more information about the Conference, call 540-687-6681 or email info@mossbyheritagearea.org