A seminar featuring one of the nation’s top Civil War historians is set for November at Christ Church in Vicksburg and preregistration is being offered for three weeks.

Dr. James McPherson of Princeton University will headline speakers scheduled for “Vicksburg and the War in the West,” set for Nov. 11-12, but with registration at a lower rate open until April 1.

McPherson is “a legend in the Civil War community,” said Vicksburg National Military Park Historian Terry Winschel, an organizer of the event for the National Park Service. “Without question he is the dean of historians of the Civil War.”

McPherson’s fields are U.S. history from 1830-1917, slavery and anti-slavery. He is scheduled to speak on “Abraham Lincoln and the War in Mississippi.”

He heads a lineup of five speakers and one musician scheduled to speak or perform.

The others, with their topics, are Dr. Michael Ballard of Mississippi State University, “Vicksburg: The Campaign for Control of the Mississippi River”; Dr. William Cooper Jr. of Louisiana State University, “Jefferson Davis and the War in the West”;Bobby Horton, Civil War musician, “Songs of the Civil War”; Dr. Richard Kiper, American Military University, “Fighting Politician: John A. McClernand”; and Dr. Tim Smith of the Shiloh National Military Park, “Champion Hill: Decisive Battle of the Vicksburg Campaign.”

Cooper and McPherson were appointed by President George H.W. Bush to serve on an advisory committee for preservation of Civil War historic sites, Winschel said.

The seminar is open to anyone. Preregistration, which ends April 1, costs $120 with the fee rising to $150 after that date. The fee includes a Friday reception at Anchuca and a Saturday reception at the Duff Green mansion, where “great food and great music” are expected, Winschel said.

“It’s a heck of a deal,” he added.

Attendance will be limited to 100 people, Winschel said.

The seminar will be the fourth of its kind here. The first was in 1998 at Duff Green and attracted 85 people. Subsequent seminars were in 1999 and 2003.

The fall of Vicksburg is considered one of, if not the, decisive events of the Civil War. The city fell to Union forces in July 1863, after a siege that began on March 29 of that year. Christ Church dates to before the Civil War.

Congress created the military park in 1899 to commemorate the campaign, siege and defense of Vicksburg.

Registration forms are available from the VNMP at 601-636-0583.