The West Virginia Humanities Council established its new Sesquicentennial Speakers Bureau to help organizations across the state strengthen their programs related to the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and birth of the Mountain State. The sesquicentennial period runs 2011 to 2015 and will be marked by observances all over the country. West Virginia, as the lone state created during the period of the Civil War, has much history to consider during the observance.

A Sesquicentennial Speakers Bureau program will be presented Saturday, September 17, 7 p.m. at the Hillsboro Public Library. The featured speaker is Hunter Lesser, author of the book "Rebels at the Gate:" Lee and McClellan on the Front Line of a Nation Divided. Lesser will present a program based on "The Forgotten First Campaign: Western Virginia, 1861." The event is free and the public is invited to attend. Local sponsor for the program is the Hillsboro Library Friends.

The event begins with a reception featuring Civil War era music at 5 p.m. A potluck dinner begins at 6 p.m., followed by a reading of Civil War and West Virginia-related poems from the collection of Pocahontas County poet and former West Virginia Poet Laureate Louise McNeill at 6:45 p.m.

There will also be a drawing for a Civil War-style quilt made by Hillsboro resident Norma Mikesell.

The mountains of Western Virginia were a proving ground for soldiers and statesmen in 1861. Here generals George McClellan and Robert E. Lee squared off in the opening campaign of America's Civil War. Soldiers, civilians and politicians come to life in Lesser's discussion of this often overlooked chapter of American history.

For more information call 304-653-4936. Groups interested in scheduling a speaker should contact West Virginia Humanities Council program officer Mark Payne at 304-346-8500 or payne@wvhu manities.org.