NEWS
DavidsonLearns and the Town of Davidson Present “Myths of the Civil War: How Science Can Interpret the Past”
Dr. Hippensteel’s research has produced a book that tackles the long-cherished myths of Civil War history—and ultimately shatters them, based on physics and mathematics. At what range was a Civil War sniper lethal? Did bullets ever “rain like hail”? Could one ever step across a battlefield by stepping only on bodies and never hard ground? How effective were Civil War muskets and rifles? How accurate are photographs and paintings?
Combining science and history, Dr. Hippensteel reexamines much that we hold dear about the Civil War and convincingly argues that memoirs and histories have gotten it wrong. This is a work of history and science for our era of “fake news”—and for well beyond.
Event Information
Myths of the Civil War: How Science can Interpret the Past
Presented by Scott Hippensteel, PhD
Date: Wednesday, March 8
Time: 1:00 pm
Location: Davidson Town Hall, 251 South Street
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dr. Scott Hippensteel
Scott Hippensteel is an Associate Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he focuses on coastal geology, geoarchaeology, and environmental micropaleontology. In his early research which involved the H. L. Hunley, the famous Confederate submarine, he used microfossils to interpret that historical artifact.