2014 Conference on The Civil War Explores Science, Medicine, and Technology

The 2014 Conference on The Civil War, “Science, Medicine, and Technology in the Civil War,” will be held October 9-10, 2014. The keynote address will be given by Charles D. Ross of Longwood University. His talk, “Black Powder and the Cannon’s Roar,” will examine a variety of topics ranging from the phenomenon of acoustic shadows to the operations taking place at the Confederate Powder Works in Augusta, Georgia. It will be presented October 9, 2014 at 6:30p.m. in the Overby Center Auditorium. Panel sessions on a host of topics, including changing definitions of metal illness and its treatment, the institutionalization of Union Veterans, the influence of dual revolutions in print and photography, and the dramatic consequences of Union telegraph failures at the Battle of Chancellorsville, will be held all day Friday, October 10, in the Butler Auditorium (Triplett Alumni Center). The Center will also also award the 2014 Wiley-Silver Prize, which recognizes the best first book on the Civil War published in the preceding year, thereby recognizing and encouraging new and emerging scholars in the history of the American Civil War. All events are free and open to the public.