User talk:OCDPard

Pickett's Charge

 * I noticed on that talk page that you say "nobody in the ACW community takes that program seriously", referring to the Unsolved History episode dealing with the research and speculation into/about Pickett's Charge. Can you more fully explain the scholarship/research problems with that show, or that episode in particular? Unitedstreaming.com makes it available for public use, and I would hate to refer my students to material that is problematic or erroneous. Many thanks, OCDPard 06:24, 6 January 2006 (UTC)OCDPard

Sorry that my reply was delayed. I have forgotten some of the details of that show, so I cannot give you a blow by blow description. The entire premise of the show is to turn research into a stunt and make it seem scientific. The scenes in which they have reenactor infantrymen and artillerymen firing away at stationary watermelons or something and then try to draw conclusions about the actual number of casualties that should have occurred has drawn a lot of criticism. They ignored completely factors such as movement, smoke, terrain cover (that field has a lot of swales that provide temporary cover to a moving force), and the pressure of fire being returned.

To your specific point, I cannot identify any scholarly source that specifically cites the show for formal criticism. In the circles of Civil War discussion in which I have participated (with historians, NPS battlefield rangers, and aficionados), the show is dismissed as not worthy of discussion. Also, I know of no scholarly research that supports the conclusion of the show, which if I recall was that half of all of the Confederate troops turned back when they reached the fence at the Emmitsburg Road. One has to be relatively suspicious of newly found historical insights about an era that is so well researched, particularly those that has been unearthed by television producers in a low-budget show. My two cents. Hal Jespersen 18:18, 7 January 2006 (UTC)