Peddie AP US History students gathered in Efros to hear David Martin’s, Ph.D. talk on the Civil War on Jan. 6. Although the students were informed that there would be a mystery speaker, they did not know that the well-known Latin teacher would be giving the speech.

“At first, I was a little confused. I knew that Dr. Martin was a Latin teacher, but I had no idea that he would know so much about the Civil War and the rest of American history,” said Cindy Park ’17.

Martin, who was dressed as a soldier during the war time, got students interested in his talk by introducing the topic of turning points in the war. The students were given a packet depicting graphs and charts that showed the fluctuations in inflation and politics. He then explained how the financial turning point for the war could have been the Battle of Atlanta in July 1864, while the political turning point could have been November 1864 when Abraham Lincoln did not know he was going to win the election.

“I think his talk was really interesting, because he gave us multiple perspectives on how to interpret the war,” said Sharanya Thondapu ’17.

Although many of the students were intrigued by Martin’s take on the war, he really caught their attention when he picked up a type of a bayonet that was used in the Civil War. He then picked a student, Minhoy Kim ’17, to come up and try on the clothes and equipment of the soldier.

“I thought it was really interesting, because I had figured that the clothes and equipment would be comfortable to fight in. Instead, the clothing was rough and itchy,” said Kim. “There was also only one type of shoe for both my left and right feet, so they were uncomfortable to walk in, let alone fight in.”

“His use of props and costumes really helped the students visualize what the war was like back then, especially for the soldiers,” said Thondapu.

Overall, the talk was a success, as the students excitedly talked about the Civil War after the lecture was finished. They hope that they will have an opportunity to hear Martin speak again about another topic of American history in the future.