Antietam

Carroll Community College and the Historical Society of Carroll County will hold their fifth annual "Maryland and the Civil War: A Regional Perspective" program from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 20 at the college. Doors will open at 8:30 a.m. for registration and a welcome by historian Jay Graybeal. Concurrent workshops will be held at 10:45 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2:15 p.m. Registration is $25 for county residents and senior citizens age 60 and older, $30 for noncounty residents and $42 for out-of-state residents.

The tired summer grass and leaves were lightly coated with dust from the road. First Sgt. John M. Bloss ordered his line of skirmishers to take a break in a clover field about two miles south of Frederick. These skirmishers were the vanguard of the main force, members of Company F of the 27th Indiana Volunteers, 12th Corps. Up since before dawn, they had been selected because they were familiar with this area. They had crossed the Monocacy River at a shallow point, stepped over the rails of the Frederick spur of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and stopped about 100 yards east of Georgetown Pike.

A reference to Oliver Wendell Holmes in an article on Antietam in today's Perspective section should have made clear that it was Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes who had gone to the battlefield to find his wounded son, the future associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

One thing missing from next weekend's re-enactment at Boonsboro of the 1862 Civil War Battle of South Mountain will be the prelude of widespread cavalry skirmishing that accompanied Gen. Robert E. Lee's first invasion of Maryland. These deadly clashes, and the men who fought in them, are all but forgotten by history. South Mountain is generally considered to be the opening phase of the Battle of Antietam, but it was a serious engagement in its own right and the climax of weeks of small-scale battles throughout Central Maryland.

SHARPSBURG - One hundred and thirty-three years ago, almost 5,000 Union soldiers were buried in what is now Antietam National Cemetery on the battlefield where they fell, most of them far from their homes. Yesterday, a sailor who died far from his home was laid to rest in this cemetery a few miles from where he grew up. Patrick Howard Roy was buried a week after Seaman Apprentice Craig B. Wibberley of nearby Williamsport was laid to rest, and a day after the funeral for Engine Fireman Joshua L. Parlett of Churchville.

Fred Papa of Hagerstown has been involved with acquiring and leasing sites for the wireless industry from Vermont to Virginia, but the little town of Union Bridge would be the first place where his company would build and own a cellular tower. Carroll County's smallest town, with about 1,000 residents, plans to join other municipalities in drawing revenue from the lucrative scramble by companies seeking cell sites. The town plans to put the money toward more than $1 million in planned water projects.

SHARPSBURG - Here it is, the latest battle at Antietam. William Chaney is on one side. The Civil War buff and businessman from Anne Arundel County owns a historic farmhouse and plot of land just off the national battlefield. And now he's moving on a plan to restore the building to its wartime appearance, open a museum and put up three Confederate monuments. Arrayed against him are local Civil War enthusiasts and town officials in nearby Sharpsburg. They argue that Chaney's plan crosses a line.

Why are Maryland's colonial Carrolls, in retrospect, so unlikable? The three successive Charles Carrolls (known as "the Settler," "of Annapolis" and "of Carrollton" or "the Signer") amassed, over the years, the most land of anybody, the most money, the most field and house slaves. Later in life, the Settler grabbed also for political power, but as Roman Catholics the Carrolls were by then ineligible. Not that, formalities aside, grandfather or father or son was a religious man. Good works?

HAGERSTOWN - The dream: An immense national Civil War museum will open in 2003, making this Western Maryland city an epicenter of tourism. The reality in Annapolis: Seeking state funding for a $50 million development can be painstaking and dogged by setbacks. The Antietam Creek Coalition - a consortium of 15 Civil War buffs, developers, architects, lawyers, bankers and historians from around the country - is hoping to break ground on the American Museum of the Civil War in downtown Hagerstown within two years.

Seeing the long driveway leading up the hill to Antietam Overlook Farm makes me breathe a little sigh of relief. The cares of work, kids and home gently slip away. We have arrived at our respite, a bit of country elegance just a few miles from Baltimore. At the gate, my husband, David, and I open a box that contains a number pad and a button, and we push it. "Yes?" answers a female voice. "Can I help you?" We explain that we have reservations, and the electric gate swings opens. Antietam Overlook Farm is aptly named.