Fort Sumter

FORT CARROLL, four miles downstream from Fort McHenry, is one of Baltimore's best-kept secrets. The 150-year-old privately owned hexagonal stronghold is still in relatively good shape -- even though it has been abandoned for decades. Most Baltimoreans have never seen the 3.45-acre artificial island, which lies underneath the Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge. Nor is any interest encouraged. "We would prefer no publicity," says Alan Eisenberg, one of the Patapsco River fort's owners. His father, the late Benjamin N. Eisenberg, bought the fort for $10,000 in 1958.

It had come down to this -- two teams that practice against each other, dueling for first place in a countywide black history trivia competition. The middle school teams, both from Baltimore County's Loch Raven Academy, correctly answered the first tiebreaker in a contest that requires mastery of a slice of arcana unknown to most Americans, of any race. Neither team got the second question. Both nailed the third extra question. "OK, take a breath," encouraged Rex Shepard, moderator of the middle school division at yesterday's Black Saga Competition.

Friends of the President Street Station -- a group of Civil War enthusiasts -- will celebrate the 140th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's Civil War address in Baltimore with a parade, memorial service and walking tours Saturday. Lincoln addressed a crowd of Baltimoreans on April 18, 1864, three years after Southern sympathizers clashed with Union troops near the President Street Station. The incident -- known as the Pratt Street riot -- came less than a week after South Carolina forces attacked Fort Sumter.

Friends of the President Street Station -- a group of Civil War enthusiasts -- will celebrate the 140th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's Civil War address in Baltimore with a parade, memorial service and walking tours Saturday. Lincoln addressed a crowd of Baltimoreans on April 18, 1864, three years after Southern sympathizers clashed with Union troops near the President Street Station. The incident -- known as the Pratt Street riot -- came less than a week after South Carolina forces attacked Fort Sumter.

In July of 1861 the Civil War was young.The shooting war had started at 4:30 a.m. April 12 at Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, S.C., where Confederate forces commanded by Brig. Gen. Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard of Louisiana bombarded the Union garrison and accepted its formal surrender April 14.On April 15, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring that an insurrection existed and calling out 75,000 militia from the Northern states to suppress it. The buildup for the First Battle of Bull Run, or Manassas as the South called it, had begun.

Best bet There's no contest for what you should be watching tonight, as MPT begins re-running a nine-part series that constituted some of TV's finest hours."

Betcha didn't know this -- but it's the opening days of the Civil War, and Fort McHenry is a Union fort, surrounded by a city whose sentiments are openly sympathetic to the South.And you thought this was 1996 with the Civil War far, far behind us. Well, on Saturday and Sunday, the 1861 Civil War Encampment takes over Fort McHenry. The park will be open to visitors who wish to experience that period in the life of Fort McHenry. About 7,000 people are expected to attend over the two days."There are 150 people involved," says Scott Sheads, the park historian at Fort McHenry.

A crystal ball it's not.Even so, the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, as reported in 1868 in The Baltimore Sun, reveals two things that are useful to know in the near certainty that Bill Clinton will follow him into history.First, much has changed in American political life: the quality of oratory, the things members of Congress regard as important.Much has not changed: Folly still has a hand in the proceedings.President Johnson's opponents at least could refer to major historic events in their recent past to lend gravity to their bombast, if not legitimacy to their charges.

Broadway, Virginia. -- A number of people have commented about the apparent contradiction of a right-to-lifer shooting and killing, in the name of principle, an abortion doctor. How can one devoted to the sanctity of life, they exclaim, believe it justified to commit murder?No surprise, I say: Our political landscape is littered with such contradictions and hypocrisies.Switch the occupant of the White House from Republican to Democrat and watch the senators of the two parties quickly trade across the aisle their sacred principles concerning presidential powers.

It had come down to this -- two teams that practice against each other, dueling for first place in a countywide black history trivia competition. The middle school teams, both from Baltimore County's Loch Raven Academy, correctly answered the first tiebreaker in a contest that requires mastery of a slice of arcana unknown to most Americans, of any race. Neither team got the second question. Both nailed the third extra question. "OK, take a breath," encouraged Rex Shepard, moderator of the middle school division at yesterday's Black Saga Competition.

FORT CARROLL, four miles downstream from Fort McHenry, is one of Baltimore's best-kept secrets. The 150-year-old privately owned hexagonal stronghold is still in relatively good shape -- even though it has been abandoned for decades. Most Baltimoreans have never seen the 3.45-acre artificial island, which lies underneath the Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge. Nor is any interest encouraged. "We would prefer no publicity," says Alan Eisenberg, one of the Patapsco River fort's owners. His father, the late Benjamin N. Eisenberg, bought the fort for $10,000 in 1958.

In July of 1861 the Civil War was young.The shooting war had started at 4:30 a.m. April 12 at Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, S.C., where Confederate forces commanded by Brig. Gen. Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard of Louisiana bombarded the Union garrison and accepted its formal surrender April 14.On April 15, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring that an insurrection existed and calling out 75,000 militia from the Northern states to suppress it. The buildup for the First Battle of Bull Run, or Manassas as the South called it, had begun.

A crystal ball it's not.Even so, the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, as reported in 1868 in The Baltimore Sun, reveals two things that are useful to know in the near certainty that Bill Clinton will follow him into history.First, much has changed in American political life: the quality of oratory, the things members of Congress regard as important.Much has not changed: Folly still has a hand in the proceedings.President Johnson's opponents at least could refer to major historic events in their recent past to lend gravity to their bombast, if not legitimacy to their charges.

Best bet There's no contest for what you should be watching tonight, as MPT begins re-running a nine-part series that constituted some of TV's finest hours."

Betcha didn't know this -- but it's the opening days of the Civil War, and Fort McHenry is a Union fort, surrounded by a city whose sentiments are openly sympathetic to the South.And you thought this was 1996 with the Civil War far, far behind us. Well, on Saturday and Sunday, the 1861 Civil War Encampment takes over Fort McHenry. The park will be open to visitors who wish to experience that period in the life of Fort McHenry. About 7,000 people are expected to attend over the two days."There are 150 people involved," says Scott Sheads, the park historian at Fort McHenry.

Broadway, Virginia. -- A number of people have commented about the apparent contradiction of a right-to-lifer shooting and killing, in the name of principle, an abortion doctor. How can one devoted to the sanctity of life, they exclaim, believe it justified to commit murder?No surprise, I say: Our political landscape is littered with such contradictions and hypocrisies.Switch the occupant of the White House from Republican to Democrat and watch the senators of the two parties quickly trade across the aisle their sacred principles concerning presidential powers.

Baltimore. -- Recreation, as Bart Giamatti liked to say, is re-creation, an attempt to renew ourselves according to some standard, to make a vision palpable. Thus, paradoxically,recreation implies both leisure and what Mr. Giamatti called "a rage to get it right." The people responsible for the Orioles' new ballpark did.It was an architect who said God is in the details. Could have been a baseball person. "Baseball people," Mr. Giamatti said, "have the keenest eyes for details I have ever known" -- this from a professor of poetry.

Aug. 17 1863 Federal batteries and ships began bombarding Fort Sumter in Charleston, S.C., harbor during the Civil War. 1896 Gold was discovered in Canada, a finding that touched off the Klondike gold rush.

Baltimore. -- Recreation, as Bart Giamatti liked to say, is re-creation, an attempt to renew ourselves according to some standard, to make a vision palpable. Thus, paradoxically,recreation implies both leisure and what Mr. Giamatti called "a rage to get it right." The people responsible for the Orioles' new ballpark did.It was an architect who said God is in the details. Could have been a baseball person. "Baseball people," Mr. Giamatti said, "have the keenest eyes for details I have ever known" -- this from a professor of poetry.