War Buffs

In pursuing the ghosts of the Civil War through the fields and forests of Virginia, one keeps bumping into Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson.On a grassy rise at Manassas, just south of Washington, Stonewall Jackson's granite statue scans the field from the spot where he earned his nickname by holding fast against a Union attack.A few hours' journey to the west, along Skyline Drive, are the gaps and ridges of the Shenandoah Valley, where he built his reputation by baffling the Union with a grueling series of long, fast marches.

Note to all the Civil War reenactors out there who like to run around shooting old guns: The second-annual Civil War Day planned for Saturday in Parkton might not be for you. Redeemer Lutheran Church is putting on the free event from noon to 6:30 p.m. to tell the story of the U.S. Christian Commission, whose members took Bibles, bandages and coffee to battlefields. There will be performances of period songs, a presentation by an Abraham Lincoln impersonator and children's activities that include ice-cream making.

A wounded Yank and a wounded Rebel, helping each other along the road, will grace the top of a new Maryland monument at the Gettysburg Battlefield.The sculpture, by Houston artist Lawrence M. Ludtke, was the unanimous choice of Maryland judges who considered three finalists yesterday in a competition that brought responses from 83 sculptors around the nation.But art is largely a matter of taste. In the end, the judges agreed with the choice of the National Park Service, although a group of Civil War buffs who voted earlier chose one of the other entries.

E. Patrick Moloney, a banker turned educator who passed onto generations of Archbishop Curley High students his enthusiasm and passion for American and Maryland history, died Saturday of congestive heart failure at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. The longtime Northeast Baltimore resident was 79. Mr. Moloney, the son of a Baltimore police officer and a homemaker, was born Edward Patrick Moloney in Baltimore and raised in the city's Bel Air-Edison neighborhood. "He never used his first name," said his wife of 33 years, the former Rose Dagostaro.

A wounded Yank and a wounded Rebel, helping each other along the road, will grace the top of a new Maryland monument at the Gettysburg Battlefield.The sculpture, by Houston artist Lawrence M. Ludtke, was the unanimous choice of Maryland judges who considered three finalists yesterday in a competition that brought responses from 83 sculptors around the nation.But art is largely a matter of taste. In the end, the judges agreed with the choice of the National Park Service, although a group of Civil War buffs who voted earlier chose one of the other entries.

Think of it as MTV for Civil War buffs. Think of it as pretty great TV. Think of it as a show you don't want to miss if you are one of the millions who loved Ken Burns' "The Civil War.""Songs of the Civil War," at 7:30 tonight on MPT (Channels 22 and 67), is one of the sleepers of the summer. It's a companion piece to Burns' multipart documentary on the war that first aired last fall, and features contemporary pop musicians performing Civil War songs.The musicians include Judy Collins, John Hartford, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Hoyt Axton, Waylon Jennings, Richie Havens, Kathy Mattea, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Ronnie Gilbert and Jay Ungar.

THEATER'Jesus Christ Superstar'Andrew Lloyd Webber's and Tim Rice's "Jesus Christ Superstar" made its U.S. debut as a concert, and the production that has launched its national tour at the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre returns to those roots. Although the show is clearly a fully staged musical, the concert concept is reinforced by the set, lighting and sound equipment. Stars Ted Neeley and Carl Anderson powerfully reprise their 1973 movie roles. Performances are today at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and tomorrow at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $27.50-$47.

I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN fascinated by the way many Americans view the Civil War.Celebrations of rebel symbols or re-enactments of bloody battles would be totally unthinkable in my native Finland, which went through a civil war in 1917, or in Spain which experienced fratricide in the mid-1930s. Yet thousands of Americans think nothing of donning Union or Confederate uniforms every weekend in historic role-playing exercises that can only be described as bizarre.Because of the proximity of so many crucial battle fields, Maryland has a veritable army of Civil War buffs.

Aficionados of American history -- especially Civil War buffs -- owe it to themselves to visit the current exhibit at the B&O Railroad Station Museum in Ellicott City.The "living history" recreation of local involvement in the War Between the States opened July 9 and continues through October. Museum director Ed Williams describes it as "a complete, historical hands-on exhibit" illustrating "what it was like to be here and what it meant to be here" during the four-year conflict that has been called the central event in the history of our nation.

ANTIETAM is the site of the bloodiest day of combat in any war in all of this nation's history. Since the awful day in 1862, the battlefield has always been treated as a solemn, ghostly place. Its monuments are modest; the prevailing aesthetic is to leave things as they were. As a result, the rolling hills have changed little in a century and a half. A visitor can walk Bloody Lane and Burnside Bridge and still imagine the intense fighting that left 23,000 men dead or wounded. The latest conflict to visit Sharpsburg is over a fairly new arrival - a 24-foot bronze statue of Robert E. Lee sitting astride his horse.

Robert Eugene Williams Jr., a retired Baltimore Civil Defense worker, died of cancer Thursday at his Stoneleigh home. He was 81. Mr. Williams was born and raised in Waverly and was a 1944 graduate of Polytechnic Institute. After serving in the Navy near the end of World War II, he went to work for the city water department before enrolling at Washington College. In 1947, he went to work as an engineering officer for the city's Civil Defense Disaster Control Board. He retired in 1990.

Christopher T. Maddox Jr., a retired lawyer and Korean War veteran, died of stomach cancer Sunday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The lifelong Catonsville resident was 78. He was a 1945 graduate of Catonsville High School and earned his law degree in 1948 from what is now the University of Baltimore Law School. From 1952 to 1956, he served in the Navy as a yeoman aboard the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal. Mr. Maddox worked as a lawyer for Commercial Credit Corp. before joining Fidelity & Deposit Co. of Maryland in its salvage department in 1975.

Dressed in World War II infantry attire, David Neidlinger, 18, returned to his old high school recently to give history lessons. Neidlinger, who graduated from Wilde Lake in 2006 and attends University of Maryland, Baltimore County, spoke to freshman history classes about the war. He showed students some equipment used during the war and discussed the sequence of events. He has been a World War II buff since he was about 2, Neidlinger said. "My dad and I just watched the History Channel."

George M. Baker Jr., a retired accountant and Civil War buff, died of a heart attack Sunday at his Forest Hill home. He was 69. Born in Baltimore and raised near Johns Hopkins Hospital, he was a 1955 graduate of Mount St. Joseph's High School, where he wrestled. He joined Allied Bendix Corp. nearly 40 years ago and first worked as a draftsman. After study at the Johns Hopkins University, he became an accountant, retiring in 1996. For many years, he lived in Gardenville, where he led Boy Scout Troop 683. Mr. Baker is a founding member of the Baltimore Stock Club, an amateur investment group, where he also held offices.

ANTIETAM is the site of the bloodiest day of combat in any war in all of this nation's history. Since the awful day in 1862, the battlefield has always been treated as a solemn, ghostly place. Its monuments are modest; the prevailing aesthetic is to leave things as they were. As a result, the rolling hills have changed little in a century and a half. A visitor can walk Bloody Lane and Burnside Bridge and still imagine the intense fighting that left 23,000 men dead or wounded. The latest conflict to visit Sharpsburg is over a fairly new arrival - a 24-foot bronze statue of Robert E. Lee sitting astride his horse.

The 21st annual Civil War Heritage Days event will be held tomorrow through July 6 in Gettysburg, Pa. The event features demonstrations, live music, lectures and a carnival. If you want a blast from the past, visit the opening musical performance of Matthew Dodd with "Civil War Songs and Stories" at 8 p.m. tomorrow. Other bands scheduled to perform include the Apple Core Band, Littlestown Area Municipal Band and the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Fife & Drum Corps. Civil War buffs with kids should check out the carnival's games, rides and booths.

Ken Davis, he of the "Don't Know Much About History" and "Don't Know Much About Geography" best sellers, sits in a conference room of The Baltimore Sun building and makes an observation that, in these days, should be shocking, but isn't."

Mike Pride was writing a chapter about the Union Army's Fifth New Hampshire Volunteers when he found one of its soldier's letters for sale on the Internet. He learned that Sgt. Charles Phelps had written his sister in 1862 describing the Civil War battlefield at Fair Oaks near Richmond, Va. An important find, the letter not only provided information about the battle, but also insight into Phelps, who was becoming an important character in a book that Pride was writing with fellow journalist Mark Travis.