War Buffs

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.

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."

The climactic battle for the Shenandoah Valley, General Pickett's headlong charge at Gettysburg and the first and second battles of Manassas are the stuff Richard Berg has fashioned a business from.Mr. Berg, 47, a former New York City criminal defense lawyer, is the inventor of more than a dozen Civil War games designed to give Civil War buffs an opportunity to change history."I think of the games as paper time machines that re-create the Civil War," Mr. Berg said."We give players the battlefield, the soldiers and the basic rules.

What would we rather have as the centerpiece of the Inner Harbor, a rebuilt replica of an 18th century frigate questionably posing as the real thing, or an authentic restoration of a Civil War sloop, the last all-sail warship built for the U.S. Navy? The choice is easy, and the new leadership of the Constellation Foundation has made the right one.No longer will the fate of the hallowed vessel depend on its increasingly threadbare claim to have been built here in 1797. If it is to be saved, the Constellation will be presented as an honest artifact of this nation's, and Maryland's, great maritime tradition.

Civil War buffs will observe the 140th Anniversary of the Seven Days' Battles with re-enactments of the battles of Mechanicsville, Gaines' Mill and Malvern Hill during the weekend on June 28-30 at Dundonald Farm in western Hanover County, just north of Richmond, Va. To get to the re-enactment, take Interstate 64, exit 173 (Rockville/Manakin) near Richmond. Go south on Ashland Road (Route 623) for about a half-mile, then right onto Rockville Road (Route 622); go about 4 miles to the stop sign in Rockville, straight through the intersection, where the road changes its name to Walnut Hill Drive.

MORE THAN 130 YEARS after the last musket volley, the Civil War still holds a place of prominence in American history. Many history buffs are fascinated with the War Between the States.Some serious Civil War enthusiasts brought living history displays to Carrolltown Center on Saturday. Civil War Days was sponsored by members of the 87th Pennsylvania, the 57th Virginia and the mall.As part of the event, Carrolltown Center donated a trip to one of Gettysburg's most historic and elegant bed and breakfasts -- the Old Appleford Inn. The winner was Wanda Stickles.

Turner Pictures' $20-million "Gettysburg," which opened at theaters nationwide yesterday, is as close to moguldom as Ted Turner can get. For now, at least.It's his "Birth of a Nation" meets "Ran": a four-hour plus adaptation of "The Killer Angels," the 1975 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Shaara about the men behind one of the bloodiest battles in U.S. history. It has an all-star, all-guy cast that includes Martin Sheen (Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee), Tom Berenger (Confederate Lt. Gen. James Longstreet)

Tidewater Players opens a musical production Dec. 2 that sees the War Between the States through the eyes of Union and Confederate soldiers who fought, slaves whose freedom was at stake, loved ones left behind and a nurse who cared for the wounded. "The Civil War" has been described as a "thrilling, gut-wrenching and awe-inspiring dramatic theatrical concert. " Reminiscent of Ken Burns' acclaimed documentary, the play draws on letters, diaries and first-hand accounts as well as the words of Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass and Walt Whitman.

They worried about the Union soldiers encamped just over the hill, but the Confederates first had to battle ants, earwigs and, most of all, the 95-degree heat.Company D of the 2nd Maryland Infantry fought yesterday on the rolling fields of Steppingstone Museum along the banks of the Susquehanna River, and their re-enactment continues today with drills, a cavalry demonstration and a chance once again to change the outcome of the war that still fascinates so many.Members of the company arrived at Steppingstone Friday night and set up a camp that is an authentic replica of Civil War camps.

GETTYSBURG, Pa. -- Gettysburg is under siege, and the struggle is as much over fallow fields as hallowed ground.Spurred by the widening of a nearby highway and the opening of a Wal-Mart to call its own, this historic town is witnessing unprecedented pressure from developers, one of whom is proposing a 320,000-square-foot shopping center that would abut the Civil War battlefield.The plan has loosed volleys of displeasure not heard since the Erector-set-like, 330-foot-tall National Tower observation platform was raised nearly a score of years ago.Gettysburg Borough and the surrounding townships have long been at odds over the nature and amount of development that should be permitted, with some municipal officials contending that the economy has suffered by attempts to keep the park setting pristine.