To the Editor:
Finding your recent piece on battlefields ("Changes in the Offing for Civil War Sites,” March 2000) interesting and informative, I would like to add some observations.
My first visit to Antietam many years ago made a lasting impression on me—especially the weatherworn stone monuments marking the spots of the bloodiest fighting. They provided a vivid sense of history and seemed to hallow the ground. How great was my disappointment on my next visit, when I discovered that these markers were no longer in place, and were not even exhibited elsewhere. Instead, there were hideous table-like contraptions in green that left me with the impression of surveying some suburban acreage to be subdivided. Has anybody considered returning these fields to those who died there?
—
Sterling, Va.
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