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?

—Arnold H. Price
Sterling, Va.