Free Republic

LEXINGTON, Va. - A statue of Stonewall Jackson faces the parade grounds of Virginia Military Institute and must be saluted regularly by newly enrolled cadets.On Thursday night, about 130 cadets and 450 guests participated in the unveiling of an epic salute to the Confederate general and VMI professor at the Virginia premiere of "Gods and Generals." The movie, shot in part at VMI, stars actor Stephen Lang as Jackson."From the first day you come here, they tell you about VMI's involvement in the Civil War. It's nice to get a chance to see it (on the big screen) and see...

Jeff Shaara, author of the best-selling "Gods and Generals" and other historical novels, makes swing through town. FREDERICKSBURG has been good to him, and now he's returning the favor.That is one way of looking at today's visit to town by Jeff Shaara, author of the best-selling "Gods and Generals" and other historical novels.His feelings for the Fredericksburg area took root, by surprise, on a drive north from Richmond in 1994. He'd just paid a visit to the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, doing research for "Gods and Generals."A lot was on the line. His late father, Michael Shaara, had...

Jeff Shaara said his father would have been thrilled to know his book "The Killer Angels" was chosen for the "One Book, Two Counties" program in Cumberland and Dauphin counties. "His one goal was to leave something behind he'd be remembered for," Shaara said to more than 260 people who packed into Dickinson College's Rubendall Recital Hall Monday evening.Shaara then spent several minutes weaving a tale that began in 1964, when he and his father, Michael Shaara, visited the Gettysburg Battlefield for the first time."I was a kid and I was the Civil War buff," he says, explaining that's why...