Battle Heirs Give New Meaning to Gunboat Diplomacy

Their ancestors were enemies, but descendants of crewmen of the Union ship Monitor and the Confederate Merrimack, also called the Virginia, met in peace. Scholars generally agree that the March 9, 1862, encounter between the ironclads off Ft. Monroe, Va., marked the advent of modern naval warfare and was a draw. About 160 descendants gathered in Portsmouth, Va., for the anniversary. There were no descendants of Merrimack Capt. Franklin Buchanan attending, but Julia Statter of New York represented her children and grandchildren, who are direct descendants on their father’s side of John Worden, the captain of the Monitor. A peace proclamation signed by descendants noted that no lives were lost in the four-hour battle and concluded: “So let the people who were never born, the descendants who never existed, and their children and grandchildren who will never live, serve as our haunting reminders of why war is hell but the love of humanity is heaven.”

--Later this year, another group may gather to honor the historic achievement of their forebears. Planners for the U.S. Constitution’s bicentennial celebration have scheduled a meeting and reception for descendants of the Constitution’s signers Sept. 16 and a ceremony at Independence Hall in Philadelphia during the grand federal procession Sept. 17. So far, We The People 200 Inc. has located 250 descendants of 27 signers of the document. But the group has yet to find descendants of the other 12 signers, including James Madison of Virginia, who became the fourth President, the organization said.

--Soviet citizens will soon have a choice of versions of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Ken Kesey’s novel of one man’s struggle against the Establishment will be published in the Soviet Union this summer, the newspaper Izvestia said. And the film, starring Jack Nicholson, that was based on the novel will be shown in Soviet theaters this year. The newspaper said a play based on the novel has premiered in Kiev. The novel portrays the struggle of a rebellious but sane man sent to a psychiatric hospital.

--Amy Carter has been arrested twice for social protests but she’s also in some legal trouble of a more mundane nature. The 19-year-old daughter of former President Jimmy Carter had her car “booted” and then towed away because she owed $305 in parking tickets in Providence, R.I., where she attends Brown University.