Visions of a Civil War battlefield

Driving past the grassy battlefields of Gettysburg, Pa., on a moonlit night, Robert J. Monahan Jr. heard the faint drumbeat of 1,000 boots, the boom of cannonballs and bullets whizzing past his ears.

He wasn't delirious. He just had a dream. Now, several years later and $7 million poorer, the Gucci-loafered, pinstripe-suit-wearing real estate developer and Washington resident has realized his goal: a stunningly visual, hauntingly realistic 30-minute high-tech film called "Fields of Freedom," which he hopes will do for Gettysburg what the "Field of Dreams" baseball diamond did for an Iowa cornfield.

If you film it, they will come.

"Fields of Freedom," shot on a 500-acre farm in Hagerstown, Md., with young, little-known actors in authentic Civil War uniforms, debuts tonight at a reception at the National Archives Building. The film opens April 19, when it will be shown on a 3-story screen to tourists visiting Mr. Monahan's new Gateway Gettysburg complex adjacent to the Gettysburg National Military Park. The development eventually will include four hotels, a conference center, movie theaters, shops and restaurants.