Civil War Battlefield in Danger

The debate rages over whether to protect an histories site, or to build yet another Wal-Mart. (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)

One of the Civil War’s greatest battlefields is seeing a new type of war being waged over its soil.

The Battle of the Wilderness was the first clash between the troops of Union General Ulysses S. Grant and Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Although it lasted only two days, nearly 29,000 Americans were either killed, injured, or captured during the battle.

The battle was fought in Orange Country, Virginia in May of 1864.

Now, close to a century and a half later, the forces of the two generals have united to combat a new force: Wal-Mart.

A group of Civil War reenactors have been joined by historians, filmmakers, and authors to oppose the planned 138,000 square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter. Wal-Mart has been joined by the forces of developers and job hunters, stating their claim that the Supercenter, which would be built immediately adjacent to the historic site of the Wilderness Battlefield, would benefit the local community.

An internet video released by the Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT), a group that protects Civil War historic sites, includes two Civil War actors posing as Grant and Lee, speaking about their coming together to oppose Wal-Mart’s development plan.

“We agree that Wal-Mart should not build a giant supercenter here at the historic Wilderness Battlefield in Virginia,” says the actor portraying Grant. “What happened here led to the North winning the war, something we all cherish.”

“The Battle of the Wilderness was one of the largest and most important battles of the Civil War and we cannot allow Wal-Mart to turn it into a strip mall,” the actor portraying Lee says.

Wal-Mart has argued that the commercial-zoned plot of land where it plans to build its Supercenter is not on the actual grounds of the historical battle. It would also bring in an estimated 300 jobs to the local community.

Historians fear that the Supercenter would ignite a spring of development that could endanger the famed battleground. “…building a Wal-Mart Supercenter on this site will lead to so much more traffic, sprawl, and destructive development that you and I have no choice but to try to stop it,” said CWPT President James Lighthizer in a public statement.

Lighthizer states that the CWPT is not against developers or Wal-Mart, yet feels the new Wal-Mart is an unnecessary endangerment to the Wilderness.

“There are already four Wal-Mart’s (three are ‘Supercenters’) within a 20-mile radius of the proposed site of this new one, then if Wal-Mart believes they have to have another store, CWPT will not oppose them in principle, just as long as they move it to a place where it does not harm hallowed ground where Americans laid down their lives.”

The famed battle saw the engagement of more than 160,000 troops. It was a “see-saw battle culminated in attacks that first had the Confederate Army, then their Union counterparts, teetering on the edge of destruction,” said Lighthizer.

Although it ended in a draw, the battle was regarded as being decisive in the eventual victory of the Union. Nearby is also the fames site of the Battle of Chancellorsville of 1863 where Stonewall Jackson had launched a flank attack against the heavily outnumbered General Lee and his troops.

Coming back to the modern day conflict, a force of 253 historians from across the country sent a letter to the Wal-Mart president and CEO stating their views in opposition to the new Supercenter. Among them are Pulitzer Prize-winning author James McPherson and Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns.

They refer to the land as “an indelible part of our history, its very ground hallowed by the American blood spilled there.”

The letter includes a possible solution to the dispute, proposing that Wal-Mart “identify a site that would meet its needs without changing the very character of the battlefield.”

Also speaking out in defense of the Civil War battlefield was Historian Edwin C. Bearss, who in a public statement, said, “The intersection of the old Germanna Plank Road (modern Route 3) and the historic Orange Turnpike is key to understanding the battle and how it developed. The addition of a new Wal-Mart store in an area already served by other branches of the same chain, would lead to a further and irreparable degradation of an historic site of national significance.”