If land where the Union and Confederacy fought the Battle of the Wilderness in the Civil War is to remain hallowed ground, now is the time to speak up. Within the boundaries of this historic battlefield in Orange County, Virginia, Wal-Mart proposes to build a 138,000-square-foot supercenter. Its plans for the commercial development received the go-ahead from the Orange County Planning Commission on June 25 by a 5-4 vote, and the proposal goes to the five-member Orange County Board of Supervisors for the crucial vote.

Not only is the plot within the historic boundaries of where one of the most important battles of the Civil War took place, it’s also just across the road from the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. The phased-proposal calls for ultimately constructing 240,000 square feet of big-box commercial development on a 52-acre parcel owned by JDC Ventures of Vienna, Va., including Wal-Mart’s supercenter and three other sites for stores or restaurants. Wal-Mart is pressing ahead despite an eruption of fierce opposition in the past year. (For background, see “Wal-Mart’s Threat to a Historic Battlefield” on Mindfulwalker.com.)

However, a coalition of local, state, and national groups – plus historians and celebrities such as David McCullough and Robert Duvall and concerned citizens – aren’t letting up in their campaign to persuade Wal-Mart to relocate away from the historic park and battlefield. Duvall is a descendant of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The coalition includes the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Civil War Preservation Trust, the Friends of Wilderness Battlefield, the National Parks Conservation Association, and five other nonprofit groups.

Wal-Mart has one major remaining local hurdle in its effort – receiving approval from the Orange County Board of Supervisors for a special-use permit for the project. It is required because the project is larger than 60,000 square feet.

An update: Two hearings are scheduled on this matter. The Planning Commission is doing its public hearing over on Aug. 20 at 7 p.m. in the Orange County High School, because of a discovery that the first “was not properly advertised,” according to an article in the Free Lance-Star of Fredericksburg, Va.  The Orange County Board of Supervisors has slated its public hearing on the proposed Wal-Mart on Aug. 24.

“Gravely Concerned”

The National Trust for Historic Preservation and its allies remain “gravely concerned” about the proposed Wal-Mart development on this historic land, says Robert Nieweg, director of the National Trust’s Southern Field Office in Washington D.C. “Our analysis shows that Wal-Mart’s project would irrevocably harm the battlefield, undermine the visitor’s experience of the National Park, and open the door for more incompatible large-scale development at the gateway to Orange County,” Nieweg says in an e-mail to Mindfulwalker.com.

The Wal-Mart, to be built on the northern side of Route 3 near Route 20 (map), would actually fall within the original footprint of the battlefield, the National Trust has noted. Many flock here today to walk the grounds and learn about a battle that was a critical turning point in the Civil War’s Eastern theatre. On May 5-7, 1864, General Ulysses S. Grant led the Army of the Potomac in a brutal fight against General Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Grant’s plans were to march his soldiers through this area and to attack the Confederates at another place, but Lee instead decided to attack while the Union troops were in the vicinity of the Wilderness.

The battle was aptly named, befitting the local name of a harsh forested land, thick with underbrush and vines, with few clearings and various small streams that created “unexpected ravines,” according to historian Bruce Catton in the book This Hallowed Ground. After two days of close-up, horrific fighting in this densely wooded, unforgiving land, as Catton wrote, “Here were the two armies, lying crosswise in a burned-out forest, death all around them, the scent and feel of death in the soiled air.”

This is where General Grant established the pattern, in Virginia, that would ultimately win the Civil War for the Union: Unlike other Union leaders who would draw back after battles, Grant paused but then kept his soldiers in a sustained and relentless offensive march southward, going after and grinding down Lee’s forces. The Confederate side “was being made to fight all day and every day, and this was a war that was bound to go against it,” Catton wrote.

It is in this place that Wal-Mart wants to construct its supercenter. Orange County is located about 75 miles south of Washington, D.C. in Virginia’s Central Piedmont region. Set in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, it is a largely rural, beautiful county known for its horse farms, distinctive wineries, and Civil War sites. The county has some large housing developments, and the area where Wal-Mart wants to construct its megastore is certainly not pristine. A McDonald’s and Sheetz convenience store are located at the intersection of Routes 3 and 20.

Wal-Mart, however, tips the development into sprawl, in the eyes of opponents. The Wilderness Battlefield Coalition cites not only the traffic and congestion created by a new Wal-Mart but says that the large-scale buildings “would be plainly visible from many key vantage points within the battlefield and the National Park,” according to a letter from the National Trust to Will Likins, Orange County Planning Commission chairman.

Why Here?

Wal-Mart’s supporters point to tax revenues and new jobs the store would bring. However, heritage tourism is vitally important to Orange County, in terms of jobs, revenues, and powering the economy. The Wilderness Battlefield and National Park draw more than 170,000 tourists annually, the National Trust letter says, noting that the typical non-local visitor to a National Park spends $71 a day.

Those who decry the construction of Wal-Mart’s big-box development say they do not want to stop Wal-Mart altogether but simply persuade the company to relocate its huge store elsewhere in the county. At least one builder, John Marcantoni, has offered an alternative site in Orange County. In a June 18 letter to the Orange County (Va.) Review, Marcantoni wrote, “The majority of citizens appears to want the new Wal-Mart, but just not in this location.”

Finding an alternative site has some backing at Orange County’s highest level. Orange County’s top governmental executive maintains that the Board of Supervisors should work with Wal-Mart to find another location, according to The Free Lance-Star of Fredericksburg, Va. In a July 1 article, The Free Lance-Star cited an e-mail of County Administrator Bill Rolfe to the supervisors in which he wrote, “The question that begs to be asked is, ‘Why isn’t the county trying to broker a deal that keeps Wal-Mart in the county and moves it further away from the congressionally approved boundary line of the Wilderness Battlefield?’ Both would be in our best interest.”

Just over three decades ago, with author Catton’s A Stillness at Appomattox in hand, I first walked the Wilderness battlefield and keenly witnessed and felt what it must have been like to be in such a hellish battle. I appreciated who and what came before us that paved the way for the freeing of slaves and the survival of the United States. I can’t imagine what that walk might be like soon if one looks around and sees part of a Wal-Mart in view or negotiates heavy traffic right near the battlefield.

In an article on MyNorth.com, Catton’s niece tells writer John J. Miller that she recalls family trips to visit her uncle in Washington. Her father and Catton would go to as many battlefields as they could, the niece recalled, according to “He Rewrote History” in MyNorth.com. Catton surely must have walked the Wilderness and gotten to know it. What would it be like if he were walking it today, sensing what that battle must have been like, only to encounter a Wal-Mart and big-box stores so nearby?

Ultimately, what kind of walks of the Wilderness Battlefield will the children of today, the future historians and teachers, have? That’s the question to be answered soon about this hallowed ground in Orange County.

Mindful Activism: Fight the Wilderness Wal-Mart

Those who would like to advocate on behalf of the preservation of the Wilderness Battlefield and in opposition to the Wilderness Wal-Mart retail development have a number of options. Here are some actions and resources:

• The National Trust’s Nieweg advises writing to Wal-Mart CEO and President Michael Duke to urge that Wal-Mart relocate this proposed supercenter. Correspondence should be sent to: 702 SW 8^th St., Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Bentonville, AR 72716-8611. Other ways of contacting Wal-Mart can be found at this page.
• The Civil War Preservation Trust provides a “Stop the Wilderness Wal-Mart” page of resources and ways to get involved. The site provides a form to send a message to the Orange County Board of Supervisors. You can also donate to the Stop the Wal-Mart Fund.
• Follow frequent updates on what is happening at the No Wilderness Wal-Mart blog and post a comment.
• Check out photos on the Wilderness and the threat of sprawl.
• Sign a petition at the National Trust for Historic Preservation site.
• You can also find updates, such as this one about the Planning Commission vote, about the Wilderness Wal-Mart at the National Trust’s PreservationNation blog.

Mindfulwalker.com will also continue to follow what happens with the Wilderness Wal-Mart situation.