Preservationists today hailed the decision by Wal-Mart to drop its plans to build a supercenter within the original boundaries of the Wilderness Battlefield in Virginia. In an unexpected move early Wednesday in Virginia’s Orange Circuit Court, Wal-Mart revealed it was abandoning its proposal to construct a store on the property. The retailer said it was withdrawing from a legal case in which preservationists and some local residents were fighting its plans, a Circuit Court official confirmed.

Wal-Mart has been seeking to construct a 138,000-square-foot supercenter on a 52-acre parcel that is within the original footprint where the Battle of the Wilderness took place in 1864 and very close to the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. The land where the retailer sought to put up a new supercenter was part of the battlefield where one of the critical turning points happened on the Union’s path to victory over the Confederacy. The parcel was on the northern side of Route 3 near Route 20 in north-central Virginia.

The announcement was a major shift of events in a struggle of several years that has pitted the retailer against those who believe a megastore would ruin land that has been revered for generations. A coalition of local, state, and national groups and concerned citizens, including historians James McPherson and David McCullough and actor Robert Duvall, had joined together in efforts to stop Wal-Mart’s plans. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, one of the groups leading the campaign, in 2010 declared that the site was one of America’s Most Endangered Historic Places.

From One Newspaper: “Wow!”

Preservation organizations and local newspapers applauded Wal-Mart’s decision to back down and go in a different direction. “The National Trust for Historic Preservation commends Wal-Mart for taking this important step,” said Stephanie Meeks, the group’s president. “By withdrawing the current proposal, the company has created an opportunity for all parties to work together to find an appropriate solution – one that will allow Wal-Mart to pursue development elsewhere in Orange County, while ensuring that this important part of America’s Civil War heritage is protected.”

Another preservation group concurred. “We are pleased with Wal-Mart’s decision to abandon plans to build a supercenter on the Wilderness battlefield,” James Lighthizer, president of the Civil War Trust, said in a release.  “We have long believed that Wal-Mart would ultimately recognize that it is in the best interests of all concerned to move their intended store away from the battlefield.”

“All we can say is, ‘wow!` “ the Orange County (Va.) Review said in an editorial, noting that not only has Wal-Mart abandoned its original plans but the retailer stated it would purchase the property and offer it for conservation. Otherwise, little would prevent a “handful” of smaller stores from buying the parcel and pursuing development plans, the Review added. The newspaper called the turn of events “not solely a win for the preservationists, but also for the property owners, Wal-Mart, and the balance of Orange County.”

Wal-Mart did not respond to efforts on Wednesday to obtain further comment.

The Start of a Trial

Following Wal-Mart’s revelation, Circuit Court Judge Daniel Bouton dismissed the case today, the court official confirmed. A trial was beginning on a lawsuit filed by the Friends of Wilderness Battlefield and several local residents against the Orange County Board of Supervisors, which granted a zoning special-use permit to Wal-Mart in August, 2009. The plaintiffs were seeking to have the approval overturned, claiming that the board did not gather and consider important information about how the Wal-Mart and adjacent retail businesses would harm the county’s citizens and its historic lands.

The Wal-Mart was an anchoring store in a development that would have included an additional 100,000 square feet of retail “junior big boxes,” according to the plans. The developers aimed to construct this big-box development on the site where Union troops led by General Ulysses S. Grant fought against General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in a battle on May 5-7, 1864 – the first time that Grant and Lee faced each other in battle.

After just over two days of fiery, brutal combat in an area that contained dense underbrush and woods, some 26,000 soldiers were killed or wounded and the battle ended in a stalemate. Unlike the top Union commanders who had come before him, Grant did not retreat or go north but instead ordered his troops to march southward and pursue Lee’s army. Ultimately, Grant’s never-turn-back relentless pursuit resulted in a Union victory in 1865.

A View of Big Boxes?

Those who want to protect this historic ground organized together and mounted a fierce campaign to stop Wal-Mart’s plans, once the proposal came to light in 2008. They included the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Civil War Trust, the Friends of Wilderness Battlefield, the Piedmont Environmental Coalition, the National Parks Conservation Association, and Preservation Virginia, among other groups and citizens.

History is all the more powerful when experienced through the power of place. Imagine a place where a student can walk the land and learn about a battlefield that was crucial during the Civil War, a plot where thousands gave their lives for the cause of keeping the country together and abolishing slavery. Then imagine that student walking a little farther and suddenly seeing a Wal-Mart, other huge stores, and parking lots. (This map shows exactly where the proposed commercial development site is located.) While the plot lies outside of the official parkland, the retail structures would be clearly visible from key vantage points within the national military park. As Robert Nieweg, a National Trust official, said to Mindfulwalker.com last year, “This is where the Union Army was ordered to march south, to race Lee to the next crossroads. This is the best place to teach that history, the best place to understand what the common soldier felt after two days of fighting and before that many more days of fighting.”

Wilderness Battlefield, Virginia (Photo Credit: National Trust for Historic Preservation)

A Spotsylvania resident praised those who have fought persistently when the odds seemed very chancy of winning against a behemoth retailer with money and power. Writing in a letter to the editor of The Free Lance-Star of Fredericksburg, Va., Tamie Pratt-Fartro said, “it is sometimes all too easy to forget the heroes,” those who have been working to preserve the Wilderness Battlefield and “to make the ‘dirt and grass` of the Wilderness and our other battlefields into something far more.” Pratt-Fartro added, “Wal-Mart does not belong anywhere near these treasured landmarks, and I salute all of the heroes working to protect and enhance them.”

Today, these heroes can savor a triumph in Wal-Mart’s move to give up its plans. It’s a turning point in the destiny of the land that many who visit the Wilderness and the adjacent battlefield parks may never know. But future generations will benefit as they experience the Wilderness Battlefield and learn about what took place on this hallowed ground in Virginia.

Further Reading

To read more about the history of the Battle of the Wilderness and earlier developments in the Wal-Mart and Wilderness controversy, also see on Mindfulwalker.com:

Wal-Mart’s Threat to a Historic Battlefield

Wal-Mart: A Step Closer at the Wilderness

Wilderness Wal-Mart: A Day in Court

The Wilderness: An “Endangered Place”