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Gary Mauss (left) and Liz Sudduth (right) listen to the speakers during yesterday's news conference in Orange.
Oscar-winning actor Robert Duvall hugs Zann Miner, president of Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield, at Ellwood.
Park Service historian John Hennessy briefs Reps. Peter Welch (left) U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, talks with actor Robert Duvall (right) yesterday at Ellwood, a historic home on the Wilderness battlefield in Orange County. They and others spoke against the Wal-Mart store proposed nearby. |
Academy Award-winner Robert Duvall added star power yesterday to the fierce fight over development at The Wilderness, weighing in for historic preservation.
The actor, speaking on the Civil War battlefield in Orange County, said he'll do whatever he can to help in "chasing out" a Wal-Mart Supercenter proposed near the entrance to Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.
Duvall spoke from the porch of Ellwood, a historic house where his ancestor Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee consoled wounded troops during the war. The Virginia resident was joined by two congressmen whose states' troops suffered great losses in the Battle of the Wilderness--fought 145 years ago today.
Duvall, who portrayed Lee in the movie "Gods and Generals," said he holds no grudge against Wal-Mart but believes in "capitalism with sensitivity."
Likewise, Reps. Peter Welch of Vermont and Ted Poe of Texas also said they don't oppose Wal-Mart's growth, just its choice of a tract on the edge of the battlefield for its 138,000-square-foot store and an associated retail center.
All three men at yesterday's press conference--joined by Zann Miner, president of the local Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield--urged the Arkansas-based retail giant to choose another site along State Route 3.
"The question for Wal-Mart, which has five stores within 20 miles of here, is whether it needs another store to be sited on this cathedral of sacrifice," Rep. Welch told the 150-some people assembled outdoors in the rain for the event.
Union and Confederate forces suffered 29,000 casualties in the May 5-6, 1864, engagement. The first face-off between Lee and the Union's Ulysses S. Grant, it launched the Overland Campaign, which eventually led to Lee's surrender at Appomattox.
"There were 160,000 troops, Union and Confederate, who fought in the Battle of the Wilderness," Poe said. "This is the number of troops that we have in Afghanistan and Iraq combined, on that one battlefield."
Earlier, the congressmen toured the battlefield with National Park Service historians and paid their respects to the places where their states' soldiers held hotly contested ground. Vermont and Texas each have placed granite monuments at those sites.
The Texans suffered horrific casualties, Poe said. In one of the war's most famous incidents, during brutal fighting at the Widow Tapp field, men of the Texas Brigade begged Lee to return to the rear so he wouldn't be killed. Then they rushed forward, losing 500 of 800 men in the charge.
Welch noted that the deadliest day in Vermont's history occurred at The Wilderness. Its soldiers suffered 1,234 casualties but kept Lee's Confederates from splitting the Union Army in two.
Poe, a Republican, and Welch, a Democrat, said their appreciation for soldiers' sacrifice unites them on the Wilderness issue. "Those young men who died, many of them are still out there in graves known only by God," Poe said of the battlefield's many unmarked burials.
On the way back to Ellwood, the touring lawmakers stopped at the McDonald's across Route 3 from Wal-Mart's 52-acre tract and hopped out for a closer look at the landscape. Both expressed concern that Wal-Mart's retail center plan will fuel more sprawl and overburden the national park's scenic two-lane roads with traffic.
The proposed Supercenter is opposed by 250 of America's top historians, including David McCullough and James McPherson, and filmmaker Ken Burns.
Since last summer, Wal-Mart's proposal has stirred an outcry like that over The Walt Disney Co.'s 1994 plan to build a $650 million theme park within miles of the Manassas battlefield. Bowing to public pressure, the entertainment giant scrapped the project.
Duvall referenced the battle against Disney's America, saying "Now we have Wal-Mart, you know, Wal-Mart with its deep pockets full of cash."
Wal-Mart issued a statement yesterday repeating earlier arguments for the store, primarily that the site has been zoned for commercial use for 24 years and that the Wilderness area already has strip retail development.
"From the beginning of this project, Wal-Mart has been very sensitive to ensuring that our development is respectful of the county's unique location and history," it said.
On May 21, Orange planners will hear public comment on Wal-Mart's plan. The county Board of Supervisors will decide its fate.
A majority of Orange supervisors have said the store will bring needed jobs and tax money to the rural county.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Clint Schemmer: 540/368-5029
Email: cschemmer@freelancestar.com
