Some 145 years ago, Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant first met in battle at the Civil War’s Wilderness Battlefield; today another battle had been raging and is now over, seemingly. Wal-Mart, the Nations’ largest retailer has won the right to build one of its supercenters near the Civil War Wilderness Battlefield site that many historians hold so dear.

Wilderness Battlefield 1864

The Orange County Board of supervisors in Virginia voted 4-1 to allow Wal-Mart to build near the Wilderness Battlefield. Over 400 people crowded into a local High School to weigh in on the Wal-Mart Wilderness Battlefield controversy.

Even some very popular historians such as filmmaker Ken Burns who made the “Civil War” documentary and David McCullough who has written several historical books and biographies weighed in on the matter. In the end however the Orange County Board saw the practical side of things in an economic downturn, they sided with job creation and tax revenue over preserving the Civil War Wilderness Battlefield in its current state.

The Wal-Mart Wilderness Battlefield controversy is not the average Wal-Mart controversy that seems to crop up daily in America. Wal-Mart is a huge lightning rod for left-wing attacks in this country today; when a person or group is anti-capitalist or anti-growth they always find a Wal-Mart to go after. But the Wilderness Battlefield is a little more complicated than that.

I would venture to say that most of those opposed to the Wilderness Battlefield Wal-Mart are probably not anti-Wal-Mart; they are genuinely concerned about the preservation of Civil War Battlefields and historic sites. But the world we now live in doesn’t afford that luxury like it once did.

This Wal-Mart Wilderness Battlefield controversy is just another example of the ever changing and evolving world we live in. It will be harder and harder to preserve battlefields or historic sites in their entirety because the simple fact is, some people just want a cheaper place to shop; even if it is near a battlefield.