Preservationists Take Battlefield Fight to Wal-Mart CEO

County officials approved store construction this week

LOCUST GROVE, Va. -- Preservationists are taking their battle against a Walmart store near a Virginia Civil War battlefield to Bentonville, Ark.

As they said they would, the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition is appealing to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. president and CEO Michael Duke. The coalition wrote a letter to Duke to state it remains "gravely concerned" about the retailer's plans to build near the Wilderness Battlefield in Locust Grove.

Local officials in Orange County gave the green light to the store this week.

The coalition stressed it is not opposed to a Walmart in Orange County, but just one near the Wilderness, where Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee met in battle.

Wal-Mart has said the store will be out of view of the battlefield.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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