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Utilizing GIS analysis to propose an alternative location for a Wal-Mart store near the Wilderness battlefield in Orange, Virginia, to protect this historic site and prevent urban sprawl. This analysis aims to preserve the integrity of the battlefield while meeting commercial needs.
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Using GIS Analysis to Stop the Wilderness Wal-Mart GIS 200 May 11, 2009
Executive Summary • Wal-Mart is planning to build a 141,000 square foot store in Orange, Virginia • The proposed store will be on land near the Wilderness, a historic Civil War battlefield • This project concludes that a Wal-Mart can be built three miles north of the proposed location and not affect the view from the Wilderness battlefield site
Why Preserve Battlefields? • Provides a tangible link to the past • Provide an opportunity to attract visitors • Requires no costly infrastructure • Nonrenewable resource • Increases quality of life • Prevents urban sprawl "The Wilderness is an indelible part of our history, its very ground hallowed by the American blood spilled there, and it cannot be moved … Surely Wal-Mart can identify a site that would meet its needs without changing the very character of the battlefield.” – James McPherson, Pulitzer Prize winning historian
Battle of the Wilderness • Principal Commanders for the U.S. Federal Government (US): Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant and Major Gen. George G. Meade • Principal Commander for the Confederate States of America (CS): General Robert E. Lee • Forces Engaged: 162,920 total (US: 101,895; CS: 61,025) • Estimated Casualties: 29,800 total (US: 18,400; CS: 11,400) • Opening battle of Grant’s sustained offensive against the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, known as the Overland Campaign • The Overland Campaign was the bloodiest campaign in American history and the turning point in the war in the eastern theatre • Resulted in a tactical draw • Grant did not retreat and the Federals advanced toward the crossroads of Spotsylvania Courthouse
The Future? A proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter near a hallowed Civil War site in Virginia is headed to local planners next month. A developer has submitted revised plans for the store in Orange County. The Planning Commission will consider the plans at its next meeting, on May 7, and a public airing is expected May 21. Supervisors will have the final say. Historians from New England to California have criticized Wal-Mart’s plan to build within a cannon shot of the battlefield where the troops of Gens. Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant first clashed. For its part, Wal-Mart says the site is zoned for commercial use and the store would not diminish the battlefield.