Vermont’s Democratic congressman and a Republican from Texas are joining forces in a battle against plans for a Wal-Mart store near a Civil War battlefield in Virginia.
Vermont’s Peter Welch and Texas Rep. Ted Poe have sent a letter to Wal-Mart’s CEO opposing the plan to build the store in Locust Grove, Va., site of the Battle of the Wilderness.
The 1st Vermont Brigade fought in the battle, which recently prompted Vermont lawmakers to call for relocation of the proposed store.
Wal-Mart and its supporters say the store would be behind a bank and a strip mall, a mile from the entrance to the site of the 1864 clash.