Welch opposes Wal-Mart at Civil War battlefield

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Congressman Peter Welch was at Wilderness Battlefield Monday expressing opposition to a plan by Wal-Mart to build a super store on the historic Virginia site. The battlefield is where Confederate General Robert E. Lee first met the Union’s Ulysses S. Grant.

Welch was joined by Congressman Ted Poe of Texas, and by Academy Award-winning actor Robert Duvall, who is a descendant of Lee.

At a news conference, Duvall said he will help preservationists in "chasing out" the retailer from a site near the Wilderness Battlefield.

Duvall said he has no grudge against Wal-Mart, but believes in capitalism coupled with sensitivity.

Today is the 145th anniversary of the Battle of the Wilderness, when 29,000 American soldiers died, including more than 1,200 Vermonters.

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