Historian to testify at Walmart battlefield trial

[October 13, 2010]  RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James McPherson has agreed to testify on behalf of northern Virginia residents attempting to block the construction of a Walmart Supercenter near an endangered Civil War battlefield.

McPherson will testify in January that the Walmart site in Locust Grove was blood-soaked ground in the Battle of the Wilderness, according to a summary of his testimony released Tuesday.

The testimony is intended to counter claims by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and supporters that the site was only a staging area for the 1864 battle.

Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee met in combat for the first time at the Battle of the Wilderness. It is viewed as a turning point in the war, which ended 11 months later.

Trial is scheduled in local circuit court.

[Associated Press; By STEVE SZKOTAK]

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