[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8097]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      WAL-MART vs. HALLOWED GROUND

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the historical comments 
my friend from Vermont has said regarding Union troops from his home 
State. The Battle of the Wilderness took place in May 1864.
  On the second day of the 3-day battle with a statement made by 
General Lee, ``Texans always move them,'' the Texas Brigade 
successfully forced back Grant's Union troops. However, the Texans 
sustained 60 percent casualties.
  There were 165,000 troops, Union and Confederate, in this Battle of 
the Wilderness. That is the number of troops that we have in 
Afghanistan and Iraq put together on one battlefield. There were 29,000 
casualties. The fighting was so fierce in the dense woods it caught 
fire, and hundreds of wounded on both sides burned to death. Their 
graves are only known by God.
  Mr. Speaker, those troops from the North and South were all 
Americans. Mr. Speaker, here is the battlefield. It is outlined in this 
black line. On this hallowed ground right here, you can see this X is 
where Wal-Mart wants to build one of their beautiful stores. There are 
other locations available for Wal-Mart. So we from the North and South 
in a bipartisan way want Wal-Mart to build someplace else.
  And that's just the way it is.

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