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News Column
Turning History Into JobsFeb. 2, 2012 Clint Schemmer
That's what many people concluded Wednesday afternoon after taking part in a bipartisan "town hall" meeting at a small country chapel, Willis United Methodist Church, astride two Civil War battlefields just east of Richmond. Salazar, McDonnell and Jarvis spoke forcefully about the power of tourism, both domestic and international, to create U.S. jobs "that can't be exported," in Salazar's words. Salazar heralded the Obama administration's new "Brand USA" effort to boost tourism as a job-creation engine, an initiative that the Democratic president unveiled in Florida last week during a trip to Disney World. McDonnell spoke proudly of his work to increase visitation in Virginia and to sell the state as a key destination for international travelers. Partisan differences seemed absent in the church sanctuary and outside on the Glendale and Malvern Hill battlefields, which overlap at this spot near the James River. The battlefields figured prominently in the failed 1862 campaign by Union Gen. George B. McClellan to capture Richmond, capital of the Confederacy. McDonnell, who attended with members of his Cabinet, emphasized the key role that Virginia played in the Civil War. Half of the war's battles were fought on state soil, he noted. A third of the major battles happened in Virginia. "The history of Virginia is the history of our country, and we want all Americans and visitors from across the world to come to the commonwealth to learn about his incredible history," the governor said. McDonnell supported Salazar's job-creation goal, saying tourism is a nearly $19 billion industry in Virginia that employs more than 200,000 people. "This is the time we want to tell the story of the Civil War and emancipation," he said. During the Seven Days' battles of 1862 around Richmond, the church sheltered Confederate wounded from the Battle of Malvern Hill, a harsh defeat for Gen. Robert E. Lee's army. Once the 90-minute town-hall meeting ended, the VIPs moved across the street to the caretaker's lodge in Glendale National Cemetery, which functions as a visitor center for Richmond National Battlefield Park. More than 1,200 Union soldiers, most of them casualties of the Glendale and Malvern Hill battles, are interred in the small, circular graveyard centered on a tall flagpole flying the U.S. flag. There, during a news conference, Salazar announced a $4 million grant from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund to benefit battlefield preservation at the Richmond park. Salazar noted that fees from offshore oil and gas finance the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The grant appears to be the largest one-time sum the federal government has allocated to battlefield preservation in about 10 years, since the National Park Service -- for about $6 million -- acquired Hamilton's Thicket on the Wilderness battlefield in Spotsylvania County, a pivotal spot in Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 pursuit of Lee's forces toward Richmond. The grant will aid ongoing work by the Park Service and the private, nonprofit Civil War Trust to preserve portions of the Glendale, Malvern Hill and Deep Bottom battlefields. The effort was begun 25 years ago by one of the trust's parent groups, the former Fredericksburg-based Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Source: (c)2012 The Free Lance-Star |
