Graffiti House

History

Because of its location on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad and the Carolina Road, the house, which was less than 0.25 miles (0.40 km) from the train depot, is thought by the Foundation to have been a commercial building as well as a dwelling. The Foundation reports that some graffiti has been removed or destroyed but considerable graffiti still remain. New graffiti were discovered as recently as December 2010.

The house was owned James Barbour (brother of the railroad's president John S. Barbour Jr.) during the Civil War but the Barbour family's main residence was on a ridge about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the south (and during the war was used by Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart). Barbour served on the staff of Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell until January 1863.

Because of its strategic location near the railroad, this house was used extensively by both the Union Army and Confederate States Army throughout the Civil War. Confederates used it as a field hospital during the Battle of Brandy Station and at other times when battles occurred in the area. It was probably used as a field hospital for wounded soldiers evacuated by train after the Battle of First Bull Run or First Manassas. The earliest known graffiti in the house date to the Second Manassas Campaign in August 1862, as the armies transited Culpeper County.

At the outset of the Gettysburg Campaign, the Battle of Brandy Station, the largest cavalry battle ever to take place in North America occurred on June 9, 1863 in the fields adjacent to the Graffiti House and extended to the heights on which the main house stood. After the fighting ended, the lower house was used as a Confederate field hospital. Later that year, Federal troops occupied the building when the Army of the Potomac camped in Culpeper County during the winter of 1863-64. The house was headquarters to Brigadier General Henry Prince, a division commander in the Third Corps of the Army of the Potomac during the Union Army pursuit of the Army of Northern Virginia after its retreat from the Battle of Gettysburg, sometimes called the Rapidan campaign but this name could be confused with the beginning of the Overland Campaign, and during the Mine Run Campaign later in 1863.

The plaster walls on the house's second floor are covered with an outstanding and unique collection of charcoal and pencil graffiti left by soldiers from both armies. In addition to their autographs, the soldiers drew elaborate pictures of men and women, and wrote inscriptions commemorating their units and their battles. After the war, new paint and wallpaper led to their being forgotten. The graffiti were rediscovered during a renovation in 1993. The Brandy Station Foundation purchased the house in 2002, and its website lists the days it is open for viewing. The house includes a small museum and serves as a headquarters for the Brandy Station Foundation and the Foundation's visitor center for the Brandy Station battlefield.

Graffiti that have been identified

Below is listed the names and units of those who have been identified in the Graffiti House:

Sergeant Allen Bowman, Co. E, 12th Virginia Cavalry

Private Michael Bowman, Co. H 7th Virginia Cavalry

Private Hamilton Boyd, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery

Private George Washington Butt, Norfolk Light Artillery (Huger’s Battery)

Private James A. J. Cooper, Co. A, 35th Battalion Virginia Cavalry (White’s Comanche’s)

Captain Edwin Dillingham, 10th Vermont Infantry

Private C. Benton Evans, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery

Private William Evans, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery

Colonel John Egbert Farnum, Commander, 70th New York Infantry

Lieutenant Lyman C. Gale, Co. K, 10th Vermont Infantry

Corporal Fayette Gibson, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery

Private Thomas ‘Herb’ Greenwell, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery

Private Uriah Haller, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery

Private William J. Haney, 24th Battalion Virginia Partisan Rangers

Private Henry ‘Hal’ Hopkins, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery

Private William Hopkins, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery

Private Bob Lewis, Norfolk Light Artillery (Huger’s Battery)

Private George McCabe Jr., Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery

Lieutenant William J. Marshall, Co. E, 12th Virginia Cavalry

Lieutenant Joseph Moore, Norfolk Light Artillery (Huger’s Battery)

Private Edward Moreland, Norfolk Light Artillery (Huger’s Battery)

Private A Muth, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery

Private George W. Orrison, Co. C, 35th Battalion Virginia Cavalry (White’s Comanche’s)

Private David Owens, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery

Private Robert Peed, Norfolk Light Artillery (Huger’s Battery)

Private David Owens, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery

Private Dan Quinlan, Massachusetts Light Battery ‘C’

Private Elijah Russell, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery

Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, Commander, Army of Northern Virginia Cavalry

Sergeant Henry Thomas, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery

Private Harry Wagner, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery

Private Harry Wickes, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery

Private Thomas ‘Frank’ Yates, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery

Below is listed the names of those who have not been identified in the Graffiti House:

Lewis Metta

Frank E. Kelly

M Rown

T.E. Kelly

Emanuel

A.L. Brynn

Notes on the names

All the names of Breathed's Battery are found on the Maryland Scroll, created on March 16, 1863, the day before the Battle of Kelly’s Ford, in which these artillery units participated.

William Haney is believed to have served in four separate units

30th Virginia Infantry

13th Virginia Infantry

24th Battalion Partisan Rangers

35th Battalion Virginia Cavalry.

It is likely that he signed the walls of the Graffiti House while serving in the 24th Battalion Partisan Rangers.

Robert Peed also identifies himself with Gannett’s Artillery Battalion. Peed signed the walls in five locations.

Allen Bowman signed the walls in two locations

Units separately identified

2nd New York Militia

Louisiana Tigers

2nd Division 3rd Corps

10th New Jersey Infantry

Stuart Horse Artillery

Army of the United States of America

Hill’s Corps

Gannett’s Battalion

Remember the Baltimore Artillery, September the 2nd, 1863

Events and locations identified

Battle of Beverly Ford, April 16, 1863 (likely done by a member of either the 9th or 13th Virginia Cavalry)

June 8, 1863 (possibly done by a member of the 1st SC Cavalry)

"How are you Fort Sumter” (done by the 2nd NY Militia)

Petersburg

Rappahannock

March 16, 1863

August 7, 1863

Portsmouth, Virginia

Loudoun County

Washington, D.C.

Richmond

Baltimore

Drawings

Of the drawings found, only two have been identified:

Captain James Breathed

The Maryland Scroll.

Other drawings

5 horses (one may be a mule)

a male civilian in coat and tails

an eagle/bird

a fort

a soldier in a slouch hat and mustache

a soldier in a slouch hat and beard

a young woman in a fancy dress, hat with ribbons, walking on a board or plank, saying "I am turned over to Lt. Gale"

an older woman smoking a long pipe

a young woman in a straw hat riding side-saddle

a young woman wearing a scarf carrying a basket

a bald man

a pair of women in coats and hats, with their arms in a muffler, saying "I am turned over to Capt. Dillingham"

a male civilian wearing a hat with a sword in his left hand. In the body of the man "President J. Davis good on the boots"

a man in a bowler (or derby), with mutton chops, saying he "smells a rebel." He is facing the rear of a horse.

a Federal soldier in a kepi