Graffiti House | |
Location | 19484 Brandy Rd., Brandy Station, Virginia |
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Coordinates | 38°30′15″N77°53′27″W / 38.50417°N 77.89083°W Coordinates: 38°30′15″N77°53′27″W / 38.50417°N 77.89083°W |
Area | less than one acre |
Built | 1862 |
Architectural style | Greek Revival |
MPS | Civil War in Virginia MPS |
NRHP reference No. | 05001274 [1] |
VLR No. | 023-5092 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | November 17, 2005 |
Designated VLR | September 14, 2005 [2] |
The Graffiti House, located at 19484 Brandy Road in the eastern end of the town of Brandy Station, Virginia, is believed by the Brandy Station Foundation to have been built in 1858. It is one of few dwellings in the village built before the American Civil War to survive intact to this day. The house is notable because of the Civil War era graffiti on many of the walls. The graffiti found includes names, drawings, names of units, and inscriptions left by soldiers. [3]
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. [4]
The house was owned by 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. [5]
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. [6]
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.
Below is listed the names and units of those who have been identified in the Graffiti House:
Below is listed the names of those who have not been identified in the Graffiti House:
It is likely that he signed the walls of the Graffiti House while serving in the 24th Battalion Partisan Rangers.
Of the drawings found, only two have been identified:
James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart was a United States Army officer from Virginia who became a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War. He was known to his friends as "Jeb,” from the initials of his given names. Stuart was a cavalry commander known for his mastery of reconnaissance and the use of cavalry in support of offensive operations. While he cultivated a cavalier image, his serious work made him the trusted eyes and ears of Robert E. Lee's army and inspired Southern morale.
The Battle of Rio Hill was a skirmish in the American Civil War in which Union cavalry raided a Confederate camp in Albemarle County, Virginia.
The Battle of Brandy Station, also called the Battle of Fleetwood Hill, was the largest predominantly cavalry engagement of the American Civil War, as well as the largest ever to take place on American soil. It was fought on June 9, 1863, around Brandy Station, Virginia, at the beginning of the Gettysburg Campaign by the Union cavalry under Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton against Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's Confederate cavalry.
The Battle of Kelly's Ford, also known as the Battle of Kellysville or Kelleysville, took place on March 17, 1863, in Culpeper County, Virginia, as part of the cavalry operations along the Rappahannock River during the American Civil War. It set the stage for Brandy Station and other cavalry actions of the Gettysburg Campaign that summer. Twenty-one hundred troopers of Brig. Gen. William W. Averell's Union cavalry division crossed the Rappahannock to attack the Confederate cavalry that had been harassing them that winter. Brig. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee counterattacked with a brigade of about 800 men. After achieving a localized success, Union forces withdrew under pressure in late afternoon, without destroying Lee's cavalry.
The Second Battle of Winchester was fought between June 13 and June 15, 1863 in Frederick County and Winchester, Virginia as part of the Gettysburg Campaign during the American Civil War. As Confederate Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell moved north through the Shenandoah Valley in the direction of Pennsylvania, his corps defeated the Union Army garrison commanded by Major General Robert H. Milroy, capturing Winchester and numerous Union prisoners.
The American Civil War saw cavalry tactics move largely away from the offensive towards the defensive, with the emphasis on screening, raiding, and reconnaissance. Development of the rifled musket had also rendered the cavalry charge both impractical and detrimental.
The Maryland Scroll is an American Civil War artifact. It consists of a pencil drawing of a scroll with an unfurling banner above it. It was drawn on March 16, 1863, by one or more unknown members of James Breathed's Battery on the wall of the Graffiti House, in Brandy Station, Virginia.
On the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg during the disastrous infantry assault nicknamed Pickett's Charge, there were two cavalry battles: one approximately three miles (5 km) to the east, in the area known today as East Cavalry Field, the other southwest of the [Big] Round Top mountain.
Cobb's Legion was an American Civil War unit that was raised on the Confederate side from the State of Georgia by Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb during the summer of 1861. A "legion" consisted of a single integrated command, with individual components from the infantry, cavalry, and artillery. When it was originally raised, the Georgia Legion comprised seven infantry companies, four cavalry troops, and a single battery. The concept of a multiple-branch unit was fine in theory, but never was a practical application for Civil War armies and, early in the war, the individual elements were assigned to other organizations.
The Battle of Droop Mountain occurred in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, on November 6, 1863, during the American Civil War. A Union brigade commanded by Brigadier General William W. Averell defeated a smaller Confederate force commanded by Brigadier General John Echols and Colonel William L. "Mudwall" Jackson. Confederate forces were driven from their breastworks on Droop Mountain, losing weapons and equipment. They escaped southward through Lewisburg, West Virginia; hours before a second Union force commanded by Brigadier General Alfred N. Duffié occupied the town.
The 35th Virginia Cavalry Battalion, also known as White's Battalion, White's Rebels and the Comanches, was a Confederate cavalry unit during the American Civil War raised by Elijah V. White in Loudoun County, Virginia in the winter of 1861-62. The battalion was initially raised as border guards along the Potomac River below Harpers Ferry but were ultimately mustered into regular service as part of the Laurel Brigade. Despite this, they continued to play a conspicuous role in the ongoing partisan warfare in Loudoun throughout the war. The battalion was particularly notable during the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign, when it played a prominent role in the Battle of Brandy Station and subsequently conducted a series of raids on Union-held railroads and defensive positions in Maryland and Pennsylvania. The 35th was the first Confederate unit to enter Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Robert Franklin Beckham was a young artillery officer who commanded a horse artillery battalion under J.E.B. Stuart and in the Army of Tennessee. He was mortally wounded at Columbia, before the Battle of Franklin on November 29, 1864.
The following list is a bibliography of American Civil War Confederate military unit histories and are generally available through inter-library loan. More details on each book are available at WorldCat. For an overall national view, see Bibliography of the American Civil War. For histories of the Union, see Bibliography of American Civil War Union military unit histories. For a guide to web sources see: Carter, Alice E.; Jensen, Richard. The Civil War on the Web: A Guide to the Very Best Sites—Completely Revised and Updated (2003).
The Battle of Fairfax Court House was fought during the Gettysburg Campaign of the American Civil War between two cavalry detachments from the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by General Joseph Hooker, and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee.
Hampton Sidney Thomas was a United States soldier who fought with the Union Army as a major in the 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry during the American Civil War. He received his country's highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor, for his "conspicuous gallantry" on April 5, 1865, in the Battle of Amelia Springs, Virginia during which he captured an artillery battery and several enemy flags while also helping to destroy a wagon train of the Confederate States Army. The award was conferred on January 15, 1894.
The 4th U.S. Artillery, Battery E was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The unit fought at the battles of Kernstown, Port Republic, Rappahannock Station, Second Bull Run, Chantilly, Antietam, and Fredericksburg in 1862. The battery transferred to the Cavalry Corps where it served for the rest of the war. In 1863, 4th U.S. Artillery, Battery E fought at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Culpeper, Bristoe Station, and Mine Run. In 1864, the unit fought at the Wilderness, Todd's Tavern, Yellow Tavern, Totopotomoy, Cold Harbor, the Wilson-Kautz Raid, Opequon, Fisher's Hill, and Cedar Creek. In 1865, it saw action at Dinwiddie Court House, Five Forks, Sailor's Creek, and Appomattox before taking part in the Grand Review of the Armies.
A company is a military unit of the United States Army which has been in use since the American Revolutionary War. It has historically been commanded by a Captain, assisted by a First Sergeant as the senior-most non-commissioned officer (NCO), and consisted of approximately one hundred soldiers. Soldiers were divided between three and five platoons of around thirty each and led by a lieutenant. However the exact size and composition of a company has varied depending on the time period and its role.