The Graffiti
House in Brandy Station has received recognition
for its importance to America's history, having met the
following two criteria for inclusion on the
National Register.
- Property is
associated with events that have made a
significant contribution to the broad
patterns of our history
- Property has yielded,
or is likely to yield information important
to prehistory or history.
The Graffiti House stands
on a small lot facing the Orange and Alexandria
Railroad in the village of Brandy Station. The
house’s orientation to the railroad is
characteristic of a period when railroads were
the primary source of long-distance travel. When
the Civil War began, the line became one of the
most strategically important in Virginia. Both
the Union and Confederate armies used the
railroad to transport troops and supplies.
James Barbour, who had the
Graffiti House built about 1858, lived at
Fleetwood (now called Beauregard), which stands
on a hill to the north overlooking this house
and the village of Brandy Station. Considering
its location adjacent to the railroad, the house
probably functioned as a dwelling, or a boarding
house, or a commercial structure, or some
combination thereof. During the war, as the
graffiti inside the building make clear, it
sheltered both Confederate and Union soldiers,
and according to local tradition it may have
been used as a hospital.
The graffiti includes
names of offices and soldiers, dates, names of
cities and battles, and drawings of a bird,
women and both Union and Confederate soldiers,
distinguishable because of their hats. Most of
the graffiti is undated.
The earliest date
remaining on the walls, March 16, 1863, was
inscribed the day before the Battle of Kelly’s
Ford on the Rappahannock River, which occurred
about five miles southeast of the Graffiti
House. The battle – the first in which Stuart’s
cavalrymen failed to soundly beat Union troopers
– was also notable for the mortal wounding of
Major John Pelham, the young horse-artillery
officer. The date is attached to a piece of
graffiti called the "Maryland Scroll." It
contains the names of the sixteen-man crew of
Rifle Gun No. 1, Captain James Breathed’s
Battery, Stuart’s Horse Artillery, which was "on
picket" at the house.
An additional item of
graffiti is the date "June the 8th
1863" when Stuart held a "Grand Cavalry Review".
Lee attended this review, which took place about
two miles southwest of the Graffiti House.
Stuart put his cavalrymen through several
maneuvers in a large field; some of the men
grumbled at the display, which tired their
horses. Unfortunately for the Confederate
troopers and their horses, the review occurred
the day before the Battle of Brandy Station, the
largest mounted engagement in the history of
North America.
Lieutenant James Marshall,
Co. E, 12th Virginia Cavalry,
scrawled his name and unit on a wall. A
great-nephew of Chief Justice John Marshall,
James Marshall was twenty-five years old at the
time of the Battle of Brandy Station on June 9,
1863, when a bullet wounded him. Perhaps he
wrote his name and unit on the wall of the
Graffiti House while recuperating there after
the battle.
Michael Bowman, 7th
Virginia Cavalry, also wrote his name on a wall
in the same room. He was later wounded during
the Battle of the Wilderness on May 5, 1864. He
survived the war and lived until early in the
twentieth century, residing for part of that
time in Madison County. Other Confederates who
left their names in one room or another include
Sergeant Allan Bowman, 12th Virginia
Cavalry, Private George W. Butt, Norfolk Light
Artillery, Lieutenant Joseph D. Moore, Norfolk
Light Artillery, Private Lewis Miller, 1st
Virginia Volunteer Cavalry, and Privates James
A.T. Cooper and George Orrison, 35th
Virginia Cavalry.
Colonel "J. Egbert Farnum"
also signed his name. He commanded the 70th
New York Infantry Regiment and fought in the
Battles of Williamsburg, Fredericksburg,
Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. Other Federal
officers who names appear on the wall include
Captain Edwin or Lucius Dillingham, 19th
Vermont Infantry and Lieutenant Walter Gale, 15th
Massachusetts Volunteer.