August the 7th 1863

Today at Brandy Station: August 7, 1863

Upstairs at the Graffiti House, in Brandy Station there are three rooms. The smallest of the three has the least amount of observable graffiti. The reason is due to paint covering the plaster, not lack of graffiti. There are hints throughout the room of the treasure that awaits.

On an interior wall, just above is the paint line, written in pencil is:

August the 7th 1863

Are there more words below? We do not yet know. However, just to the left of this piece of graffiti is a drawing of what appears to be the sun. As I have noted in earlier posts this month, August was in a word oppressive. The Brandy Station Foundation anxiously awaits the next opportunity to have a conservator return to the Graffiti House.

We believe the graffiti was created by Confederate cavalrymen. In August 1863, the opposing forces in northern Virginia have pretty much settled down in and around Culpeper County following the Gettysburg Campaign. The pickets for the Rebels were posted on and near Fleetwood Heights, and the Federals not far away to the north and east, but on the south side of the Rappahannock.

So, it seems we have a mystery. We know when the graffiti was created, but we do not know by whom, why, or even if there is anything else that our mystery man from August the 7th 1863 is willing to share.