At Culpeper, a cadre of friends groups paved the way for a new Virginia state park that will tell the story of four battles. The idea: Preserve it and people will come

Cunningham Farm wall remnants (Chuck Laudner/ABT), Gens. John Buford and WHF "Rooney" Lee; 8th Illinois Cavalry attack along Beverly's Ford Road at Brandy Station (Keith Rocco/ABT)

A low stone wall that separated two 19^th-century farms in Brandy Station, Va., is remarkably intact today, despite being worn by time and a mammoth cavalry clash that signaled the beginning of the Gettysburg campaign.

It was here on June 9, 1863, where Union Brig. Gen. John Buford tried to turn the Confederate left flank. Brig. Gen. William Henry Fitzhugh "Rooney" Lee, son of Gen. Robert E. Lee, had no intention of allowing Buford's maneuver to succeed. Lee’s horsemen stubbornly fought off repeated assaults for five hours, stalling the Federal advance.

The site of their pitched fighting is on preserved ground that the American Battlefield Trust (ABT) will donate to the state for its burgeoning Culpeper Battlefields State Park, which will be made up of several parcels in Northern Virginia.

The trust, Friends of Culpeper Battlefields, the Brandy Station Foundation, Friends of Cedar Mountain Battlefield and other groups have worked for decades to save and interpret imperiled Civil War battlefields in Culpeper County. They are Brandy Station, Cedar Mountain, Kelly’s Ford, Rappahannock Station and Hansbrough's Ridge.

About 263 acres centered at the crest of Fleetwood Hill at Brandy Station were the first donated to the state.

While the state park opened a year ago, development is still in its embryonic stage. Staff is being hired to develop a master plan. Drew Gruber (left), former executive director of Civil War Trails, was recently hired as the park's first manager.

The ABT – which will be chief steward of the properties until 2027 -- plans to make several additional donations to the Commonwealth over the next couple years, said Jim Campi, chief policy and communications officer.

“I think it is one of our biggest accomplishments by far,” Campi said of the land preservation organization’s efforts in Culpeper County.

Ultimately, he said, visitors will be able to enjoy Brandy Station through a wide array of transportation – on foot, horseback, bicycle and canoe or kayak.

The ABT and the state hope the new park units and ensuing visitation will provide a boost to the local economy. Culpeper is nestled between Cedar Mountain and Brandy Station. “Downtown Culpeper is part of the Civil War story, anyway,” said Campi.

Click map to get a closer view of planned state park properties (American Battlefield Trust)

“Where else can you stand in the footsteps of soldiers, follow cavalry charges on horseback or paddle the battle?” Gruber said in a news release about his hiring. “This park already offers a unique set of experiences for visitors of all ages and interests, and I am excited to share these gifts with our guests.” 

43rd state park in Virginia a rare foray into history

Greg Mertz, vice president of the Brandy Station Foundation, said local groups are committed to supporting the state park in the long haul, whether through volunteering, fundraising or participating in special events.

That commitment was a big draw for Gov. Glenn Youngkin and the Virginia General Assembly when they first appropriated funds in 2022.

A pair of cannons at Cedar Mountain (Matthew Hartwig/American Battlefield Trust)

“We have been told that one of the reasons why the Culpeper Battlefields State Park has come into being before some other equally deserving new state park proposals is because of the number of friends groups and partners willing to both advocate for the park and help out with volunteers,” Mertz told the Picket in an email.

Campi said Virginia's park system "is mostly about managing natural parks and wildernesses,” so this Civil War site will indicate a new effort to convey the Commonwealth’s rich history. Culpeper will be the state's 43rd park and encompass about 2,200 acres.

While many portions of the Cedar Mountain and Brandy Station battlefields have been open to the public for years, including trails, the Fleetwood Hill unit of the Brandy Station battlefield is the only portion of the Culpeper Battlefields State Park that is currently open to the public, said Mertz.

Interpretation at Brandy Station's Fleetwood Hill sector (American Battlefield Trust)

Public hearing will spotlight cool features

The ABT, working with the Brandy Station Foundation and other partners, is engaged in a yearlong cultural landscape study that will help inform the state’s master plan.

Campi said this study focused on a portion of the Brandy Station battlefield, including St. James Church and Elkwood. “We have identified some pretty interesting archaeological resources we are going to identify publicly,” he said.

Those features include an old road and cemeteries. The stone wall that separated the Cunningham and Green farms will be among discussion points at a June 24 evening program in Culpeper about the study.

An ABT marker about fighting at the Cunningham farm details the action. (Above, American Battlefield Trust map of Brandy Station. See top to see where Buford and Lee clashed)

“Rooney Lee was a skilled fighter and used the terrain well. First, he blocked Buford's progress by the stone wall 500 yards in front of you.

“From his command post on the knoll behind you, Buford saw that a portion of Lee's dismounted regiments were placed between Ruffans Run and the Hazel River (to your left and right respectively). Two unlimbered cannon were located on the other side of the hill behind the stone wall. Since the disposition of the enemy and the channels of the two water courses left him no alternative, Buford launched several mounted and dismounted charges against the wall. Blistering fire from Lee's brigade held the Federals back for several hours.”

Rooney Lee’s cavaliers eventually left the field as an additional Federal cavalry force entered the fray. Casualties at and near the stone wall were significant.

U.S. cavalry earned their stripes at Brandy Station

The Friends of Culpeper Battlefields provides details on Brandy Station, Cedar Mountain, Rappahannock Station and Kelly’s Ford at this page. Cedar Mountain is famous for Confederate Maj. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s August 1862 victory over Federal forces led by Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks. This battle shifted fighting in Virginia from the Peninsula to Northern Virginia, giving Lee the initiative, according to the National Park Service.

The NPS says this about Brandy Station:

“Enduring a narrow defeat and forced to withdraw, the Union force did not succeed in their mission to stop the Confederate advance. However, for the Union cavalry, the confidence and experience they gained at Brandy Station would prove invaluable four weeks later at a battlefield in southern Pennsylvania called Gettysburg.”

“It is just picturesque. It is beautiful,” Campi said of Brandy Station. Fleetwood Hill is just stunning.” He mentions the role of Beverly’s Ford Road, which is still unpaved in the battlefield. He also touts the important of archaeology work at Hansbrough’s Ridge.

Rappahannock Station witnessed fighting in 1862 and 1863. Some battleground has been lost to residential development.

These walls do talk. Will state take over Graffiti House?

Mertz, with the Brandy Station Foundation and a retired supervisory historian at the National Park Service, said besides owning parcels of land at Brandy Station and Kelly’s Ford, the nonprofit owns the Graffiti House (left), which is open Saturdays from 12 p.m.-4 p.m. from mid-March to early December.

“Walls in the 1858 building-- which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places -- contain Civil War graffiti,” he said. 

“The charcoal graffiti includes signatures, unit designations, dates, drawings and messages written by both Federal and Confederate soldiers.”

Mertz believes future master planning by the state could look at whether the house should be part of the park. “We envision that the options for ownership and operation of the Graffiti House vary from the BSF retaining both, the state taking over both, the state taking ownership but the BSF continues to run the operations.”

Hansbrough's Ridge -- scene of a small engagement during the battle of Brandy Station as well as a site from the Federal winter encampment of 1863-64 – will require extensive planning to provide visitor access and still preserve the resources on the site, Mertz added. 

View from Hansbrough's Ridge captures beauty, development (Peter Giraudeau/American Battlefield Trust)

Coming up with the right master plan is key

The ABT said it and other groups worked together to stave off much of the development that would take in battlefield land.

“At various times, pieces of land that we are now gifting to the Commonwealth of Virginia were slated to become housing tracts, industrial parks, water retention and management areas — even a Formula One racetrack,” it says. (Below, American Battlefield Trust map of parcels at Brandy station; click to enlarge)

State and private money are crucial to protecting more land as the development wave continues, said Campi, adding it’s important for the public to have access to history.

“We think this is going to add so much tourism potential,” said of the state moving in with a deeper budget and staffing than the advocacy groups. “We expect to see that explode in the next decade.”

Coming up with the master plan will take a few years as the state determines what it can open and what is vulnerable and needs extra protection.

In the meantime, visitors can walk on several trails and read ABT and Civil War Trails signs.

“We are always going to be involved,” said Campi. “The park is not done yet. There is more land to acquire.”

Kilroy was here: Uncovering soldiers' graffiti inside historic Virginia building

The walls talk to Chris Mills, but they yield their secrets slowly.

The architectural conservator works inches away from the grimy plaster, which is covered by a blue whitewash. He works methodically, using swabs, razors and other equipment to go back in time at the Graffiti House in Brandy Station, Va.

Mills this week was wrapping up his latest stint at the two-story frame house named for graffiti left by Union and Confederate soldiers, principally in 1863.

“It’s tedious work, but I am the first person to see this since 1870,” Mills told the Picket in a phone interview Wednesday. “My job is to protect what is here without a loss to it.”

Three upper rooms have yielded a mother lode of information about the men who fought in the Battle of Brandy Station or moved through the Northern Virginia town during other campaigns.

H.D. Specht, Co. G, 6th Regiment, Pennsylvania Reserves Volunteers Corps was here.

So was a proud member of the 3rd Corps. The federal soldier wrote the unit’s name in huge letters, making it the John Hancock of signatures on one wall in the room named for Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart.

Mills, 48, works at the behest of the Brandy Station Foundation, which has a museum downstairs in the home. The structure is believed to have been built in 1858, three years before the Civil War began. Tradition holds it served as a hospital during the conflict.

Soldiers used charcoal to make their mark, pulling charred wood from the building’s fireplaces.

“It looks like it came right out of a fire,” said Mills, a Pittsburgh native whose business operates out of New York City. “The penmanship is remarkably good.”

The foundation has identified about 35 soldiers, most content to list their name and unit. Several were with the Confederate Stuart Horse Artillery.

Others wrote the name of battles, such as Gettysburg, Rappahannock and Kelly Ford’s.

A Gettysburg notation includes this message: “The Rebels got licked.”

And because victors write the history – or graffiti – they often added their message on top of another. “It appears to be them marking their territory,” said Mills.

One wall in the Stuart room features what’s believed to be the signature of the famous Confederate cavalier, who died in 1864 at Yellow Tavern, Va.

Interestingly, a soldier wrote either a supply or packing list on one wall: Three undershirts, one overshirt, two pair of drawers and three hose (socks).

Graffiti, of course, is not new. Conquerors or passers-through have left messages for centuries.

In Brandy Station and other cities affected by war, it was a sure sign of unrest, Mills said. “Graffiti has always been vandalism.”

The Battle of Brandy Station, in Culpeper County, was one of the greatest cavalry engagements in history.

On June 9, 1863, about 22,000 troops tangled when Union horsemen under Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton launched a surprise attack on Stuart. After an all-day fight in which fortunes changed repeatedly, the Federals retired without discovering Lee’s infantry camped near Culpeper.

Some of the 1,000 estimated casualties may have received medical treatment at the Graffiti House, which the foundation says could have served as a hospital for Union and Confederate forces.

“This battle marked the apogee of the Confederate cavalry in the East,” the National Park Service writes in its summary of the battle. “From this point in the war, the Federal cavalry gained strength and confidence. Brandy Station was the largest cavalry battle of the war and the opening engagement of the Gettysburg Campaign.”

The house, not far from railroad tracks, once faced potential demolition. It housed a telemarketing operation for some time. The foundation acquired it in 2002.

Over time, some sections of graffiti were removed, much of which was returned. Other examples were damaged or destroyed over the years. Someone tried to make wall repairs in the 1970s or 1980s, Mills said.

“The walls were literally falling down,” before the foundation did significant work to stabilize them, according to Mills.

Those structural improvements likely saved the graffiti and the walls from collapsing during the East Coast earthquake last year.

Mills believes the graffiti, which was etched on plaster, was covered within several years of the war. After all, residents in the vanquished South may not have wanted to see daily reminders.

Before then, smoke, nicotine and grime slowly covered the graffiti. That actually helped protect it from lime wash used to cover the walls.

The conservator painstakingly removes as much whitewash as he can to bring the graffiti to the surface. But Mills must work carefully, and he injects acrylic resin into plaster cracks to further strengthen the walls.

In some cases, he leaves an area alone if he can’t do the conservation without damaging the graffiti. Future technology one day may make it easier to remove the lime wash, Mills said.

The foundation, which uses the building as its headquarters, is funding the work and is conducting research on the findings.

Mills has not gotten yet to one wall in the Stuart room, which he says should yield a lot more graffiti.

“We really do rely on donations to do the work,” foundation secretary Peggy Misch recently told the Culpeper Star Exponent. “We feel we step back in time when we come to this house.”

Mills has felt the same way.

He mentioned the discovery of a message left by a soldier who recorded the first snowfall of the year. Such ordinary notations give him a glimpse of the people who were there.

“I like seeing the person,” the conservator said.

Photos courtesy of the Graffiti House, Brandy Station Foundation.

• More information on the house, foundation