The Grand Review
Brandy Station
Foundation
June, 2022
by Paula Johnson
The Brandy Station Foundation will present a free event entitled "The159th Anniversary of the Battle of Brandy Station: Then and Now" at the Graffiti House located at 19484 Brandy Road, Brandy Station, VA 22714 on Saturday, June 18th. In 1863, the battle was fought on June 9th. and was the largest predominantly cavalry engagement in the Civil War. Also called the Battle of Fleetwood Hill, it was the largest battle ever to take place on American soil and
was the opening engagement with a profound impact on the Gettysburg Campaign with the battle "making" the Federal cavalry. The Graffiti House was a field hospital after the battle and the soldiers signed the walls, made drawings, and comments on the walls as a very unique and irreplaceable record in time for us to observe today.
Tours of the Graffiti House
The Graffiti House will open at 12:00 PM and tours of the graffiti rooms will be ongoing. In one room Michael B. Toth, president of R.B. Toth Associates, will discuss the technologies that are helping preserve and reveal new layers of the history of the Civil War through his advanced imaging of the graffiti on the walls of Graffiti House. rbtoth.com
Tours of the Battlefield
Two one hour tours of the battlefield are planned with experienced and long time Brandy Station Foundation battlefield guides. The first is at 12:00 and will return just before 1:00 when the Program of Events begins. The second tour will take place at 4:00 and both will begin at the Graffiti House.
The Program of Events
The Program of Events will begin at 1:00 with an overview of the "Battle of Brandy Station" given by Brandy Station Foundation board member Greg Mertz and following the lecture, Greg will interview Generals JEB Stuart and Alfred Pleasonton at 1:30 with a talk entitled “The Generals Speak.” Scheduled at 2:00, Culpeper author and tour guide, Virginia Morton and Board President, Paula Johnson will provide "Snippets from the War"; telling interesting short stories about soldiers that happened during the battle.
Well known, master musician John Tole will play two sets of period music for the event. The first one begins at 2:30 and the second set is scheduled at 3:30.
At 3:00 Rev. Dr. Uzziah Anthony Harris, President of the Culpeper Branch of the NAACP and Pastor of Unity Baptist Church in Culpeper, will present a talk on Juneteenth, the June 19th federal holiday. The date celebrates the enforcement of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in Texas on June 19, 1865.
Dr. Harris provided this information on the subject:
The significance of Juneteenth is manifold; when the Emancipation Proclamation went forth in 1863 freeing slaves in rebellion states, the war was still raging. Enforcement would take time and states as remote as Texas would take longer to embrace the reality of Black Freedom. In 1865 when Union troops entered into Galveston, Texas to decree General Order 3, it served as an announcement that freedoms which had been promised were now enforceable. It took more than two years but freedom finally came for those who had been previously (and brutally) enslaved. As a people we continue to commemorate this day as a promise that "Justice delayed is not Justice denied," and that time is no match for God's gift of self actualization and determination.
The 3:30 Raffle Drawing for C.E. Monroe, Jr. Framed Print
The Brandy Station Foundation is having a fundraiser raffle for a chance to win a 18 x 24 signed, numbered & framed C.E. Monroe, Jr. print titled "Last Charge at Brandy Station". The framed print is on display at the Graffiti House.
The framing was donated by Lou and Skip Price, owners of Village Frameworks & Gallery at 206 S. Main St #101, Culpeper, VA. Raffle tickets for the print are being sold to benefit the Brandy Station Foundation. Raffle tickets cost $5.00 for one, $20.00 for five. Please send checks made out to Brandy Station Foundation & indicate your address and number of tickets requested to Brandy Station Foundation, P.O. Box 165, Brandy Station, VA 22714. Checks must be received by our treasurers before the drawing date.
Winner need not be present to win; the drawing is Saturday, June 18, 2022 at 3:30 PM.
The Brandy Station Foundation is a 501 (C) 3 and an all volunteer organization.
President’s Corner
Spring/Almost Summer at the Graffiti House - Witness to History
Sometimes summer shows up for a day or two but it is not here yet. However, coming up is our summer event on Saturday, June 18th. The free event is "The 159th. Anniversary of the Battle of Brandy Station: Then and Now" beginning at 1:00 PM. We will have tours of the Graffiti House, the battlefield, music, lectures and a discussion about the technologies that are helping preserve and reveal new layers of the history of the Civil War through advanced imaging of the graffiti on the walls of the Graffiti House. I hope you will have a chance to stop by and enjoy our Program of Events.
With the summer travel time and vacations, we are planning on many visitors at the Graffiti House. We are planning to be open two Saturdays a month until we get more volunteers trained but look at our website to see the exact days we are open. If you have some free time, please check out the opportunity to volunteer at the Graffiti House one day a month by being a greeter or tour guide. The training will take place soon and you will get to meet new friends and interact with people that have an interest in history from all over the country.
We have lots of projects going on and beginning new ones. We had Park Day in April and what a great job Lana and Gene Hankinson did along with workers from Ardent Mills to organize the clean up and lay the bricks around the flagpole area. We will be getting a new website platform with new functions added and we are still working on the displays. We are so grateful for all of our volunteers that help us and had 1100 volunteer hours in 2021, even during the pandemic.
We look forward to having a visit from you soon!
