The Grand Review Brandy Station Foundation March 2026 Newsletter
- Brandy Station Foundation
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
President: Howard Lambert; Vice President: Gregory A. Mertz; Treasurers: Peter Mocarski and Peggy Mocarski;
Secretary: Peggy Misch (newsletter editor)
Board of Directors: Elicia Belle, Jane Brookins, Don Carlson, Myra Lane, Larry Pullen, and Paul Warmack; Honorary Director: Helen Geisler, Honorary Member of the Brandy Station Foundation Board of Directors
Brandy Station Foundation Annual Dinner &
Business Meeting Friday April 10, 2026
Brandy Station Foundation’s Annual Meeting & Dinner this year is on Friday, April 10th at the Country Club of Culpeper at 2100 Country Club Road in Culpeper. The event begins at 6 PM. The buffet dinner will feature Beef medallions or Herb Crusted Chicken with Bread & Butter/Spinach & Artichoke Dip / House Salad / Sides and Dessert. Reservations are needed by April 1, 2026. Seating is limited to fifty. The cost is $45 per attendee.
At the meeting, the membership will vote on the Board of Directors for the year 2026-2027 presented by the Nominating Committee and any other matters to be brought before the Membership. Please remember that in order to vote at the annual meeting, you must be a Brandy Station Foundation member in good standing and have paid your dues on the date of or before the meeting.
We are so pleased to welcome Chris Mackowski, Ph.D., as our speaker. His topic will be Grant’s Last Battle: The Story Behind The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant. Facing financial ruin and struggling against terminal throat cancer, Ulysses S. Grant fought his last battle to preserve the meaning of the American Civil War. The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant would cement Grant's place as not only one of America’s greatest heroes but also as one of its most sublime literary voices.
Chris Mackowski is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Emerging Civil War and the series editor of the award-winning Emerging Civil War Series, published by Savas Beatie. Chris is a writing professor in the Jandoli School of Communication at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, NY, where he also serves as associate dean for undergraduate programs. Chris is also historian-in-residence at Stevenson Ridge, a historic property on the Spotsylvania battlefield in central Virginia. He has worked as a historian for the National Park Service at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, where he gives tours at four major Civil War battlefields (Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania), as well as at the building where Stonewall Jackson died.
Chris has authored or co-authored nearly two dozen books and edited a half- dozen essay collections on the Civil War, and his his articles have appeared in all the major Civil War magazines. Chris is an inaugural member of the Gettysburg History Council, and he serves as a Copie Hill Civil War Fellow at the American Battlefield Trust. He serves on the advisory board of the Civil War Roundtable Congress and the Brunswick (NC) Civil War Roundtable—the largest in the country—and he has formerly served on the board of directors for the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust. He is also a member of the Friends of Grand Cottage, the U.S. Grant Homestead Association, and the Antietam Institute.
Please make reservations by April 1, 2026 by visiting our website, https:// www.brandystationfoundation.com to pay online. If you prefer to pay at the event, you may email the Brandy Station Foundation at bsfgh1863@gmail.com with the number of reservations along with your name, or you may call BSF treasurer Peggy Mocarski at 540-222-1705. Please leave a message if there is no answer.
President’s Message
Dear Members and Friends,
Dear Members and Friends,
On behalf of the Brandy Station Foundation, it is my pleasure to greet you as we kick off 2026. We are truly excited about our plans for the year and giving you an opportunity to hear a number of dynamic speakers and participate in multiple events throughout the year.
First, I would like to thank all our volunteers, members of the Board of Directors, and Advisory Board for their service in 2025. Many of our events and tours of the Graffiti House would not have been possible without their dedicated service. The Graffiti House officially opens its doors on March 14, 2026. We have been busy on multiple fronts to get things ready, including replacing the carpet in the Media Room and holding a Clean Up day to get things in order. Of course, our work does not end there. In April, we will participate in Park Day again. It’s a day in which we traditionally spend considerable time improving the grounds of the Graffiti House. This year will be no different, as we plan to focus on the flower beds and repairing the wooden walkway in front of the house.
On April 10th, we will again hold our Annual Meeting and Dinner at the Country Club of Culpeper. Or guest speaker is Chris Mackowski, PhD, who will speak on the topic, “Grant’s Last Battle: The Story Behind the Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant.” Please join us to learn more about General Grant, take part in a raffle, and enjoy an evening with other members of the Brandy Station Foundation. Tickets are available for purchase online at our website (www.brandystationfoundation.com) or making reservations via email or phone and paying at the event.
We are also excited to kick off our Guest Speaker series in April. On Tuesday, April 21, at 8:00 PM, we will host our first guest speaker via Google Meet. This is an opportunity for our members and friends outside the Washington area, as well as around the world, to learn more about an important topic dating back to the Civil War. Our guest speaker is Ernest A. Dollar, Jr., who will speak on the topic “Hearts Torn Asunder: PTSD and the end of the Civil War.” Mr. Dollar’s presentation recounts the experiences of men and women who endured intense emotional, physical, and moral stress during the war’s dramatic climax. They developed a condition commonly known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The meeting link and call-in number are listed in this newsletter issue and on the BSF website. There is an RSVP but no cost for this event.
In June, we plan to host an Open House at the Graffiti House, with a ribbon cutting, to celebrate the multiple restoration projects completed at the Graffiti House. We will invite our elected officials to take part in this celebration. There will also be tours of the Graffiti House and guest speakers, including Mary Helen Thompson on the post-Civil War migration of newly freed Culpeper residents leaving Brandy Station for better a better life in Rochester, New York. Several other events and speakers are planned for the remaining months, including the popular Culpeper History Tour in August.
We are excited about the programs and events planned for 2026. However, to increase the number of days the Graffiti House is open and to increase the number of events and activities, more volunteers are needed. Specifically, we are seeking more greeters and tour guides. If you are unable to serve and know of someone who might be interested, please let us know. Training is already underway. Additionally, if you have an area of expertise or interest, do let us know too. We are always looking to expand our knowledge base and be more effective in executing our duties and responsibilities as members of the Brandy Station Foundation board.
In closing, thank you for supporting the Brandy Station, and we look forward to seeing you in 2026.
Regards, Howard Lambert
President, Brandy Station Foundation
Hearts Torn Asunder: PTSD and the end of the Civil War Presentation by Ernest A. Dollar, Jr., April 21, 2026
2026 Brandy Station Foundation Speaker Series
What: Ernest Dollar, Jr. April 21, Presentation
When: Tuesday Apr 21, 2026 ⋅ 8pm – 9:30pm (Eastern Time - New York) Please join with Google Meet using the meeting link or joining by phone.
Meeting link: meet.google.com/njp-fqfz-yhu Join by phone:
(US) +1 510-736-4466
PIN: 834091766
The Civil War’s final campaign in North Carolina began on April 10, 1865, one day after Lee’s surrender. More than 120,000 Union and Confederate soldiers cut their way through the state’s verdant heartland. General William T. Sherman’s unstoppable Union troops faced General Joseph E. Johnston’s demoralized but still dangerous Confederate Army of Tennessee. This chaotic time is chronicled in Ernest Dollar's new book, Hearts Torn Asunder, which explores the psychological experience of these soldiers and civilians during the chaotic closing weeks of the war. Their letters, diaries, and accounts reveal just how deeply the killing, suffering, and loss had hurt and impacted these people by the spring of 1865. Dollar’s presentation recounts the experiences of men and women who endured intense emotional, physical, and moral stress during the war’s dramatic climax. Their emotional, irrational, and often uncontrollable reactions mirror symptoms associated with trauma victims today, all of which combined to shape memory of the war’s end.
Durham native Ernest A. Dollar Jr. graduated from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro with a B.A. in History and B.F.A. in Design in 1993 and an M.A. in Public History from North Carolina State in 2006. He currently serves as the director of museums for the City of Raleigh Museum overseeing the City of Raleigh Museum and Dr. M. T. Pope House Museum.
Display Case Updated with Manhattan Navy Revolver believed to belong to Sgt. Allen Bowman, Co. E, 12th VA Cavalry next to bayonet/hoe
In July, 2005, the descendants of Sgt. Allen Bowman donated his bayonet/hoe to the Brandy Station Foundation’s Graffiti House Museum. In June 2025, Broadus “Bo” Bowman donated what is believed to be Allen’s Manhattan Revolver.
Manhattan Navy Revolver details by Bo Bowman:
“The revolver is one of Series II of the Model with Serial Number 7161, which means it was manufactured in either 1860 or 1861, most likely in 1860. It was most likely newly purchased by Allen, and then ultimately passed on down through our Bowman family as follows: Allen to his son Byrd (also sometimes referred to as Bird in family records), then on to his youngest son Carl A. Bowman, and then on to me, the undersigned, Broadus M. (Bo) Bowman… Allen survived the war, and according to his son Byrd (Bird), my grandfather, he was encamped not far from the Robert E. Lee Camp at Appomattox, VA for the surrender. Therefore, there is a very good chance that this revolver was present in the camp at that time.”
Allen Bowman was born in Shenandoah County. He was 26 years old when the war began. He joined the 12th Virginia Cavalry in the spring of 1862 and fought here on June 9, 1863 without injury. Three months later, on September 22, he was “de-horsed and suffered internal injuries” at a small skirmish at Jack’s Shop, Madison County. Bowman signed and circled his name and unit, Sgt. Allen Bowman, Co. E 12th VA Ca., on the north wall and also signed the eastern wall of this room. At the end of the war, Allen Bowman was camped a short distance from General Lee’s tent at the Appomattox Court House.
Park Day, April 25, 2026
Saturday, April 25, 2026, 9AM-1PM. Park Day at the Graffiti House. This is an annual hands-on volunteer event to help Civil War and other historic sites shine their brightest. The Brandy Station Foundation will hold its Park Day at the Graffiti House. If you can help that day, please call the Foundation at 540-317-5581 or email bsfgh1863@gmail.com. Thanks for participating and volunteering to enhance the Graffiti House.
Give Local Piedmont, May 12, 2026
Give Local Piedmont is an online fundraising event which inspires community members to give generously to the nonprofit organizations that are making our region stronger. Please consider donating to the Brandy Station Foundation on May 12th by visiting this website: https://www.givelocalpiedmont.org/ organization/brandystationfoundation Early giving is also an available option.
Thank you!!
Passing of Bob Pfile
Former BSF Board Member and Graffiti House tour guide Robert “Bob” Douglas Pfile passed away on Friday, January 16, 2026. Beginning in 2012, Bob had played with the “Wilderness Run Players” musicians for many Brandy Station Foundation Holiday Open Houses. Bob was an Air Force veteran.
He enjoyed playing the dulcimer with the group and is pictured in the vest at left with Bill Wemmerus at the Graffiti House in 2014.
