Brandy Station
In May 1863, Seymour with the 11th Regiment participated at Battle of Chancellorsville, where he claims to have contracted rheumatism after picket duty in the rain. Additionally, Seymour claims to have contracted typhoid fever after Chancellorsville. These ailments seem to be corroborated by the fact that his name is found on the wall at the Graffiti House at Brandy Station in June of 1863, when his unit participated in the Battle of Brandy Station.
The Graffiti House is a two-story frame structure believed to have been built in 1858 beside the railroad tracks, suggesting that its function included some type of commercial aspect. Proprietors of whatever business was likely here may have also resided in the building. Local tradition holds that the building was used as a hospital by both Union and Confederate forces during various points in the war. The walls of the second floor are covered in inscriptions, drawings, messages, and signatures of Civil War soldiers, hence the name Graffiti House.
According to the Brandy Station Foundation, the graffiti could have been made by the confederate soldiers recuperating in the hospital, by other soldiers posted at Brandy Station, or by soldiers passing through the town. The community of Brandy Station was a strategic location at a junction of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad and of roads leading to Kelly’s Ford and Beverly’s Ford on the Rappahannock River. Fleetwood Hill provided high ground suitable for both observation and a defensive position.
It is clear that some of the graffiti has been destroyed, and other pieces have been removed by parties unknown. In fact the Brandy Station Foundation purchased some of the graffiti back from various private parties. The earliest date thus far deciphered and still present on the Graffiti House walls, is mid-April of 1863. At that time, Federal cavalry crossed the Rappahannock River at Beverly’s Ford to initiate the Chancellorsville Campaign.