Types of Graffiti

Most graffiti took the form of names and the regiments in which those men served. Writing your name on surfaces predated the Civil War. The caves in the Shenandoah Valley on which soldiers wrote, for example, already had names on them carved by early nineteenth-century tourists.

Soldiers also wrote other words and phrases on the wall. This writing ranged from descriptions of their activities, to political statements, taunts of their opponents, and occasionally responses to what others had written.

Less often, soldiers drew on the wall. Some of those drawings portrayed soldiers and military equipment and activities as well as political symbols such as flags. Others had less clear associations with the war, including portraits of men and women, animals, and ships.