Jokes
"Humorous graffiti were perhaps one way to show off and help create a sense of camaraderie. It gives a sense of who were insiders and outsiders. In the graffiti at Brandy Station and Historic Blenheim, the targets of soldiers’ jokes include civilian men, the enemy side, and their own officers."
"At Brandy Station, a roughly drawn picture of a horse has its bottom turned toward a finely drawn picture of a civilian man, with the caption “He smells a rebel.” [It seems likely that the cpation was a later addition, responding to the placement of two different drawings].
Women were also targets of soldiers' humor.
"At Brandy Station, there is a picture of a lady with her skirts raised enough to show a fair bit of ankle, hoops, and petticoats, saying, “I am turned over to Lieut Gale.” A similar pose is used to depict women of easy virtue on comic valentine cards of the period. Such cartoons were perhaps a way to humorously, and publicly, puncture the pride and reputation of officer."
Katherine Reed
Notwithstanding the reference to the officer on which Reed's interpretation focuses, if the image does evoke a prostitute, its also clearly a joke at the expense of women. It shares that focus with some much more crudely drawn figures at Blenheim House, of a naked woman and a man having sex with a woman (the later image has lines scribbled over it and is only partially visible, suggesting that it offended someone, although not necessarily during the era of the Civil War).
Staff at Brandy Station offer a different interpretation of the image:
"When the Union army occupied Culpepper during the winter of 1863-4, it was common for female visitors to come to the camps. At the time, the roads through Brandy Station were deep in mud. People would cross the roads on wooden planks, which could be pulled out of the way when a wagon needed to pass. This lady has pulled up the hem of her dress to keep it out of the mud as she gingerly makes her way along a plank.
To the left of her head, she gives us the message: "I am turned over to Lieut Gale." Since issues of security as well as personal safety would need to be adressed in a Civil War amrmy camp (the army provost marshal was concerned over Confederate spies) perhaps Lieut. Gale's job was to ascertain the exact circumstances of the visit, the intended host of the lady, and the length of time of her visit. Or, more likely, this is a drawing of Liet. Gale's wife who had received a pass to visit her husband's camp."