Signatures

The most common form of graffiti left by Civil War soldiers was their name, generally together with the name of their unit, and occasionally with the date on which they wrote. In a few cases they added their divisions and commanders. When they wrote on interior walls, soldiers tended to use their signature. When they carved their names in floorboards and windowsills and in exterior brick and stone, they used lettering, and sometimes initials rather than their full names.

Soldiers wrote them names in varying sizes, some wrote them names more than once. It seems common for walls to have been filled with graffiti, with soldiers writing their names over and around the names of others. Some of the rare mentions of graffiti in letters written by soldiers point to the already existing writing to explain the decision to add their name. David Brett wrote to his wife about Falls Church on November 30, 1862:

"The insides are all torn out with nothing left but the pulpit. I went into it just for fun. People carry away pieces of boards and write their names on the walls. Mine is there"

Edward Hogue expressed a similar sentiment on the walls of Morgan Chapel:

"[Who]ever shall read this wall, please remember me in prayers and excuse me for writing this in the house of God, for I should not of written on these walls had it not of been all marked up."

In some cases, groups of soldiers appear to have written their names at similar times: at Blenheim House, for example, there are inscriptions by 10 members of Company K of the 29th New York Infantry; 6 by Company B of the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry; and 7 by Company C of the 4th New York Cavalry.