Old Frederick County Courthouse Civil War Museum Guide Carol Miller recounts that Winchester Virginia changed hands many times between the Union and Confederate forces during the Civil War. And during the war, the Courthouse was used as a hospital, barracks and a prison by both sides. During restoration, a curse on the Confederacy President Jefferson Davis was found carved into the wall in the upstairs area, presumably by a union soldier, and is on view with many rifles, swords, shot, and relics of the conflict. Miller read the inscription aloud from memory and says its imagery reflects influence of the fraternal organization of Masons. "To Jeff Davis may he be set afloat on a boat without compass or rudder then that any contents be swallowed by a shark the shark by a whale whale in the devils belly and the devil in hell the gates locked the key lost. And further may he be put in the north west corner with a south east wind blowing ashes in his eyes for all eternity."
