— 21 Bergin. Washington Arsenal Explosion: Civil War Disaster…Capital., 2012, pp. 60, 73.[1]

— 21 Boltz. “Young lives snuffed out in U.S. Arsenal explosion.” Washington Times. 3-25-2010.

— 21 Browne, Allen C. (Blogger). Landmarks. “Grief: The Arsenal Fire of 1864.” 5-13-2012.)

— 21 LeDoux, Julia. “The Washington arsenal explosion.” US Army website, posted 6-34-2014.

— 21 Pauley, Andrea. “Twenty-One Killed in Explosion at Washington Arsenal.”[2]

— 21 Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. “150^th Anniversary of Washington Arsenal…”

— 21 When Washington Was Irish (blogspot). “The Washington Arsenal explosion.” 10-14-2014.

— 19 Boston Post. “Explosion at…Washington Arsenal. Females Burnt to Death.” 6-18-1864, 2.

— 18 Boston Post, MA. “Washington News.” 6-20-1864, p. 2.[3]

— 18 Indiana Democrat, PA. “Terrible Explosion at a Government Arsenal.” 6-23-1964, p. 2.

Narrative Information

Bergin: “…. [pages 1-57 not made available in Google digital preview] Through a combination of luck and hard work, the conflagration that started just before noon was contained and extinguished by 1:15 p.m. With the fire quenched, Major Benton ordered that the coroner be summoned and the gram task begun of sifting through the laboratory’s crumpled walls and charred hulk for bodies.” (p. 58.)

“….In total, seventeen bodies were found and laid out for identification….Many remains were merely torsos, disjointed from the other parts of their bodies. Placed under the tarp, too, was an eighteenth box that held nothing but miscellaneous body parts and bone fragments associated with no particular body….

“Ann Arnold, the forty-five-year-old widowed mother of Emma Tippett, fainted as she unsuccessfully searched the makeshift morgue for a recognizable sign of her daughter.[4] She was carried to a nearby building to recuperate and adjust to the tact that neither she nor anyone else would ever again see a face they recognized as that of their beloved twenty-three-year-old Emma. (p. 60)

“Johanna Connor, however, was identifiable, but only by a belt fragment and a swatch of dress fabric seared to what remained of her body….Bettie (Elizabeth) Branagan, Julia McEwen, thirteen-year-old Lizzie Brahler and Emily Collins, Eliza Lacy, Maggie Yonson and Kate Horan[5] were, as with Johanna, identified not by their individual features but by a familiar pattern of cloth, a unique piece of jewelry or, in one case, a pair of gaiter shies that, because something – or someone – fell over them, escaped being incinerated.” (pp. 60-61) Perhaps most startling of all the identifications was that of Bridget Dunn,[6] by Superintendent Brown [twenty-one names, including those in the Bridget Dunn footnote]. Brown thought a set of intact remains was that of Miss Dunn, he said, because both were ‘of large size.’

“Recovering from shock, and her earlier fainting spell at the open-air morgue, Ann Arnold returned home to care for her infant grandchild. Awaiting her, along with the needy child, was the news that Emma’s husband, William, had died from wounds received earlier in fighting on the Virginia Peninsula.” (p. 61)

“While the laboratory still blazed, Secretary of War Stanton wrote a letter to the army chief of staff, Major General Henry W. Halleck, asking that Halleck direct ‘one or more competent officers to proceed immediately to {the Arsenal to} make inquiry into the cause of {the} explosion and take such evidence thereon as they deem proper and report to this Department.’ Responding with alacrity hard to imagine for their time, and one not characteristic of his days as a field commander, Halleck had E. D. Townsend of the Adjutant General’s Office issue Special Order #210 that very afternoon. Special Order #210 directed that a three-person board, consisting of battle-tested Major General Silas Casey, Colonel William Maynadier of the Ordnance Department and Colonel Richard D. Cutts, renowned soldier, surveyor and scientist, ‘immediately proceed to the Washington Arsenal to investigate the cause of an explosion which occurred to-day at that place.’ The order further directed that they take ‘such evidence thereon as they deem proper, and…report the result of their investigation to this office.’

“Arriving at the Arsenal that afternoon, the three officers (the ‘Casey Board’) toured the explosion area and then assembled in an Arsenal office to take testimony. Setting to work, the board called four witnesses: Major Benton, commandant; E. N. Stebbins, military storekeeper and paymaster; and Thomas Brown and his assistant, Andrew Cox. Of the four, three had been in the laboratory at the time it exploded: Stebbins, Brown and Cox. Only Major Benton had not been on the scene when the building went up in flames.” (p. 61) ….

“With no equivocations such as ‘about’ or ‘approximately,’ the board stated that ‘there were twenty-five (25) girls and women employed’ in the Choking Room, with another 79 in other parts of the building, a combined figure of 104 endangered workers.

“The panel reported that inn the process of sun drying ‘a very large number of rocket stars’[7] at a spot ‘directly opposite to the southern windows of the choking room,’ the stars, composed of nitrate of strantia, chlorate of potash and gum copal, ‘ignited by spontaneous combustion.’ Hedging its conclusion somewhat, the panel added, ‘Or from other cause {sic}.’ It did not speculate as to what that other cause might be.

“Regardless of the cause, the panel reported that ‘a part of one’ of the stars was ‘drawn into the nearest open window of the choking room {and} lodged among the cartridges, a box of which was placed in front of each operator, and set them on fire. Almost instantaneously the fire was communicated to the other boxes and hence, the explosion. The fire spread rapidly and soon the entire building was in flames.’….

“The panel concluded its report with the seemingly self-evident recommendation that orders be given to the effect that ‘dangerously combustible material’ not be dried in the vicinity of any site where munitions are produced. They did not, however, assign blame to any specific individual or recommend that any further investigations be undertaken. [p. 62] In the same vein, their report contained no fatality count, casualty list, estimate of damage or comment on the Arsenal’s ability to function in the aftermath of the explosion. Nonetheless satisfied with an afternoon’s work, the panel sent its three-page, handwritten report to Colonel Townsend before sunset on the smoldering ruins of the laboratory.” (p. 63).

“It was 4:00 p.m….the coroner had arrived. The District’s coroner, seventy-one-year-old Thomas Woodward, did not live on the Island…[but] in the affluent cross-town neighborhood of Georgetown.

“Having been summoned by Major Benton, Woodward immediately impaneled a twelve-member jury of inquest from the ranks of the District’s blacksmiths, stonecutters, painters and clerks and set to work….First to testify was the pyrotechnist, Superintendent Thomas B. Brown. He explained the work process and clarified that the women were engaged in the sole task of making cartridges. Somewhat defensively; perhaps, he noted that, although there may have been one or two rockets in a desk drawer – certainly no more than three – the women were not involved with… [page 63 — pages 64-66 not shown]

“….By Saturday morning, the count stood at eight dead, whose bodies would never be identified; six identifiable dead at the Arsenal; two hospitalized girls – Sallie McElfresh, twelve, and Annie Bache, seventeen – both of whom died during the night; one, twenty-year old Kate Horan, who was taken to her in-laws’ home and died surrounded by family; three (Bridget Dunn, Johanna Connor and Rebecca Hull) whose remains had been taken home after the coroner’s inquest; and more than a dozen other women who had survived the fire but were injured to a greater or lesser extent.” (p. 73) [This seems to note 20 female fatalities.] This included Mrs. Pinkey Scott, Catharine Goldsmith and Catharine Cogan, who, although severely burned, still lived.” (73-74)

“….In a city rife with ceremony, parades and pageantry, the Arsenal’s clerks and tinsmiths stepped out with focus and determination to initiate the incremental steps that would culminate in one of the largest funerals the nation’s capital had seen to date.” (74-75) [pages 76-78 not shown]

“….Arrayed on the north side of the platform were the coffins of Melissa Adams, Emma Baird, Kate Brosnahan, Mary Burroughs, Susie Harris, Lizzie Lloyd, Ellen Roche and Emma Tippett. Sisters in death, all eight of the polished coffin plates were etched with the same heartbreaking surname ‘unknown.’ To the south, the sun glinted off the little-girl names of daughters somehow recognizable to family: Annie Bache, Lizzie Brahler, Elizabeth (Bettie) Branagan, Emily Collins, Eliza Lacy, Julia McEwen and Maggie Yonson.” (p. 79)

“….A prominent spot, near the front of the platform at the edge of the crowd, was held in ready for the guest designated ‘Chief Mourner.’ A military entourage bordered the enclave sheltering the three men moving to its center. The tallest silhouette was unmistakable and the second vaguely familiar, while the third was not identifiable. Whether invited or of his own volition, President Lincoln was present with his secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, and Stanton’s son, Edwin Jr. The significance of the president’s visit was not lost on most people present. Since the typhoid death of his eleven-year-old son, William, in February 1862, President Lincoln had attended but two funerals: one for his friend, the poet and soldier General Fredrick W. Lander, and the other for Stanton’s infant son, James, who died from a smallpox vaccination. Both funerals had been in 1862. This, then, was Lincoln’s first public funeral since his son’s death. Clearly this was a significant event to Lincoln and to those who saw him there. Modern cynic’s might construe the visit as little more than a calculated attempt by a desperate president to gather votes for the approaching November election. [page 80] Such a conclusion, however, would need to ignore the fact that a constitutional amendment giving District residents the right to vote in a presidential election would not be approved by Congress for almost another one hundred years.” (p. 81) [pages 82-85, 88-89 not shown]

“Safety Rules

“On July 22, 1864, almost five weeks after the explosion, Major Benton posted a twenty-one-item safety notice in all the laboratory buildings. In light of the events of the past month, the notice is startling in that its first words caution against the use of iron the construction of laboratory facilities – a wise safety precaution, indeed, but one irrelevant to the events of June 17. It is only at item number eighteen that the declared cause of the explosion is broached and then in a rather circumspect way. Directing that ‘the preparation of ornamental fireworks is forbidden in or around any buildings where ammunition is prepared,’ Benton ignored the fact that Superintendent Brown never admitted, nor did either of the inquiries conclude, that the three trays of fireworks were intended or ‘ornamental’ rather than military use. Given the volatile nature of the chemical compound, prudence would demand an absolute ban on the preparation of all such fireworks around any ammunition facility. Items nineteen (‘No other operations than those prescribed by the Commanding Officer of the Arsenal will be allowed in any room or building used for laboratory or magazine purposes.’) and twenty-one (‘The Officer of the Day and the person in charge of a laboratory will see that these regulations are duly enforced, by promptly reporting any person found violating them.’), while certainly germane, nonetheless carry a hint of a self-serving attempt to provide the Arsenal’s commandant with a shield of plausible deniability in the event of an accident. (pp. 98-99)

“Of the twenty-one items, only five address circumstances that might have prevented, or at least mitigated, the carnage of June 17. In addition to item eighteen, the other four relevant precautions are: item three (‘Water and sweep continually during work, particularly in hot dry weather and when loose powder is being handled.’), item four (‘Put linen blinds to windows exposed to the sun.’), item ten (‘Never have more powder than necessary in the work shops.’) and the first portion of item twenty (‘When the operations are considered dangerous, the workmen will be kept separate as far as possible from each other.’).

“Ironically, while items six, seven and eight require the removal of street footwear and the use of ‘moccasins’ upon entry to the laboratory, the list contains neither a prohibition against the wearing of hoop skirts nor a requirement that clothing be treated with a known flame retardant such as ‘alum water.’”

“When read against the backdrop of the Arsenal disaster, Benton’s efforts to ‘Prevent Accidents in Laboratories’ is a document that easily could have been – and, in fact, may well have been – written prior to the June 17 explosion. If any lessons were learned from this disaster, evidence is absent from this notice.” (p. 99)

‘A Handsome and Substantial Monument…’

“Within a month of starting its work, the monument committee had subscriptions totaling over $2,000….In a July 22 news item, King and Burch [Arsenal committeemen] expressed their hope that ‘the citizens generally (as opposed to just Arsenal and government workers) will subscribe, and enable them to raise a handsome and substantial monument to mark the spot where eighteen {sic} of the twenty-one unfortunate victims rest.’

“As admirable as were their sentiments, this article was the first in what would be a long train of confusion about how many victims were buried in the Congressional Cemetery mass grave. Fifteen remains lay at the site where the memorial was to be constructed: the eight unidentified and six [p. 90] known victims buried in the two graves on Sunday, June 19, plus Pinkey Scott, who was buried on July 5. Sallie McElfresh and Annie Bache were also buried at Congressional, but each in separate family plots. Four of the victims had chosen to be buried in the Catholic cemetery of Mount Olivet.” [Totals 21] (p. 100)

“….The monument was to be made of American white marble, list the names of the twenty-one victims and include the date of the accident.” (p. 100)

“….No truth-seeking investigation ever brought light to the source of the combustion that sparked the wrath of the fiery serpent. Nor did any bestselling author or blockbuster movie ever hold the nation’s interest transfixed on the pathos surrounding the twenty-one tragic deaths….” (p. 105)

“….In 1864, the Arsenal workers and the residents of the Island were shocked and saddened by the explosion that suddenly and unexpectedly took the lives of twenty-one of their daughters.” (p. 107)

“….Even without the ages of the victims published in the papers, most people of the time would have known that cartridge production was the type of work generally done by children.” (p. 107)

“These women were not working outside the home by choice. They were not huddled at the Arsenal for twelve hours a day just so the family could afford an extended vacation, cover tuition at a local private school or purchase a larger home. Instead, it would have been widely appreciated that they were working to provide desperately needy families with a marginal amount of money that would help a widowed mother or their fatherless children survive another day at the economic margin.” (p. 108)

(Bergin, Brian (Edited by Erin Bergin Voorheis). Washington Arsenal Explosion: Civil War Disaster in the Capital. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2012, p. 58.)

Boltz: “….On the morning of June 17, 1864, the unfortunate but inevitable occurred— a spark ignited a massive explosion in one of the buildings in the complex, and the burned and panicked workers all tried to get out of the inferno. When it was over, 20 young girls and their adult woman supervisor were dead.

“The deaths had a marked impact on the community — soldiers being killed in battle was one thing, but innocent young women was something else. It was said that the funeral procession three days later saw 150 carriages that stretched for more than a mile, from the Arsenal site to Congressional Cemetery for the burials in a mass grave. President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton were in the procession.

“The victims were identified as Melissa Adams, Emma J. Baird, Lizzie Brahler, Kate Branahan, Elizabeth Brannagan, Mary Burroughs, Emily Collins, Susan Harris, Eliza Lacy, Louisa Lloyd, Julia McEwen, Ellen Roche, Pinkey Scott, Mrs. W. E. Tippett and Maggie Yonson were buried in the large grave. Annie Roche and Sallie McElfresh were buried in family plots. Mt. Olivet Cemetery was the final resting place of Johannah Connor, Bridget Dunn, Catherine Horan and Catherine Hull….” (Boltz, Martha M. “Young lives snuffed out in U.S. Arsenal explosion.” Washington Times. 3-25-2010.)

Browne: “On a hot June Friday in 1864, 108 women worked in the four-room laboratory at the Washington Arsenal filling paper minie ball cartridges. They were, for the most part, young and poor. Half of them were Irish immigrants. One, Sallie McElfresh, was 13 years old. Mrs. Tippett, on the other hand, was 40. Young women were hired for the job of “choking cartridges” even before the Civil War led to (male) labor shortages, because girls had small hands and fine motor skills. They were also better behaved than men.

“Their task was to assemble paper cartridges, carefully filling thin paper tubes with gunpowder, adding another paper tube containing the bullet, and then choking them off by making a complex series of folds in the end of the tube….

“Their supervisor Thomas B. Brown had the official title Pyrotechnist. He had laid out “red stars,” fireworks used as signal flares, in trays outside the window of the building where the women worked. The fireworks ignited in the hot sun, sparks came in through window and lit the gunpowder lying on the table. The resulting explosion and fire killed 21 of the 29 women in the room and severely injured the rest….

“Four of the victims, Johanna Connor, Catherine Horan, Bridget Dunn and Catherine Hull had Catholic burials at Mt. Olivet Cemetery on Saturday the 18th of June.

“A public funeral service was held at the arsenal on the 19th. Under a flag-draped canopy on a platform erected on the arsenal grounds were 15 neatly stained poplar wood coffins….

“The Washington Star on Monday, June 20, 1864 described the arrangements.

….Under this canopy the coffins were placed — eight containing the remains of those who could not be identified ranged along the north side of the platform, each bearing a label marked “unknown,” and on the opposite side seven other coffins, with the names of each as follows, commencing at the east end with Annie Bache, Julia McCuin, Mrs. Collins, Elizabeth Branagan, Lizzie Brahler, Eliza Lacey and Maggie Yonson…. [15; four buried day before, making 19]

….On the way, the procession was joined by a fancy hearse bearing the coffin of Sallie McElfresh who had survived the immediate disaster but died later. [making 20]

….At the cemetery, the coffins were placed one by one into two pits each six feet wide, fifteen feet long, and five-and-a-half feet deep. One of the pits received the identifiable victims Lizzie Brahler, Bettie Branagan, Emily Collins, Eliza Lacey, Julie McEwen, and Maggie Yonson. The other pit received the individually unidentified bodies of Melissa Adams, Emma Baird, Kate Brosnahan, Mary Burroughs, Susie Harris, Louisa Lloyd, Ellen Roche and Mrs. W. E. Tippett. Pinkey Scott would be buried on this site in July.

(Browne, Allen C. (Blogger). Landmarks. “Grief: The Arsenal Fire of 1864.” 5-13-2012.)

LeDoux: “Washington — It was hot the morning of June 17, 1864, as 21 young female war-workers made their way to the choking room of the laboratory building on what was then known as Washington Arsenal but is today Fort McNair. Wearing high collars and hooped skirts and sitting together at long benches pulled up to a central table, the women sweltered as they inserted lead bullets into powder-filled cylinders to form small arms cartridges for the Union Army.

“Then the unimaginable happened. The extreme heat of the day caused the drying explosives to combust. The sparks ignited the gunpowder that was lying on the table and a series of explosions rocked the room, instantly filling it with fire and smoke.

“Seven volunteer fire department companies battled the fire, but could not save all those inside the building and the tragedy sent shock waves through the nation’s capital.

“President Abraham Lincoln learned of the explosion upon his return to the White House from Philadelphia and would join Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, who immediately took steps to ensure the funeral expenses would be covered, in attending the memorial for the victims two days later on June 19. The women were buried in Congressional Cemetery and a monument in their honor, called “Ladies in Waiting,” was placed there in their honor in 1867….

“The ceremony [June 17, 2013 commemoration ceremony] paused at exactly 11:50 a.m., the time of the first explosion. The names of those killed – Melissa Adams, Annie Bache, Emma Baird, Lizzie Brahler, Bettie Branagan, Kate Brosnaham, Mary Burroughs, Emily Collins, Johanna Connors, Bridget Dunn, Susan Harris, Margaret Horan, Rebecca Hull, Eliza Lacey, Louisa Lloyd, Sallie McElfresh, Julia McEwen, Ellen Roche, Pinkey Scott, W.E. Tippet and Margaret Yonson – were read followed by the ringing of a bell.” (LeDoux, Julia. “The Washington arsenal explosion.” US Army website, posted 6-34-2014.)

Pawley: “….Mothers and daughters, all of them from families poor enough to need the limited income generated by paid female labor at the time, sweltered beneath many layers of clothing topped by a hooped skirt. Over two dozen women and girls worked at the Arsenal’s laboratory making explosives used by Union soldiers fighting in the Civil War.

“The women and girls who worked in the choking room at the laboratory weren’t allowed to talk, an activity considered by their superiors to be too distracting to their very precise effort. Fifty grains of gunpowder – no more, no less – filled each and every cartridge. The women sat together at long benches pulled up to a central table. For one person to get up from her seat, everyone on the bench had to move. Between the heat and the skirts and the silence and the benches, the choking room workers were trapped.

“Unbeknownst to the choking room workers or their supervisors, Arsenal Superintendent Thomas Brown had laid star flares out to dry nearby. He had done this many times in the previous months, but June 17th was a day hotter than most, possibly one of the hottest since the superintendent had found this new spot to dry fireworks to be used for July 4th celebrations. The tray that held the star flares lay only 35 feet from the choking room end of the laboratory. Just before noon, the flares began to explode. In a matter of seconds, incendiaries going off 35 feet from the choking room became flares shooting into the building. What happened next was the largest single-day tragedy in the history of Washington City to that time.

“Explosions rocked the choking room. Fire consumed it. The tin roof was lifted from its wood and brick walls. Trapped by social circumstances on so many levels, most of the women and girls inside the laboratory died. Some passed away immediately, their lungs, clothing, and skin incinerated by super-heated gas. Others escaped the laboratory to die over the subsequent hours and days. In all, nineteen women and girls perished. The bodies of eight were burned beyond all recognition.

“The survivors fled to their homes to be treated by relatives in the crude manner of the time’s medical treatments. Later that same day, both the Army and the District’s coroner conducted an investigation of the fire. Fault was found with the Superintendent and various lax practices. He faced no consequences that written history offers. The times allowed only for the most basic compensation of the injured and the families of the dead. A collection was taken up by the community to pay for the funeral, and many who perished were buried at Congressional Cemetery. The monument to the twenty-one women and girls who died still stands.

When Washington Was Irish: “The Washington Arsenal was located where Fort Lesley McNair sits today, its first earth works being built there in 1791 and an arsenal opening along the same 28-acre location in 1801. Intended to be a major defense point for the city, the fort was abandoned by American troops during the British invasion of Washington in 1814….On their way out of the city, the English destroyed the arsenal buildings, which were rebuilt a few years after the war ended.

“In 1826, the government purchased the land north of the arsenal buildings for the first federal penitentiary. (This was the site where the Lincoln conspirators were hung in 1865)

“The Washington Arsenal was the largest of all Federal arsenals where the union army built and stored thousands of caissons and limbers, wagons and ambulances, cannon balls and mortar shells. The Arsenal employed hundreds of women who, by June of 1864, a year before the Civil War would end, were producing 120,000 cartridges per day.

“The workers were mostly young and very poor Irish women and teenage girls, often from the same families. The young girls were in demand at the facility because their small, slender fingers were better suited to pack the cartridges. Not only was the building dangerous…the gunpowder was volatile and scared [scattered?] about the property but the working conditions were dreadful.

“On the morning of June 17, 1864, a spark ignited a massive explosion in one of the buildings in the complex. The noise from explosion was deafening and witnesses said they felt the earth shake under their feet. The women rushed to the central door to escape causing a logjam. Some women were saved due to the heroism of Storekeeper E.M. Stebbins and officers and soldiers of the 16th and 19th US Infantry Regiments. However, 21 girls weren’t saved and their deaths were brutal and horrific. The explosion ripped off limbs and riddled bodies with bits of black metal. Mary Jane Black,[8] an arsenal worker said “two girls behind me; they were on fire; their faces were burning and blood running from them. I pulled the clothes off one of them; while I was doing this, the other one ran up and begged me to cover her. I did not succeed in saving either one.”

“The victims were mostly (but not exclusively) Irish-Americans including Melissa Adams, Emma J. Baird, Lizzie Brahler, Kate Branahan, Elizabeth Brannagan, Mary Burroughs, Emily Collins, Susan Harris, Eliza Lacy, Louisa Lloyd, Julia McEwen, Ellen Roche, Pinkey Scott, Mrs. W. E. Tippett and Maggie Yonson, Annie Roche, Sallie McElfresh, Johannah Connor, Bridget Dunn, Catherine Horan and Catherine Hull.

“Strangely enough, there was a similar explosion at a Confederate arsenal in Richmond, and again, the victims were mostly young Irish girls desperate for work.[9]

“The funeral procession to from the Arsenal site to Congressional cemetery three days after the explosion, contained 150 carriages and stretched for more than a mile with President Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton leading the procession.

“Some of the girls were buried in a mass grave at Congressional cemetery (Johanna Connors, Bridget Dunn, Margaret Horan, and Rebeca Hull were buried at the Mt. Olivet Cemetery in a Roman Catholic ceremony. Maggie Yonson, Annie Roche and Sallie McElfresh were buried in family plots.).The War Department paid all fees for funerals. Secretary Stanton notified the Commandant of the Arsenal that “You will not spare any means to express the respect and sympathy of the government for the deceased and their surviving friends.” Still, a grief-stricken city collected $3,000 (At the time, a respectable middle class income was about $300 a year) to build a tall marble monument with a granite base which was carved by an Irish-American (Not Irish as is often reported) sculptor, Lot Flannery….

“The Washington Arsenal was closed in 1881 and the post was handed over to the Quartermaster Corps who renamed it The Washington Barracks. From 1898 until 1909, an army hospital was run on the site. It was here that Major Walter Reed researched his work on malaria. He died of peritonitis after an appendectomy at the post in 1902. In 1948, the post was renamed in honor of Lt. General Lesley J. McNair.” (When Washington Was Irish (blogspot). “The Washington Arsenal explosion.” 10-14-2014.)

Newspapers at the time

June 17: “Washington, June 17. – A terrible explosion occurred at the Washington Arsenal to-day, a few minutes before 12 o’clock. It appears that some red stars for fireworks had been made set out on block pans to dry, and not being made to stand a higher temperature than 200 degrees

were soon ignited by the heat of the sun. The remainder of the powder and the laboratory were of course blown up….The alarm was immediately given, and after the fire was extinguished the work of recovering the bodies commenced. Eighteen have been taken out, burned to a crisp, and their remains placed in boxes. It will be impossible to identify them. Eight have been placed in the hospital, all females….” (Indiana Democrat, Indiana, PA. “Terrible Explosion at a Government Arsenal.” 6-23-1964, p. 2.)

June 17: “Washington, June 17. – An explosion of fireworks occurred at the arsenal to-day, blowing up the laboratory. The occupants of the building were all females. Upon the explosion a terrible scene was witnessed. In the yard were about 1200 men and 300 women at work, a number of whom were burned whiled endeavoring to get away. After the fire was extinguished a search for bodies commenced. Eighteen bodies have thus far been taken out of the ruins burned to a crisp, rendering it impossible to recognize them. Eight females were taken out badly burned and placed in the hospital.

“Later. – Nineteen bodies have been taken out thus far. Three more were mortally injured, and fifteen or twenty suffered severe contusions. Quite a number were injured in jumping from the windows. A majority of those who escaped immediately ran away, so that it is impossible to state the exact loss of life. Three boys are missing and it is feared that they perished.” (Boston Post. “Explosion at the Washington Arsenal. Females Burnt to Death.” 6-18-1864, p. 2.)

June 18: “Washington, June 18….But seven of the bodies of the recent explosion at the arsenal here yesterday have been identified thus for and it is not possible that any more can be. Numerous relatives of the deceased were at the arsenal this morning, but many were unable to recognize their friends. All work is suspended to-day, except by a few carpenters and painters, who are engaged in preparing coffins for the funerals, which will all take place from the arsenal

to-morrow evening. A site has been selected in the congressional burying ground for the interment and a monument is to be erected by the employees.” (Daily Milwaukee News, WI. “From Washington.” 6-19-1864, p. 1.)

June 19: “Washington, June 19….The funeral of eighteen victims of the arsenal explosion took place to-day. The procession was very long. The President and Secretary Stanton were present.” (Boston Post, MA. “Washington News.” 6-20-1864, p. 2.)

Blanchard Summary of Fatalities (all from Bergin and Browne)

Adams, Melissa [Name on Arsenal Memorial; photo is on Browne website.]
Bache, Anne, 17 [Name on Arsenal Memorial; photo is on Browne website.]
Baird, Emma [Name on Arsenal Memorial; photo is on Browne website.]
Brahler, Lizzie, 13 [Name on Arsenal Memorial; photo is on Browne website.]
Branagan, Bettie (Elizabeth) [Name on Arsenal Memorial; photo on Browne website]
Brosnahan, Kate [Name on Arsenal Memorial; photo is on Browne website.]
Burroughs, Mary [Name on Arsenal Memorial; photo is on Browne website.]
Collins, Emily [Name on Arsenal Memorial; photo is on Browne website.]
Connor, Johanna [Name on Arsenal Memorial; photo is on Browne website.]
Dunn, Bridget [Name on Arsenal Memorial; photo is on Browne website.]
Harris, Susie, 19 [Name on Arsenal Memorial; photo is on Browne website.]
Horan, Kate, 21 [Name on Arsenal Memorial; photo is on Browne website.]
Hull, Rebecca [Name on Arsenal Memorial; photo is on Browne website.]
Lacy, Eliza [Name on Arsenal Memorial; photo is on Browne website.]
Lloyd, Lizzie [Name on Arsenal Memorial; photo is on Browne website.]
McElfresh, Sallie, 12 [Name on Arsenal Memorial; photo is on Browne website.]
McEwen, Julia [Name on Arsenal Memorial; photo is on Browne website.]
Roche, Ellen [Name on Arsenal Memorial; photo is on Browne website.]
Scott, Pinkey[10] [Name on Arsenal Memorial; photo is on Browne website.]
Tippett, Emma, 40.[11] [Name on Arsenal Memorial; photo is on Browne website.]
Yonson, Maggie [Name on Arsenal Memorial; photo is on Browne website.]

Sources

Bergin, Brian (Edited by Erin Bergin Voorheis). Washington Arsenal Explosion: Civil War Disaster in the Capital. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2012. Accessed 1-22-2015 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=BylUaHKUsDoC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=true

Boltz, Martha M. “Young lives snuffed out in U.S. Arsenal explosion.” Washington Times. 3-25-2010. Accessed 1-23-2015 at: http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/civil-war/2010/mar/25/young-lives-snuffed-out-us-arsenal-explosion/

Boston Post, MA. “Explosion at the Washington Arsenal. Females Burnt to Death.” 6-18-1864, p. 2. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/ThumbImage.ashx?i=224719005

Boston Post, MA. “Washington News.” 6-20-1864, p. 2. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/ThumbImage.ashx?i=224719009

Browne, Allen C. (Blogger). Landmarks. “Grief: The Arsenal Fire of 1864.” 5-13-2012. Accessed 1-23-2015 at: http://allenbrowne.blogspot.com/2012/05/grief-arsenal-fire-of-1864.html

Daily Milwaukee News, WI. “From Washington.” 6-19-1864, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/ThumbImage.ashx?i=119992142

Find A Grave. “Pinkey Scott.” Record added 7-7-2013. Find A Grave Memorial # 113443518. Accessed 1-23-2015 at: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=113443518

Indiana Democrat, Indiana, PA. “Terrible Explosion at a Government Arsenal.” 6-23-1964, p. 2.

Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/ThumbImage.ashx?i=113769409

LeDoux, Julia. “The Washington arsenal explosion.” US Army website, posted 6-34-2014. Accessed 1-23-2015 at: http://www.army.mil/article/128724/The_Washington_arsenal_explosion/

Pauley, Andrea. “Twenty-One Killed in Explosion at Washington Arsenal.” 3-12-2013.[12] Accessed 1-23-2015 at: http://ghostsofdc.org/2013/03/12/twenty-one-killed-in-explosion-at-washington-arsenal/

Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, National Headquarters. “150^th Anniversary of Washington Arsenal Explosion.” Accessed 1-23-2015 at: http://www.suvcw.org/?p=1088

When Washington Was Irish (blogspot). “The Washington Arsenal explosion.” 10-14-2014. Accessed 1-23-2015 at: http://whenwashingtonwasirish.blogspot.com/2010/10/washington-arsenal-explosion.html

Wikipedia. “Shell (projectile).” 1-15-2015 modification. Accessed 1-23-2015 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_%28projectile%29

[1] Bergin notes that “seventeen bodies were found and laid out for identification” at page 60. Later at page 73 he seemingly describes 20 female fatalities. Then at page 79, he names eight known female dead who could not be individually identified. Altogether twenty-one names are provided.

[2] Notes that “Much of this post is based on Washington Arsenal Explosion… by Brian Bergin…” Writes that “In all, nineteen women and girls perished. The bodies of eight were burned beyond all recognition.”

[3] The article does not actually state that there were just 18 deaths, but that there was a funeral for eighteen victims [which is incorrect]. Four were buried privately the previous day.

[4] For an alphabetical list of fatalities see the end of this entry.

[5] Age 21 (Bergin, p. 73.)

[6] On page 73, Bergin writes that overnight, “two hospitalized girls – Sallie McElfresh, twelve, and Annie Bache, seventeen…died.” Also notes that the remains of Rebecca Hull were “taken home after the coroner’s inquest.” On page 79 Bergin notes that at the funeral “platform were the coffins of Melissa Adams, Emma Baird, Kate Brosnahan, Mary Burroughs, Susie Harris [19, p. 86], Lizzie Lloyd, Ellen Roche and Emma Tippett. [On June 20, less than 24 hours after the Arsenal funeral, the mother of Ellen Roche “died of a broken heart.” (p. 90)] On page 100, is noted the burial at the Congressional Cemetery of Pinkey Scott.

[7] A type of shell fired into the air “designed for illumination…” (Wikipedia. “Shell (projectile).” 1-15-2015 mod.)

[8] An Irish immigrant according to web article “150^th Anniversary of Washington Arsenal Explosion” on Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, National Headquarters, website.

[9] On March 13, 1863 there was an explosion at the Confederate Sates Ordnance Laboratory on Brown’s Island at Richmond, VA, killing from 46-50 people. There were other arsenal explosions elsewhere during the Civil War, such as: March 29, 1862 Samuel Jackson Cartridge factory explosion in Philadelphia, killing 15-17; the Sep 17, 1862 Allegheny Arsenal explosion and fire in Lawrenceville (Pittsburgh), killing 74-79; the Nov 5, 1862 munitions Laboratory explosion in Jackson Miss., killing 40-48, the May 25, 1865 Mobile (AL), Magazine explosion killing about 300; and the June 9, 1865 Ordnance Building explosion and fire at Chattanooga, TN, killing about 10 (though this last explosion was just after the end of the war (April 8, 1865).

[10] From the Find A Grave website we note under “Pinkey Scott” “Birth: unknown…Death: Jul. 6, 1864…District of Columbia…Killed in the US Arsenal explosion. Ref: Evening Star (D.C.) 6/20/1864. Burial: Congressional Cemetery…Plot: R97-98/142-146 – US Arsenal Monument.” [Photo of Arsenal Memorial uploaded by “Historic Congressional Cemetery Archivist.

[11] Age from: Browne, Allen C. (Blogger). Landmarks. “Grief: The Arsenal Fire of 1864.” 5-13-2012.

[12] Notes that “Much of this post is based on Washington Arsenal Explosion… by Brian Bergin…”

1864 — June 17, Explosion/fire, Washington Arsenal, Greenleaf Pt., District of Columbia–21