1865 — Feb 18, Gunpowder explosion/fire, Northeastern RR Depot, Charleston, SC –150-200
–150-200 Blanchard[1] estimate.[2]
— >200 Lt. Col. Augustus Bennett, USCT.[3] Cited in Swain. To The Sound of the Guns, 2015.
— 200 NYT. “Events in 1865: Chronicle of…Occurrences for the Year.” 12-30-1865.
— ~150 Côte, Richard. City of Heroes: The Great Charleston Earthquake of 1886. 2006, p. 117.
— >150 Jones, M. “Today In Charleston History: February 18 – Charleston Firsts.” 2-18-2015.
— ~150 Philadelphia Age. “Horrors of the Evacuation of Charleston.” 3-1-1865, p. 1, col. 5.
Narrative Information
Behre: “On the morning of Feb. 18, a crowd of poor whites and blacks had gathered at the Northeastern Railroad Depot at Chapel and East Bay streets in hopes of getting food. Some boys found a pile of gunpowder there and began grabbing handfuls and taking them over and tossing them into a cotton fire, where it cackled and gave off smoke. But the boys inadvertently created a trail of powder between the pile and the fire, and the two soon connected. A few hundred people were killed, burned or maimed in the resulting explosion and a number of nearby homes were destroyed. While no exact death toll survived, historians consider the blast the most lethal event in the city during the war.” (Behre, Robert. “150 years ago, Charleston had reached a low point — or turning point.” The Post and Courier, Charleston, SC 2-13-2015.)
Côte: “On February 18, 1865, the last Confederate troops to abandon doomed Charleston burned supplies of cotton to keep them out of the hands of the enemy. At the Northeastern Railroad Depot near the Cooper River, a supply of gunpowder was accidentally ignited, resulting in a huge explosion that killed about 150 people. Probably an equal number were burned. The resulting fire destroyed many houses on the eastern edge of Wraggborough, adjacent to the depot.” (Côte, R. N. City of Heroes: The Great Charleston Earthquake of 1886. 2006, p. 117.)
New York Times: “February…17.[4]–Charleston evacuated by rebels…an explosion of powder kills 200 persons.” (New York Times. “Events in 1865: Chronicle of Noteworthy Occurrences for the Year.” 12-30-1865.)
Swain: “At daybreak on February 18, there was no Confederate flag flying from the staff over Fort Sumter…. the 52nd Pennsylvania, veterans of the long campaign on Morris Island, were the first into Fort Sumter….several explosions rocked the city. At least two were from the Confederate rams being destroyed. A magazine on Sullivan’s Island went up. But the most disruptive was an explosion at the Northeastern Railroad depot. There civilians were gathering food from abandoned Confederate commissary stores. Children found quantities of gunpowder stored in nearby warehouses, and began playing with it in the smoldering cotton fires. After a while, the children had left a perfect “train” back to the gunpowder stocks, with disastrous results. As Bennett[5] reported, “… not less than 200 human beings, most of whom were women and children, were blown to atoms.” That one accident claimed more civilian lives than all the Federal bombardments of the city combined.” (Swain. “February 18, 1865: ‘The City of Charleston and its defenses came into our possession this morning.’”)
Contemporaneous Newspapers
Feb 20: “From the Charleston Courier, Feb 20. The terrible scenes through which this community has passed since our last issue can only be conceived by those who witnessed the dreadful reality. The saddest part of all is the loss of life which occurred between eight and nine o’clock Saturday morning [18th] from an accidental explosion of powder and the blowing up of the Northeastern railroad depot. About one hundred and fifty persons–including men, women and children–were either instantly killed or perished in the flames, and about two hundred wounded. Of the immense destruction of property no estimate can be formed, but it will amount to several millions….
“Shortly after eight o’clock occurred the terrible explosion at the Northeastern railroad. The explosion was tremendous, and shook the whole city. It appears, from all accounts, that this dreadful catastrophe was caused from the careless handling of powder by some boys, taking handfuls and throwing it into the cotton fire at the depot. In doing this they unwittingly laid a train to the apartment in which it was stored. The spectacle which followed was horrible. In an instant the whole building was enveloped in smoke and flames. The cries of the wounded, in inability of the spectators to render assistance to those rolling and perishing in the fire, all rendered it a scene of indescribable terror.
“The flames spread with great rapidity, communicating to the adjoining buildings, including the fine large residence of Dr. Seaman Deas, on the northeast corner of Chapel and Alexander streets, all of which were destroyed. The buildings on the opposite side of the street were soon enveloped in flames, and the fire now became unmanageable. All the buildings embraced in the area of four squares on Chapel, Alexander, Washington and Charlotte streets to Calhoun street, with few exceptions, were destroyed….” (Philadelphia Age, PA. “Horrors of the Evacuation of Charleston.” 3-1-1865, p. 1, col. 5.)
Feb 22: “….The depot alluded to [in previous day’s reporting] is the depot of the Northeastern Railroad in Charleston, which goes to Wilmington [NC] via Florence [SC]. It is in the northern part of the city, near the Cooper river, in the vicinity of the shipyards, where the mechanics and laboring portion of the population chiefly reside….It may be that it was accidental or that it was premature….but a tremendous magazine was exploded right in their midst, killing and mutilating their wives and little ones by the hundred….” (New Albany Daily Ledger, IN. 2-22-1865, p. 1, col. 5.)
Sources
Côte, Richard N. City of Heroes: The Great Charleston Earthquake of 1886. Mt. Pleasant, SC: Corinthian Books, 2006.
Jones, Mark R. “Today In Charleston History: February 18 – Charleston Firsts.” 2-18-2015. Accessed 9-5-2019 at: https://markjonesbooks.com/2015/02/18/today-in-charleston-history-february-18-charleston-firsts/
New Albany Daily Ledger, IN. 2-22-1865, p. 1, col. 5. Accessed 9-5-2019 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/new-albany-daily-ledger-feb-22-1865-p-1/
New York Times. “Events in 1865: Chronicle of Noteworthy Occurrences for the Year.” 12-30-1865. Accessed 9-5-2019 at: https://www.nytimes.com/1865/12/30/archives/events-in-1865-chronicle-of-noteworthy-occurrences-for-the-year.html
Philadelphia Age, PA. “Horrors of the Evacuation of Charleston.” 3-1-1865, p. 1, col. 5. Accessed 9-5-2019 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/philadelphia-age-mar-01-1865-p-1/
Swain, Crag. “February 18, 1865: ‘The City of Charleston and its defenses came into our possession this morning.’” To The Sound of the Guns: Civil War Artillery, Battlefields and Historical Markers (blog). 2-18-2015. Accessed 9-5-2019 at: https://markerhunter.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/fall-of-charleston/
Wikipedia. “102nd United States Colored Infantry Regiment.” 6-26-2019 edit. Accessed 9-5-2019 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/102nd_United_States_Colored_Infantry_Regiment
[1] Compiled 9-5-2019 by B. Wayne Blanchard for incorporation in: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com
[2] The sources we cite all appear to be general estimates. In that a definitive fatality number appears to be unknown we show the range of numbers used, not attempting to put numbers to the general reports of “hundreds” killed and injured in the explosion and resulting large-scale fire.
[3] At the time Bennett was the commander of the 102nd Regiment, United States Colored Troops, first organized as the 1st Michigan Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment. (Wikipedia. “102nd United States Colored Infantry Regiment.” 6-26-2019 edit.)
[4] Incorrect date — explosion was Feb 18.
[5] Lieutenant-Colonel Augustus G. Bennett, 21st USCT, commanding forces on north end of Morris Island, Charleston Harbor.