Existing comment:
The Women of the Arsenal:
The war economy demanded more and more production to arm the men who were leaving the workforce to fight. Women answered the call and filled their vacant positions.
On Friday, June 17, 1864, 29 women were working in the "choking" room of the Washington Arsenal, inserting bullets into cartridges and tying the cases closed. At exactly 11:50am, a pan of fireworks, which had been irresponsibly placed to dry behind the choking room, exploded. The resulting "fiery serpent" flew into the room through a window or door, left open against Washington's oppressive summer heat. The explosion set off the gunpowder in the choking room, igniting an inferno. Of the 29 women working that day, only eight survived. Eighteen died instantaneously, the intensity of the fire rendering many of them unidentifiable. Three women survived the fire only to die later from grievous burns.
At the time, this was the biggest accident with mass casualties to occur in Washington. |