Allegheny Arsenal explosion, September 17,1862

[bdtex]

September 17,1862 is best known as the date of the Battle of Antietam in the Civil War. Some folks call it Sharpsburg. It was the bloodiest single day of fighting in the Civil War.

Something else happened in Pittsburgh,PA that day. As in later wars,a lot of the jobs in factories/mills/plants etc. producing Civil War supplies were performed by women and children. One such place was the Allegheny Arsenal in Pittsburgh. Among other things,it produced cartridges for Union rifled and smoothbore muskets. It exploded on September 17,1862 killing 78 girls and young women. Most suffered horrible deaths from the force of the explosion or burns. About another 150 workers were injured. Found this about it in 2016 in a Civil War blog that no longer exists but is archived at the WayBack Machine:

Allegheny Arsenal Explosion

The worst civilian disaster during the Civil War took place at the Allegheny Arsenal, when a series of explosions killed dozens of girls and young women.

web.archive.org

 

[bdtex]

At the time and in the years afterward,the explosion was overshadowed by events at Antietam that day. I visited the site of the Allegheny Arsenal in July 2016. It is in the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh. There is a school there now. Nothing but an old cannon and a plaque on one of the maintenance buildings commemorates what used to be there. During landscaping and utility improvement projects at the site,they still find relics and artifacts from the Arsenal. There is a display case of Arsenal artifacts at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Pittsburgh.

I didn't know it at the time I was in Pittsburgh,but close to the site of the Allegheny Arsenal is Allegheny Cemetery. Some of the Arsenal explosion victims are buried there and there is a monument to the victims of the Allegheny Arsenal explosion victims there. There are also 7 Union Generals buried there along with many other Civil War veterans.

 

[bdtex]

There were 2 similar arsenal explosions during the Civil War. One was in Richmond,the other in Washington,D.C. In 2019 bought a book about the 3 arsenal expolsions and read it shortly afterwards.

 

[bdtex]

I was in Pittsburgh in June 2023 and visited Allegheny Cemetery while there. Hit the ground running when I got home and never posted much about that visit. It's a massive cemetery.

 

[bdtex]

There is a monument at Allegheny Cemetery for all the workers killed in the Allegheny Arsenal.

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

September 17,1862 is best known as the date of the Battle of Antietam in the Civil War. Some folks call it Sharpsburg. It was the bloodiest single day of fighting in the Civil War.

Something else happened in Pittsburgh,PA that day. As in later wars,a lot of the jobs in factories/mills/plants etc. producing Civil War supplies were performed by women and children. One such place was the Allegheny Arsenal in Pittsburgh. Among other things,it produced cartridges for Union rifled and smoothbore muskets. It exploded on September 17,1862 killing 78 girls and young women. Most suffered horrible deaths from the force of the explosion or burns. About another 150 workers were injured. Found this about it in 2016 in a Civil War blog that no longer exists but is archived at the WayBack Machine:

Allegheny Arsenal Explosion

The worst civilian disaster during the Civil War took place at the Allegheny Arsenal, when a series of explosions killed dozens of girls and young women.

web.archive.org

The South Had Slavery; the North Had Sweatshops. The North Had No Moral Superiority.

More proof that the Republicans' civil war was all about freeing the slaves to become cheap White-Replacement labor. As the European revolutions of 1848 proved, Whites wouldn't put up with such treatment much longer.

 

[whitehall]

Shit happens in war and sabotage and accidents were a reality for people working in 19th century ammunition plants and the victors write the history books. The number of Southern women and girls who were raped and murdered by Yankee raiding parties will go unrecorded. Union military governor, general Ben (Beast) Butler of New Orleans doesn't get much criticism for issuing a G.O. that New Orleans women would be treated as prostitutes if they disrespected (what does that mean?) Union soldiers.

 

[JGalt]

September 17,1862 is best known as the date of the Battle of Antietam in the Civil War. Some folks call it Sharpsburg. It was the bloodiest single day of fighting in the Civil War.

Something else happened in Pittsburgh,PA that day. As in later wars,a lot of the jobs in factories/mills/plants etc. producing Civil War supplies were performed by women and children. One such place was the Allegheny Arsenal in Pittsburgh. Among other things,it produced cartridges for Union rifled and smoothbore muskets. It exploded on September 17,1862 killing 78 girls and young women. Most suffered horrible deaths from the force of the explosion or burns. About another 150 workers were injured. Found this about it in 2016 in a Civil War blog that no longer exists but is archived at the WayBack Machine:

Allegheny Arsenal Explosion

The worst civilian disaster during the Civil War took place at the Allegheny Arsenal, when a series of explosions killed dozens of girls and young women.

web.archive.org

The cartridges they were manufacturing in those days contained black powder, as opposed to the smokeless powder we use today. Black powder goes up in a big "POOF!", while smokeless powder burns much slower in order to build up the pressure necessary to generate the higher velocities modern-day firearms are capable of producing.

I guess the moral of this story is don't let women work around black powder. They'll blow up your shit, big time.

 

[bdtex]

I guess the moral of this story is don't let women work around black powder. They'll blow up your shit, big time.

It wasn't one of the women that caused the explosion. From the link in the OP:

"Around 2pm, Joseph Frick was delivering wooden barrels of DuPont black powder in a horse-drawn wagon up the new stone road. Rachel Dunlap, an employee in the lab watched as Frick maneuvered his wagon into position to offload the barrels. Just then she saw a spark flash near the horse's hooves (with iron horseshoes) and the iron-clad wagon wheels. Then she saw a sheet of flame. All it took was one tiny spark."