Confederate Ordnance Lab Explosion

Photographed by Bernard Fisher, March 30, 2013

1. Confederate Ordnance Lab Explosion Marker

Inscription. In 1862, during the Civil War, Confederates established an ordnance laboratory and complex on the western part of nearby Brown’s Island. Workers there, many of them women and children who were forced to find employment because of the economic disruption occasioned by the war, assembled cartridges and other ammunition. Despite Col. Josiah Gorgas’s stringent safety guidelines, on 13 Mar. 1863, worker Mary Ryan accidentally ignited a friction primer, resulting in a massive explosion that destroyed the building. Richmond residents, responding to the “terrific report,” found a scene of horror, with many victims “burnt from head to toe.” Ryan, and at least 40 others, died from the explosion.

Erected 2012 by Department of Historic Resources. (Marker Number SA-101.)

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Disasters • War, US Civil. In addition, it is included in the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR) series list. A significant historical date for this entry is March 13, 1863.

Location. Marker is missing. It was located near 37° 32.126′ N, 77° 26.6′ W. Marker was in Richmond, Virginia. It was in Gambles Hill. It was at the intersection of South 5th Street and Tredegar

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Street, on the left when traveling south on South 5th Street. Touch for map. Marker was in this post office area: Richmond VA 23219, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker was in Central Virginia.

It was also in the American South

and specifically in the Upper South.

Globally, it was in the North Atlantic Region,

North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it found itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the original Thirteen Colonies,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this location: Tredegar Iron Works (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Freedom Monument (about 300 feet away); Canal Walk / Historic Canals (about 300 feet away); "The Headman" (about 300 feet away); Falls of the James (about 400 feet away); a different marker also named Canal Walk / Historic Canals (about 400 feet away); a different marker also named Tredegar Iron Works (about 400 feet away); a different marker also named The Tredegar Iron Works (about 500 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Richmond.

Related markers. Click here for a list of markers that are related to this marker.

Also see . . .
1. Confederate States Laboratory. Civil War Richmond (Submitted on December 17, 2014.)

2. Women and Girls in the Browns Island Explosion. Civil War Women (Submitted on December 17, 2014.)

Brown's Island (left) and Tredegar Iron Works (right) image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Bernard Fisher, March 30, 2013

2. Brown's Island (left) and Tredegar Iron Works (right)

Brown's Island in the background image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Bernard Fisher, March 30, 2013

3. Brown's Island in the background

Panoramic view of Richmond in ruins image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Alexander Gardner, 1865

4. Panoramic view of Richmond in ruins

The frame buildings visible on the far side of the Haxall Canal are the Confederate Laboratories on Brown's Island. Library of Congress [LC-B811-884]

UDC Monument in Oakwood Cemetery image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Bernard Fisher

5. UDC Monument in Oakwood Cemetery

In memory of those who lost their lives in the explosion of C.S. Laboratories on Brown's Island - Richmond, Virginia, March 13, 1863

Though their hands were small and not hardened in battle their service to the Confederacy looms large.

May this stone serve as a perpetual memorial to the dedication and sacrifice of these forgotten and unsung victims.

"Let us remember them as time and tide move on in endless rhyme while bud and blossom, hill and tree
remember them, so shall we." Oliver Reeves

Erected by Virginia Division,
United Daughters of the Confederacy,

Dedicated September 15, 2001

Names and ages of the victims. image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Bernard Fisher

6. Names and ages of the victims.

Mary Ryan, 18 • Mary Blessingham, 12 • Eliza Willis, 10 • Elizabeth Young, 33 • Mary Archer, 12 • Sarah Haney • Annie Peddicord • Mary Annie Garnett, 13 • Barbara A. Jackson, 16 • Robert S. Chaple, 15 • Elizabeth S. Moore, 15 • Delia Clemens, 20 • Sarah Foster, 14 • Sarah Marshall, 67 • Rev John H. Woodcock, 63 • Alice Johnson, 17 • Mary E. Valentine, 14 • Margaret Drustly, 16 • Amelia Diefenback, 15 • Mary Zerhum, 12 • Anne E. Bolton, 14 • Nannie Horan, 14 • Virginia E. Page, 13 • Mary Ellen Wallace, 12 • Emma Virginia Blankenshp, 15 • Margaret Alexander, 15 • Caroline Zietenheimer, 16 • Martha Clemmons, 25 • James Currie • Mary O’Brien • Martha Burley • Martha Daley • Mrs. Ann Dodson • Julia A. Brannon • Mary Rowlin • Catherine McCarthy • Mary Zinginham • Mary Whitehurst • Maria Brien • Ella Smith • Annie Davis • Mary Cushing • Louisa Ricely • Ellen Sullivan • Mary O’Connors • Virginia A. Mayer, 12

Shockoe Hill Cemetery image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Bernard Fisher

7. Shockoe Hill Cemetery

Fourteen of the victims of the March 1863 explosion are buried in this unmarked section of Shockoe Hill cemetery.

Credits. This page was last revised on November 10, 2025. It was originally submitted on March 31, 2013, by Bernard Fisher of Richmond, Virginia. This page has been viewed 2,509 times since then and 134 times this year. Last updated on November 9, 2025, by Evan Dwyer of Richmond, Virginia. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on March 31, 2013, by Bernard Fisher of Richmond, Virginia. 5, 6, 7. submitted on November 5, 2009, by Bernard Fisher of Richmond, Virginia. • Devry Becker Jones was the editor who published this page.