Gambles Hill in Richmond, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)
Confederate Ordnance Lab Explosion
Photographed By Bernard Fisher, March 30, 2013
1. Confederate Ordnance Lab Explosion Marker
Inscription.
Confederate Ordnance Lab Explosion. . 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.
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.)
Location. 37° 32.126′ N, 77° 26.6′ W. Marker is in Richmond, Virginia. It is in Gambles Hill. Marker is at the intersection of South 5th Street and Tredegar Street, on the left when traveling south on South 5th
2. Brown's Island (left) and Tredegar Iron Works (right)
Photographed By Bernard Fisher, March 30, 2013
3. Brown's Island in the background
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]
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
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
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 February 1, 2023. It was originally submitted on March 31, 2013, by Bernard Fisher of Richmond, Virginia. This page has been viewed 1,543 times since then and 136 times this year. 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.