{"id":104422,"date":"2022-03-30T10:47:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T14:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/?p=104422"},"modified":"2026-03-02T16:41:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T21:41:27","slug":"object-20-the-washington-arsenal-monument","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/object-20-the-washington-arsenal-monument\/","title":{"rendered":"Object 20:\u00a0The Washington Arsenal Monument"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Washington<\/a>
Washington Arsenal Monument, 2007. (NCA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The National Cemetery Administration (NCA) serves as the steward for government and military lots at select private cemeteries nationwide. The Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., is home to several of these lots containing more than 800 burial sites in locations scattered across the 35-acre grounds. Interred within are members of Congress,  prisoners of war, a U.S. vice president, Native American dignitaries,  and  government employees. Their graves are marked by headstones that come in a variety of shapes and sizes. One of the largest markers is the monument honoring the women who died in an explosion at the Washington Arsenal during the Civil War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On June 17, 1864, female workers\u2014many of whom were young, Irish immigrants\u2014were busy assembling ammunition cartridges at the Washington Arsenal, a U.S. Army installation (now Fort McNair) at the confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers. The weather that day was sweltering, with temperatures approaching 100 degrees. Just before noon, red and white star pellets used in fireworks that were drying on metal trays outside the women\u2019s workspace ignited in the heat. The pyrotechnics flew into the air and one pellet entered a window left open for ventilation. It skidded across the worktable, igniting the cartridges being assembled, and landed in a barrel of gunpowder. The ensuing explosion blew the roof off the building and fire engulfed the women wearing highly flammable cotton shirts and hoopskirts. The building was consumed in minutes and twenty-one women died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The local community was devastated by the explosion. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton ordered the War Department to pay for all funeral expenses. A large crowd of people attended the funeral at the arsenal and thousands more turned out for the burial procession to Congressional Cemetery. President Abraham Lincoln joined the events as the \u201cmourner in chief.\u201d A few days later, arsenal  employees took up a collection to donate a day\u2019s wages to establish a monument to honor the victims of the tragedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Irish-American sculptor Lot Flannery was commissioned to design and carve a memorial to place at the gravesite of the fifteen women buried in one of the cemetery\u2019s government lots. The other six were interred in family plots at the cemetery or elsewhere. Flannery completed the 25-foot-tall marble shaft on a granite base before the anniversary of the explosion at a cost of just over $3,000. He topped the monument with a female figure symbolizing grief that is visible well beyond the cemetery\u2019s walls.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Female<\/a>
Female workers at Washington Arsenal photographed prior to the disaster. (National Archives)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The front face of the monument shaft features a carving of the arsenal explosion; the east and west faces are inscribed with the names of all twenty-one women who died in the accident. In 2008, NCA treated the monument to slow the erosion of the marble and inscriptions. In 2014, a granite marker engraved with the victims\u2019 names was placed in front of the monument as those on the shaft had faded. The following year, on the sesquicentennial of the monument\u2019s completion, it was rededicated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The National Cemetery Administration serves as the steward for government and military lots at select private cemeteries nationwide. The Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., is home to the Washington Arsenal Monument, which honors the women who died in an explosion at the arsenal during the Civil War.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":117278,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[27,20,31,33],"class_list":["post-104422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-100-objects","tag-civil-war","tag-national-cemetery-administration","tag-women-veterans","tag-womens-history-month"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/object-20-the-washington-arsenal-monument\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Object 20:\u00a0The Washington Arsenal Monument","url":"http:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/object-20-the-washington-arsenal-monument\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/object-20-the-washington-arsenal-monument\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/03\/Object-20-Featured-Image.webp?w=300","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/department.va.gov\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/03\/Object-20-Featured-Image.webp"},"articleSection":"History of VA in 100 Objects","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Department of Veterans Affairs (jdt)"}],"creator":["Department of Veterans Affairs (jdt)"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"VA History","logo":""},"keywords":["civil war","national cemetery administration","women veterans","women's history month"],"dateCreated":"2022-03-30T14:47:00Z","datePublished":"2022-03-30T14:47:00Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T21:41:27Z"},"rendered":"