Arsenal Monument

ARSENAL MONUMENT memorializes the 22 women killed on June 17, 1864 at the Washington Arsenal when ceramic shells left in the sun to dry, ignited, causing the exposed gunpowder the women were using to fill cartridges to explode. The cortege to the cemetery was led by President Lincoln, a band, 90 pall bearers and 2,000 mourners. Local sculptor, Lot Flannery, created the 25-foot memorial, the tallest in the cemetery. $2,500 was appropriated in 1864 “for the relief of the sufferers.”