CDV of Explosion Memorial: Death of 21 Women

On June 17, 1864 an explosion at the Washington Arsenal in Washington, D.C. killed 21 women. Most were young immigrants who helped produce the explosives used by the Union during the Civil War. Just one year later the subject of this photo, a 25-foot-high marble statue, was erected in tribute to the women that lost their lives in the tragic blast. Young women and teenage girls, some as young as 13 years old, were often selected for this kind of work, as it was believed their smaller fingers better enabled them to pack the ammunition once it was assembled. Many of these workers were children of Irish immigrants, who found it necessary to send their children off to earn the small wages these jobs provided. This photo depicts the monument as it would have looked shortly after its unveiling in 1865, a sad chapter of the Civil War era.

The photograph itself is in excellent condition. Backmarked to the photographer "Hoops" of Washington, D.C. with a lovely period ink inscription indicating the subject.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate, Antique Photography, Daguerreotype, Ambrotype, Tintype, CDV]