In the center of Richmond, VA the James River flows through the site of numerous wartime industries. One of the most important was the Confederate Laboratory on Brown’s Island. There workers prepared ammunition for the Confederacy’s war effort.

he Laboratory’s workers could produce 200,000 small arms cartridges a day, or about 1,200,000 a week. Those numbers sound impressive, but the army’s need for ammunition was never-ending. For a major battle the Army of Northern Virginia required about five million small arms cartridges and 40,000 rounds of artillery ammunition.

With so many laboring in such a sprawling complex and lacking the modern training and safety guidelines in place today, an accident was bound to happen. On Friday, March 13, 1863, citizens in downtown Richmond heard a large explosion at the waterfront.