From "Lincoln's Citadel: The Civil War in Washington, D.C." by Kenneth Winkle.
The Washington Arsenal was the largest one in the Union and located a mile south of the Capitol at the Potomac and Eastern Branch rivers (I had read it was by the confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers). There were many "cavernous buildings filled with workshops" at the site.
Every week it produced 6-12 cannons and every day 100,000 minie cartridges, 36,000 minie balls along with hundreds of cannon shot, shells and grape cannister.
It didn't produce rifles, but generally had a quarter million stand at any given time.
Because of its importance, it was heavily guarded. The nearby Navy Yard Arsenal also produced cannons, shot and shells.
The June 1864 explosion , wasn't the first one. That occurred April 1862 where 6-8 workers were seriously burned or injured, but there were no fatalities.
Both arsenals began employing women in October 1862, to free up men for military service.
There had been a long series of fatal accidents prior to the June 1864 one.
--Old Secesh
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