The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.

Saturday, July 12, 2014

More On the Washington Arsenal Explosion-- Part 4: A Heroes' Burial

The girls and young ladies were given a heroes' burial.  The next day the men of the arsenal adopted a resolution for their burial to be at the Congressional Cemetery.  They marched from the arsenal to the cemetery where Catholic and Protestant clergy conducted the service.  They also had a "new and noble monument" erected.

Secretary or War Edwin M. Stanton ordered the government to pay for all funeral expenses.  Stanton and  President Lincoln served as "chief mourners" for the thousands who marched to the cemetery where  they joined other thousands.

The next year, a 25-foot monument with a female figuring symbolizing grief and inscribed with the names of the 21 known victims was erected in the western border of the cemetery.  seventeen are buried there and two others are buried at Mount Olive, Washington, D.C.'s Catholic cemetery.

A Sad Event.  --Old Secesh


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