Gunpowder Girls: The True Stories of Three Civil War Tragedies

By Tanya Anderson

An acclaimed gem of hidden history, Gunpowder Girls is a story of child labor, immigrant hopes, and the endless demands of a cruel war.

 

With thousands of men off fighting in the Civil War, the government hired women and girls — some as young as ten — to make millions of rounds of ammunition. Poor immigrant girls and widows paid the price for carelessness at three major arsenals. Many of these workers were killed, blown up and burned beyond recognition.

As Steve Sheinkin did with The Port Chicago 50, Tanya Anderson in Gunpowder Girls tells an amazing war story that finally gives its subjects their due. Hidden history comes alive through primary-source research and page-turning narrative.

A Junior Library Guild Selection

• Language: English
• Publisher: Quindaro Press
• Release date: Oct 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9780966925845

Tanya Anderson

Tanya Anderson is an award-winning editor of books for young readers. Her particular passion is to create engaging nonfiction books for reluctant readers, those who are capable readers but who have become uninterested in reading. Anderson discovered this need when she taught high school history and English. She continues in her role as a teacher and guide through the books she edits and writes. Anderson graduated from Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, after a dozen years in the education field, she followed her dream of joining the children's book publishing world. She has worked for more than twenty years in various editorial functions for Pages Publishing Group/Willowisp Press, Guideposts for Teens, SRA/McGraw-Hill, Darby Creek Publishing, and now has her own book packaging company, School Street Media. Besides working with some of the most wonderful authors and illustrators in the business, Anderson has also had more than thirty books published in the children's and educational book markets.

Book preview

Gunpowder Girls

Gunpowder Girls

The True Stories of Three Civil War Tragedies

by Tanya Anderson

FF_Quindaro

Quindaro Press

Kansas City, Missouri

Text copyright © 2016 by Tanya Anderson

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016940762

Published by Quindaro Press

3808 Genessee Street

Kansas City, Missouri 64111

www.quindaropress.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.

Printed in the U.S.

This book was produced using Pressbooks.com.

To my mother, Pat Zimmers,

and to all of the women who work or have worked to make sure their children had food to eat, clothes to wear, and a roof over their heads.

Contents

Dedication

Introduction

Part I

1. All in a Day’s Work at the Arsenal

2. The Bloodiest Day of the War

3. What Went Wrong: The Investigation

Part II

4. A Friday the Thirteenth

5. The Investigation and Outpouring of Support

Part III

6. Government Girls in the Nation’s Capital

7. A Capital Disaster

8. An Immediate Investigation

9. Of Death and Decorum

Epilogue

Author's Note

Endnotes

Selected Bibliography

Recommended Reading

Photo and Illustration Credits

About the Author

Sample from Tillie Pierce: Teen Eyewitness to Gettysburg

Introduction

Women and war. One brings life into the world and the other takes life away. Throughout history, women have been the healers, the supporters, and the strong foundations for families and friendships. They have championed causes that lift up those who have been pushed down by society and government. When they could not lead through power, women have led by example. In early American history, the familiar names of Ann Bradstreet, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, Sacajawea, and Lucretia Mott have not faded from our national story. Their lives remind us of the intelligence, strength, and sacrifices women have offered and the difference they have made in growing our country.

The mismatch of calico hoop skirts in rooms filled with gunpowder and bullets illustrates a time when old rules and roles had to change. The Civil War brought not only change, but also unexpected levels of suffering to soldiers and civilians alike. Mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters had to find a way to survive while their men were away fighting, because there was no man at home to earn a living. (Some, but not all, soldiers did send home money, but it was not enough and was often delayed for months.) Some families lost all of their sons in battle. Nearly 620,000 soldiers died, and another 500,000 were seriously injured, many disabled for life. This remains the highest number of military deaths our nation has ever experienced. The suffering did not end with the war.

But somewhere in all the information that has been written about the Civil War—its battles, its soldiers, and its causes—we find precious little about the other half of the American population: the women.

Women got involved in wartime work and moved from their old roles into new ones. They put their hearts and hands to work to fill the gaps left when their men enlisted. While some hands knitted socks and gloves (or mittens, as the pacifist Quaker women did—to eliminate a trigger finger), other women’s hands held onto the wooden handles of a horse-drawn plow. Hands that had never known a callus were chopping wood, planting seeds, and holding the reins of a horse. These hands may have been smaller than a man’s, but they were just as able to work a farm as they were to comfort a sick child.

Immigrant girls brought what skills their hands could produce and used them to earn a living in the U.S. They worked long hours cleaning houses that were not theirs and making clothes they would never wear in order to earn just enough to support themselves and their families.

More than two dozen arsenals were in operation to supply both the Union and Confederate armies with guns and ammunition. By the middle of the first year of the war, these working-class women and girls—some of whom were mere children—had taken jobs in these arsenals. Their small, feminine hands touched materials they had never handled before, putting gunpowder and lead into small paper cartridges. They put their lives in the hands of the governments that employed them.

These three stories are theirs.

Part I

Catastrophe at the Allegheny Arsenal

Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania

September 17, 1862

My sister and I walked to work from our home at Penn Avenue and Seventeenth Street that morning as usual. It was payday. The morning passed quickly. We did not stop for lunch at 12 o’clock on account of the rush. […]

At 2 o’clock another girl and I were the only persons in Room 13. Suddenly there was a terrific roar; the earth seemed to split apart. The girl with me jumped through a window and I followed her, alighting on top of her in some grass behind the building. I lifted her to her feet and we started to run towards Butler Street. As we ran, there was a second explosion, and before we reached the street a third one.

Looking around we saw the building we had just left being torn to pieces. My sister escaped in some manner. She has never been able to tell just how. I was a nervous wreck for several weeks, and so terribly shocked that night that I had to be held in bed by force. ¹

—Mary McCandless McGraw, who was 13 years old when the Allegheny Arsenal explosion occurred.

1

All in a Day’s Work at the Arsenal

The summer’s heat and humidity lingered in the dawning hours of Wednesday, September 17, 1862. Dozens of women and girls of Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, tied on their bonnets, picked up their dinner bundles, and set out for another day of work at the nearby Allegheny Arsenal. (What people called dinner back then, we would call lunch today.) They looked forward to picking up their monthly pay during their midday break, but that was still six or seven hours away.

Some of the girls lived close to the arsenal, but not as close as the officers and the other men who worked there. The men lived in the barracks on 39th Street, a part of the arsenal complex, which stretched from the Allegheny River to the north to Penn Avenue on the south. Most of the female workers had a long trek each day—twenty blocks or more—leaving before dawn and returning home after dark, especially during the winter when hours of daylight are short.

As they encountered coworkers along the way, the girls made small talk, many with a strong Irish brogue or German accent, and also shared news about the most recent events of the war. Pennsylvanians had reason to pay attention. The Confederate Army wasn’t far away. News of General Robert E. Lee’s invasion of the North had folks in Maryland and Pennsylvania seized with fear. Rumors of Rebel behavior—stealing property, destroying homes, attacking women and children—might have been exaggerated, but how was anyone to know for sure? Many of Pittsburgh’s women had no men at home, no men to protect them, and no men to provide a steady, adequate income.

Catherine Foley, a 37-year-old widow, had no one to count on except herself and her 20-year-old daughter Margaret. The two of them shared a home with an older woman named Ann McShafer, just down the street from the Allegheny Arsenal. Catherine was probably raised to believe in the ideal of the true woman, someone who was a good wife,

Reviews for Gunpowder Girls

[bookerboy_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Tillie Pierce grew from a young girl into a woman in just a few days time by experiencing the horrors of war. This book tracks Tillie's experience from the time her town of Gettysburg was invaded by the Confederates thru the time they were repulsed by the Union Army. Its the story of her life being caught up right in the middle of the blood and gore. She witnessed death all around her and provided aid to the wounded and dying. It is incredible to think that she fled the main part of the city thinking she would be safe but landed in the middle of some of the bloodiest fighting anyway. The book is not just another overview of the war but is a collection of the personal stories and incidents of Tillie's experience as recorded in her journal. The experience of the book is capped by an invitation to use Google Earth to trace Tillie's footsteps through the conflict....what a unique experience presented by author Tanya Anderson. This was a great read.

[ang709 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book provided an interesting look at one civilian's experience during the Battle of Gettysburg. The boxes of historical information, the period photographs, and the map the author included really complemented Tillie's own words. I'm older than the target audience, but I would especially recommend this book for younger readers who could learn about history through the eyes of someone their own age.*Note* I received a copy of this book from Library Thing Early Reviewers for my honest opinion.

[fuzzi_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An interesting and informative book about an eyewitness to the battle of Gettysburg. In simplifying the narrative, though, the author appears to project a bias, though it might have been unintentional.

[book58lover · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This slim volume tells the tale of three arsenals that exploded during the height of the Civil War, causing multiple deaths and great concern among the area residents who thought the enemy was on their doorstep. Coming from the Pittsburgh area I was surprised to see that was the first, and most damaging explosion. The author includes interesting sidebars and a lengthy bibliography. There are three times the amount of citations for Pittsburgh as either of the other two cities even though the text of the book seems to be evenly divided. What I don't understand is the bibliographic section on women and child labor. Those books discuss topics that occurred well after the civil war and although interesting, seem out of place in this book.

[eduscapes · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

GUNPOWDER GIRLS by Tanya Anderson tells the tragic story of 140 women and girls who were killed in arsenal explosions during the Civil War.This quick-read is told in three parts including the catastrophes at Allegheny Arsenal, Confederate States Laboratory, and Washington Arsenal. The author weaves in primary source materials and interesting informational pages to bring the events to life for middle and high school readers. The book includes an epilogue, author’s note, endnotes, bibliography, recommended readings, and index.Librarians will find this book to be a welcome addition to the history collection. Pair it with other little-known events in the American Civil War. Or, connect it with other tragedies in women’s history.Published by Quindaro Press October 11, 2016. ARC from the publisher.

[jammies_4 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was a quick read, but certainly not an easy one. Ms. Anderson does a wonderful job of making the reader care about her subjects, making the tragedies of which she writes all the more heartbreaking. In addition, I learned quite a bit about the process of ammo making during the Civil War.Disclaimer: I received a free copy for review

[libstaff2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.75 Stars A YA historical account of 3 civilian tragedies during the American Civil War in which most of the casualties were girls and women. A book for students interested in the topic that is written more like a novella than a collection of historical facts with a subject matter that is long overdue. A few photographs are included as well as a decent bibliography. LT Early Reviewer

[suedarc · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In this time of women organizing to march in Washington, D.C. to assert their value and rights, this book connects beautifully. This is a documentation of the history of woman and girls who worked in arsenals during the Civil War to provide munitions for soldiers. The author describes in detail how difficult the lives were for these people and how dangerous as they marched forward into disaster. The explosions and the ensuing investigations had been largely forgotten in the pursuit of history of the Civil War. The home front death tolls were horrific. As we look at issues in today's world, there is much that echoes down from the past. The women and girls were ruled over by men who would abide no disruptions to productivity. The investigations were fraught with political overtones. All of this happening in the north and the south during the war. There is also a focus on the role of African American women in the war efforts. Most intriguing is the description of how women covering clerk positions during the war for the U.S. government fought for and won the right to equal pay with men for those positions when the men returned from war to their jobs. Equal pay for equal work in the 1800's....amazing! The book also provides recommended reading which should be helpful to any reader wishing to pursue this line of interest.

[cbl_tn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Before their granddaughters and great-granddaughters went to work for the war efforts in World Wars I and II, women and young girls were employed on the home front in the U.S. Civil War. This book provides a history of three tragedies affecting young women and girls working in Civil War ammunition factories in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, Richmond, Virginia, and Washington, DC. Anderson describes their work, provides details of the circumstances that led to each disaster, and gives an account of each of the subsequent investigations. Anderson provides a list of all who were killed in each of the explosions. She has calculated the victims' ages from their ages in the 1860 census. The plentiful and clear illustrations enhance the reader's understanding of the more technical details in the text. The primary sources for Anderson's research are the historical newspaper accounts of the tragedies. Anderson provides both a selected bibliography of resources with information about these three events, as well as recommended reading lists on the Civil War and on women and child labor reform. This well-written history is recommended for all middle and high-school library collections. Anderson's compilation of lists of fatalities for each explosion will make this a worthwhile purchase for many genealogical collections as well.This review is based on an advance review copy provided by the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

[madamxtra · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Thnak you, Tanya. Your book should be standard reading in all American Elementary Schools. Not only have you ensured these brave souls are not forgotten, but you have enlightened us all as to the lesser known roles of women during war-time. Your thorough research and vivid depiction of these historical events have shined a stunningly bright light on such subjects as, but not limited to, child labor, workers' rights, suffrage, work-place safety and many others. I truly commend your inclusion of African American Women and their vital impact to keep our nation free and whole. May all your endeavors be Blessed by The Holy Father. . . SMILE!!!

[beammey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love history, especially American Civil War history. This book was a treat because the whole concept of it was about something that isn't well known and women! It was tragic, really, but so well researched and I really, really liked it. It opened up a whole new part of the war to me. I would recommend this book. 5 out of 5 stars.

[lilibrarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

During the Civil War, ammunition was made by girls and women in tightly packed workshops. Dealing with inflammable materials, the smallest mistake could be fatal. This book tells the story of 3 different ammunition workshop tragedies which killed about 150, some as young as 10 years old, and many burned beyond possible identification.

[susan.macura · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As a future social studies teacher, I am always looking for books that are historically accurate, use primary sources and provide students with a look at an important event from a different perspective. This book meets all of the above. Here the author provides the reader with a look at some of the important roles women played during the Civil War that often put them in harm’s way as they worked long shifts in the arsenals that supplied each side with the necessary ammunition for war. The book looks at why women took on these dangerous jobs, what was involved in performing them and what happened when things went wrong, resulting in numerous deaths and injuries. I will definitely be using this book when teaching any lessons about this time period in our nation’s history.

[liindasnow97 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've been reading books about history and wars this late months. I honestly had no idea about the US Civil War before starting this book; I just knew it had been a war between two sides of the country. However, this book opened my eyes regarding this event in history. Tanya Anderson tells the story of three woman in the middle of the Civil War, describing the roles of woman in the war and the way the battles, soldiers, slavery, politics, discrimination, and others worked during that time. Her writing makes the pages fly easily, and the information in the pages is described in a way that doesn't make you want to "run away", but want to investigate and know more.

[nicholsm-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received a free advanced copy of this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers giveaway in exchange for an honest review.Very interesting story about three tragedies that took place at three different arsenals where women were making ammunition for the men fighting in the Civil War. There seems to be so much written on the Civil War with regards to battles, soldiers, slavery, politics, etc. that it’s fascinating to read about the lives of everyday women who left the home and went to work to help support their families. It’s a fairly quick read, but packed full of information and a well written narrative that keeps you interested in the events leading up to and following these tragic munitions explosions. I only wish the author was able to write more about the lives of these women and their roles in supporting the war effort. This is a great supplemental book to a unit on the Civil War or a jumping off point for a research project on the role of women in the war.

[bogreader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Author Tanya Anderson scoured primary sources to research the history of girls and women who worked in the ammunition factories during the American Civil War. Child labor, strict production rates, and other unsafe working conditions lead to the three tragic explosions in Pennsylvania, Virgina, and Washington, D.C. Anderson recounts the need for ammunition, wages, and other factors that result in loss of life and property. Photos, background information, endnotes, and a bibliography round out this historical book.

[ladycato · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I received this book through the Library Thing Early Reviewers Program.I have read numerous books on the Civil War, but I was completely ignorant of the three tragedies related in this nonfiction book: the young women, mostly immigrants, who assembled ammunition and were killed in accidental explosions on both the Union and Confederate sides of the war. These work place disasters took place decades before the Triangle Shirt Company Fire revolutionized work place safety. These were women tightly packed in rooms--and adorned in hoop skirts--who sat still for hours at a time as they packed cartridges. In only one of the cases was a woman the cause of the disaster; the other two were caused by the actions of men outside of the building. While investigations were made and some new safety standards were instituted, no one was held accountable, and the families (who in some causes lost multiple members) were not compensated for their losses.It's a short, educational, and heartbreaking book. Anderson's writing is excellent. Illustrations and photographs throughout greatly illuminate the text; for example, they show how the ammunition was assembled and how the buildings were arranged. The target audience for the book is YA, and I think this would be a very eye-opening book for teenagers and adults when it comes to 19th century labor practices and the desperation of the times. Kudos to the author for exploring this topic and paying tribute to these women who were lost and forgotten.

[misfortune317 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love reading about the strong women, The girls in the books worked hard during the war and sometimes are forgotten in our history books. The book shows the compassion the women for the family, country and each other.