How the Powder Blew Up

In New York during the fall of 1866, George Barnard was busy producing the hundred- or-so copies of his Photographic Views of Sherman’s Campaign. He wanted a summary of the Georgia and Carolina campaigns written by someone who had been with Sherman. He contacted Theodore Davis, the illustrator who had sent drawings from the warfront to New York for wood-engraving and publication in Harper’s Weekly. Davis agreed to help. The narrative in Barnard’s book is unsigned, giving the mistaken impression that it was written by the photographer. Davis explains what happened in Charleston that morning in February 1865. The rebels had left behind in the depot a large quantity of powder in kegs and cartridges. A number of boys thought it fine sport to throw the cartridges among the burning bales of cotton in the immediate vicinity. The powder dropped along the way to the fires soon communicated to the powder in the depot, and a terrific explosion followed which left the depot in ruin and flames. Over a hundred and fifty are thought to have been burned to death, while about a hundred more were wounded by the explosion.

This is the caption as printed in 100 Significant Civil War Photographs: Charleston in the War. It has not yet been through this site’s research and fact-checking pass.