Work in the Smith and Forging Shop that stood here was dirty, smoky, noisy, and dangerous. In the early 1800s, armorers changed from skilled craftsmen creating unique handcrafted weapons into wage laborers tending machines for less pay. Calling themselves "mere machines of labor," armory workers took their complaints directly to U.S. President John Tyler in 1842. Tyler dismissed them, saying the workers "must go home and hammer out their own salvation." Conditions did not improve, and armorers kept working in the factories until the armory was destroyed at the start of the Civil War in 1861.
