Selma Army Arsenal

Confederate Army Captain James White was ordered to relocate the old Federal Arsenal from Mt. Vernon, Alabama. By 1865 it consisted of 24 buildings and had over 500 workers, including men, women, boys, girls, FMofC and slaves. It made or contracted for all manner of war materials, including 30,000 rifle cartridges a day. These materials were then shipped from the C.S. Depot to all parts of the shrinking Confederacy. By 1865 Selma was producing 2/3 of all C.S. war materials, which made the destruction of Selma the goal of Wilson's Raid. On April 6th, Sgt. B.F. McGee of the 72nd Indiana Volunteer Infantry of the Mounted Lightening Brigade recalled deafening explosions of rifle and musket cartridges, then artillery shells throwing fire and old iron 1,000 feet high, with explosions continuing for three hours and shaking the earth for miles around as the whole city became a pandemonium.

Selma, Alabama · United States