Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-11-21
rIACE WHERE CoNFEDEIsAtN
mn IT'S POWDER

ponn urder tho hill something moro
'hAn loo yards from tho arsenal proper.
~ immense powder magazine was
built II was made OF stone and Gov
cred with slate II Mad many COIN
partmcuts and The walls s;ili standing
with the slIlc roof long since gone.
are massive. three men being able tot
walk abreast or til" top. y company
Of soldiers ~ the regular army was
Kept constantly At Bclona Arsenal. nnd
handsome Guartcrs for the officers were
erected within the reservation. y mag
ulnCent rock roadway was built from
Ee!Una TO Manchester, and ali OF the
arms shipped were hauled 10y wagon
over this road 10 what is now south
Richmond and carried b. bonis down
the James
Along IN the late fortics, or early
fttics. when the railroads commenced
10 stretch out through the country. the
government built other arsonals at
places where the railroads could be
taken advantage Of. and Beiuna Ar
senal was abandoned. \ f-w years
later, when Jefferson Davis was Score
ta-y 81 War, he ordered the BcIona Ar
senal property TO be sold ~ auction.
II was bought by DIR. Junius T.. Archer.
pho owned several hundred acres Of
land adjoining and nearby. Later he
sold the arsenal property and some
other land 10 General Phillip -. George
Cooke, who. like the former owner. cul-
tivated the land and used the arsenal
buildings as barns, etc.
When Mr.. Davis became President of
the Southern Confederacy he foreSaw
proba bic blockades Of Southern ports
and on his recommendation the Con-
federate government made haste to buy
powder and lead and shells in Europe
by shiplosds and have them hurried TO
Norfolk, Wilmington. Charleston. Sa-
vannah and any other Southern ports
that had not fallen into the hands OF
the Union armies. or had not been
blockaded. From these ports very many
shiploads of ammunition were rail-
roaded to Richmond.
MIR. DAVIS HAD
VERY GOOD MEMORY
1t was then that Mr.. Davis remem-
hered the old abandoned Belona Ar
senal which ne, as Secretary OF War In
Uncle Sans government. had sold to
DIR. Archer. He proceeded, through his
proper officers. to lease the property
from General Cooke, the then owner.
put the cannon and musket factories to
work again and filled the magazine
with the powder and ball brought from
Europe. Whenever ammunition was re-
auired the powder and lead were
brought to Richmond and Manchester,
where the cartridges were made and
shells loaded and rushed on to the
front Old Relona Arsenal was
opened and rehabilitatcd In all of its
glory. but its existence and .;s opera
tions we're Kept as much of a secret as
possible, and, strange 10 relate, that
with all OF their spies and all OF their
friends on the south side of the line,
the officials of the Union armies and
the United states government never
knew Of the rehabilitation until the
war was over. Then they knew for tho
Arst time where the blocltadcd Confed-
eracy had kept so much powder on tap,
stored away In the old stone magazine
that was built nearly fifty years before
hv president Madison.
At the close Of the war Uncle Sam
claimed the property and took posses
sion or it,, but finally it went back to
General Cooke. II changed hands sew
eral times within the next few years,
and one of the purchasers tore down
some Of the arsenal buildings and some
Of the walls to use the brick In Rich
mond, but the most of them are there
vet. w. j. Camack, n good old Chester
field County farmer. now owns the
property. He has converted the can
non factory into grst mill, and the
big brick arsenal buildings. with their
loopholes. Into stables and cattle barns
while the old magazine is well covered
with vines and shaded with trees that
have grown up within The walls.