A Concise and Impartial History of the Capture of Washington

Dr. James Ewell, 1817

“About two o’clock, on the 25th, a British captain with a company of soliders, marching down on Greenleaf’s Point, to destroy the powder magazine. On reaching the spot, they found the magazine empty, the powder the day before having been taken out and thrown into a dry well. The British being strangers to this fact, threw a lighted match into the well. A most tremendous explosion ensued, whereby the officers and about thirty of the men were killed, and the rest most shockingly mangled. Some of these unfortunate victims of gunpowder were seen flying in the air to great distances and others were totally buried alive under tons of earth thrown upon them”