One of the more interesting monuments in the Congressional Cemetery memorializes 21 women who were killed in 1864 by an explosion at the Washington Arsenal. According to material at the Cemetery, the sun's heat set up some fireworks outside the building where the women were filling cartridges. It sounds pretty strange because a burning fuse blew through an open women into where the women were working and it ignited the exposed gunpowder. Apparently there was no escape. A grieving you woman is at the top of the monument.
It was a tragic accident and President Abraham Lincoln led the cortege to the cemetery, which also included 90 pall bearers, a band, and 2000 mourners.
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