On February 28, 1844, President John Tyler boarded USS Princeton on the Potomac River. The state-of-the-art warship sported a newly designed screw propeller, as well as one of the largest guns ever built, a ten-ton piece of machinery called the Peacemaker. (1/11)
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The country was shocked by this dramatic accident. Newspapers reported on the “appalling national calamity” that had struck the president and his party. However, one of the Peacemaker’s victims was routinely left out of the story. (5/11)
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President Tyler’s personal servant, Armistead, an enslaved man in his early twenties, was also aboard the Princeton that day. He was leaning against a nearby cannon and was struck by a piece of the exploding gun. He died of his wounds a few hours later. (6/11)
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New Jersey Congressman George Sykes, who was on board the Princeton, described the disregard for Armistead in the funeral arrangements for the six men killed in the explosion. (7/11)
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The first five coffins were made of mahogany, but Armistead received one made of cheaper cherry wood instead. (8/11)
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After being transported by steamship back up to Washington, the bodies of Secretary Upshur, Secretary Gilmer, and the other three high-profile guests were taken to the White House to lie in state until the funeral and procession to Congressional Cemetery. (9/11)
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Even though Armistead was the only one of the fallen to have actually lived in the White House, his body was separated from the others and given immediately to his family to be buried the day after the accident. (10/11)
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The lithograph in this thread, which depicts the explosion on board the Princeton, does not include Armistead. (11/11)
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