Explosion of the Peacemaker aboard the USS Princeton February 28, 1844: How America was Horrified and the President Barely Escaped Alive

Everyone who was anyone among the social and political elite of Washington D.C. was there on that fateful day in February of 1844.  On that day nearly five-hundred ladies and gentlemen attired in gowns and tuxedos with top hats and white gloves to match pulled up to the Washington Naval Yard on the shores of the Potomac River in their luxurious horse drawn carriages.  Each of them eagerly awaited the spectacle that had been promised them.

All of these well dressed ladies and gentlemen were at the Washington Naval Yard on this overcast, cold and dreary February day at the personal invitation of one man.  That man was a prominent American Naval officer and member of one of New Jersey’s most affluent and influential historical families, Captain Robert F. Stockton.  Captain Stockton’s reputation was so solid and his family so well known that no one in the nation’s capital could possibly refuse his invitation.

The assembled guests attired in their finery walked up the gangplank and aboard the then most modern ship in the United States Navy, the only recently launched USS Princeton, which incidentally, had been named in honor of the hometown of its Captain’s grandfather who had been one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence for the state of New Jersey.

Captain Stockton on the morning of February 28, 1844 personally welcomed each invited guest aboard his ship as they arrived on deck.  The USS Princeton, bright, new and gleaming, was on the cutting edge of maritime technology at the time and was the most advanced warship then in the arsenal of the United States.

Capt. Robert F. Stockton

Initially launched on September 5, 1843 the USS Princeton was the first warship in history to be powered by means of a screw driven propeller, a type of self-propelled engine, that was sheathed in metal and located deep below the waterline of the ship.  This new type of advanced engine had been the brainchild of Swedish born American inventor John Ericsson   It was said that Ericsson’s screw driven propeller engine made the USS Princeton the fastest ship afloat in the world and that the durability of the engine made it almost impervious to gunfire.

Later, about twenty years in the future during the American Civil War John Ericsson would gain a certain degree of everlasting historical fame as the inventor and designer behind the USS Monitor, the Union Navy’s first entirely ironclad ship.  But on that day, February 28, 1844 all of Washington DC’s social and political elite were gathered to witness a demonstration of another, earlier incarnation of one of John Ericsson’s remarkable military innovations.  This invention had been designed by Captain Robert Stockton and built and engineered by John Ericsson.  It was called “The Peacemaker”.

“The Peacemaker” was an enormous wrought iron cannon--then the largest naval gun in existence--capable of hurling a twelve pound shell at a remarkable distance to destroy enemy ships or fortifications.  Captain Robert Stockton along with the help of his friend inventor John Ericsson had “the Peacemaker” specifically designed and built to be mounted aboard his ship the USS Princeton.  It was a marriage between the largest and most technologically advanced ship and the largest and most technologically advanced piece of artillery then in the United States of America.

Inventor John Ericsson

On February 28, 1844 Captain Robert F. Stockton with inventor John Ericsson by his side would demonstrate the destructive power of the Peacemaker before the assembled masses and usher in a new era of United States naval power and dominance.  At least that was the hope.

Even the President of the United States himself, John Tyler, was there aboard the USS Princeton, stationed belowdecks in a Presidential cabin, to witness the awesome power of the “the Peacemaker” that was about to be put on display.  President Tyler’s fiancee, the lovely Julia Gardiner--only twenty-four years old in February of 1844 and known to all as the Rose of Long Island due to her renowned beauty--was also there just a few short months before she would become the First Lady of the United States.  Ms. Gardiner would be the second First Lady of the United States during Tyler’s less than one term Presidency.

Tyler’s first wife Letticia Christian had suffered a stroke only weeks after her husband had assumed office, and she died a few months later in an upstairs bedroom of the White House after having battled a long and debilitating illness.  Even John Tyler’s own rise to the Chief Executive Office had been the direct result of a tragedy.  He assumed office when his predecessor, William Henry Harrison, died of pneumonia in April of 1841 mere days after his inauguration after having delivered his inaugural speech in a freezing rainstorm outside on the Capitol steps.

Perhaps, before they unleashed the awesome power of the “Peacemaker” aboard the USS Princeton on February 28, 1844, influential Captain Robert F. Stockton and erstwhile inventor John Ericsson would have done best to give some thought to the pall of tragedy that already hung over the administration of President John Tyler during the 1840s.

Julia Gardiner Tyler "The Rose of Long Island"

But, as it were, even despite the cold temperatures and the President’s personal tragedies, there was a very festive atmosphere among the invited guests onboard the USS Princenton that day.  

Not only was President John Tyler in attendance with the beautiful soon to be First Lady Julia Gardiner there, but so was Julia’s father, esteemed United States Senator from New York David Gardiner, with whom she was very close.  Secretary of State Abel Upshur, one of Tyler’s closest friends and confidants and one of the most powerful and influential men in American government was there as well.  Upshur was a naval enthusiast, a former naval officer himself, and he was particularly eager to see the Peacemaker in action that day.  Just before the demonstration was to begin, Upshur along with David Gardiner who wished to give the soon to be married John and Julia some personal space, went up on deck and got a front row seat closest to and just off the left side of the enormous cannon.  

Most of President Tyler’s cabinet was in attendance as were many members of Congress.  Many of them jostled one another on the freezing deck of the ship to get closer and to get a better view of the big gun before it launched one its enormous broadsides out over the Potomac River and into the Virginia countryside.  Everyone wanted to get a look at “the Peacemaker” this amazing and modern example of literally explosive new American technology.

After all the guests had been ferried aboard and had taken their places near the twenty-seven thousand pound behemoth of a cannon called “The Peacemaker” a United States navy gunnery crew rammed 40 pounds of gunpowder and a twelve inch around iron cannon ball that weighted well over two-hundred pounds down the barrel of the big gun.  

An eyewitness reported that the ball, “Arched into the air, hit the water of the Potomac River at a distance of over two miles away, and then skipped along the surface until it disappeared from sight.”

It was said that all the visitors aboard the USS Princeton loudly cheered once the gun was discharged.  The crewmen then loaded The Peacemaker once more with its maximum charge of fifty pounds of gunpowder and fired the cannon once more to a distance of five miles!  After this second shot the USS Princeton began to sail down the Potomac towards Mount Vernon and the United States Navy band struck up a rendition of “Hail to the Chief” as all of the assembled ladies and gentlemen headed belowdecks to have a celebratory luncheon with President John Tyler and his assembled cabinet.

In the midst of the luncheon President Tyler stood up with champagne glass in hand to give a toast.  The President raised his glass and loudly declared, “A toast to the three great guns!  The Princeton, her Commander and the Peacemaker.”  After the President completed his toast everyone shouted “Here! Here!” and the assembled ladies and gentlemen of Washington DC once more erupted into raucous applause.

The USS Princeton in 1844

As the luncheon began to break up an aide to Captain Stockton leaned over and whispered in his ear that, “An esteemed guest wishes to see the gun fired once more,” that day.

At first, Captain Stockton demurred and said, “No, no.  The gun will not fire again today.”  But, upon learning that the request had come from Secretary of State Abel Upshur, his boss, Captain Stockton despite his misgivings relented, and all of the assembled ladies and gentlemen aboard the USS Princeton once again ascended the stairs to go up on deck and witness the Peacemaker in action one more time.

The Secretary of State, who had requested that the gun be fired once more, along with Senator David Gardiner promptly took their spots next to the Peacemaker again to witness the shot.  President Tyler though, as he was ascending the stairs to arrive up on deck, paused to listen to his son-in-law sing a patriotic song for some of the ladies who still remained below decks.

Just then, as the President stood on a stairwell, the entire ship was rocked by a tremendous explosion that made it seem as if the USS Princeton itself were about to be torn to pieces.

The Peacemaker had exploded!

A reporter for the “Boston Times" who was an eyewitness to the explosion aboard the USS Princeton wrote that, “When the smoke cleared dead bodies and detached arms, legs and heads littered the deck.”

Secretary of State Abel Upshur had been blown to bits and killed instantly.  The American ambassador to Belgium was killed in an instant as was Julia Gardiner’s father, Senator from New York, David Gardiner.  The Secretary of the Navy was killed as was Beverly Kinnon the Navy’s Chief of Construction and lastly, the President’s own personal valet, an enslaved African-American named Armistead died a slow and painful death in the explosion.  Armistead had come on deck to wait for President Tyler to come up and take his position beside the Peacemaker.  In one, horrific, instant the Peacemaker cannon had exploded and literally decapitated the leadership of President Tyler’s military cabinet and caused an unspeakable tragedy for the American government.

President John Tyler

In the Navy’s official report written by a Lieutenant R.E. Thompson who himself witnessed the disaster it was asserted that, “The gun broke off at the trunnion band, right at the breech, and then split in two sending flaming chunks of iron flying everywhere.”

Guests onboard the ship went completely deaf as a result of the explosion and stumbled aimlessly on the deck of the Princeton sliding in pools of dark crimson blood.  David Gardiner’s arms and legs were completely blown off and only his torso remained.  Countless ladies on deck had their fine ball gowns splattered with blood and bits of human flesh.  Julia Gardiner fainted and even Captain Stockton himself, who had been standing only feet away from the breech of the gun, suffered severe powder burns throughout his entire face and had his hair completely burned off.

Fearful, that with charred and burning wreckage lying all about the deck of the USS Princeton that another explosion may occur, all of the guests ladies and even President Tyler himself were hurriedly ferried off the ship before anyone could gain any idea of the true extent of the damage and carnage that had been suffered.

When the guests who had been aboard arrived back in Washington word of the disaster quickly spread throughout the city.  The explosion of the Peacemaker had been the worst peacetime disaster that the United States had ever suffered to that point in its history.

As the bodies were taken off the ship crowds of curious spectators made their way down the shores of the Potomac River to gawk at the ghastly spectacle.  President Tyler ordered that all of the bodies of the victims lie in state in Congress until their funerals on the following Saturday, all except the body of Armistead, his own personal slave, who was denied that honor based solely on the color of his skin.  Thousands are said to have filed past the dead bodies to pay their respects in our nation’s capitol rotunda.

In the aftermath of the Peacemaker disaster President Tyler addressed Congress and said that the, “Princeton disaster was not caused by carelessness or inattention of the Captain or crew.”  A naval court of inquiry quickly absolved both Captain Robert F. Stockton and John Ericsson of any wrongdoing in relation to the explosion of the “Peacemaker”.  In the end, no one was ever held responsible for the disastrous explosion aboard the USS Princeton on February 28, 1844 that killed ten people and wounded dozens more.  What was the largest and most deadly peacetime disaster in American history up to that point faded into oblivion to be largely forgotten by everyone except for those who were there like Julia Gardiner and President John Tyler who witnessed its unspeakable horrors.

For more information on the explosion of the Peacemaker aboard the USS Princeton visit:

https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2005/october/fatal-cruise-princeton