Private William Wiley described it this way:
We were something over two miles [away] and the concussion nearly took the tops of our heads off... One of our company Wm Avery was down in the city at the time with one of the commissary teams and him and his team had a very narrow escape.
William Fleming also remembered the day:
about 2 oclock on the 25 we was startled by a severe shock occasioned by an explosion of a ordanance warehouse where it was said to contain 52 tons of amunition such as kegs of powder and catterages an fired amunition with a large amount of shot and shell, the shock was great an the explosion terrific doing damage to the city and resulted in the loss of a great many noble lives and in the distruction of great amount of valuable property...the shells did not sease exploding till late next day an it was dangerous to be near the scene
