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WAXAHACHIE, TEXAS, April 30.-The Waxahachie powder mill blew up yesterday. Mr. Rown, the proprietor, and Mr. Phillips, one of the hands, were both killed, and Mr. Nance was badly bruised. There were about 2000 lbs. of powder in the mill at the time.
Source: The Weekly Telegraph, Houston, Texas, Tuesday, May 12, 1863; Pg. 1, Column 5
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THE POWDER MILL.
In Waxahachie During the Civil War,
By J.A.C. Kemble
(Waxahachie Daily Light, July 2. 1936; copied Nov. 2. 1964 by Mrs. A.L. Feltenberger)
On the article of the explosion of the powder mill at Waxahachie on April 30. 1863, details were provided through the efforts of Miss Mollie Phillips.
We ascertained that the young man who was badly injured was David Nance. Miss Phillips recently learned this from Mrs. E.P. Morris, Mr. Nance’s daughter who now lives in Cedar Hill, Dallas County, Texas, from whom the following interesting facts were obtained.
David C. Nance was born in Cass County, Ill., Feb. 2, 1843, and came with his parents to Texas in 1852, settling near Desoto, Dallas County; in 1861 he enlisted in the Confederate Cavalry service in Parson’s Brigade. He was severely injured wounded in the battle of Cache River, Ark., on July 7, 1862, and was captured. In November 1862, after being exchanged, he was on requisition of the State Legislature assigned to duty in the Waxahachie Powder Mill, which was on the east side of North Rogers, second block.
Mrs. Morris said that her father always understood Mr. Wm. Rowen was the owner of the mill and that the State of Texas furnished him all of the sulphur, saltpeter, etc. and that the powder was manufactured on the halves.
Mrs. Morris gives further details of the effects that the motive powder for the powder mill was ten mules working in a treadmill, that it had ten MORTER’S each large enough to work 25 pounds. It also had a stone press capable of a pressure of about 1200 pounds sper square inch with a capacity of twenty-five pounds each charge. There was also a crushing machine and a shaving machine for making the powder into grains from the hard cakes and a glazing cylinder.
The operation of the mill was in charge of Mr. Wm. Rowen and his first assistant was Joshua G. Phillips, father of Miss Mollie. Others assisting in the manufacture of the powder were Messrs. Tillman, Patterson, and Stephen Mulkey, and David Nance.
About 4:15 P.M., April 30, 1863, there was a terrific explosion in the mill. When the men, remaining in Waxahachie (most of them were in the Army) reached the scene, it was found that Mr. Phillips and Mr. Rowen were severely burned. Mr. Phillips died late that afternoon and Mr. Rowen about three the next morning. Young David Nance was so badly burned that he was helpless and his finger nails came off. When he was able, he resumed work in the cloth mills in Lancaster; however, he was soon back in the Army and participated in the Red River Campaign against Bank’s Army and in the Battle of Yellow Bayou; May 10, 1864, he was again wounded.
After the War, David Nance acquired an education, taught school, and entered the ministry. He married Miss Sallie Hackney in 1878. They were parents of three sons and one daughter, Mrs. E.P. Morris. Mr. Nance died in Desoto, Dallas County, Texas in 1925.
Miss Phillips has also ascertained that her uncle, Mr. Jonathan Phillips (father of George Phillips of Kaufman and Claude Phillips of Houston) was also working at the powder mill, but he happened to be absent on the fatal afternoon because of the illness of one of his children.
The cause of the accident was never definitely determined; but it was said that there was a stranger in town who visited the mill for several days previous to the explosion. It was thought that he was a Northern spy and that he had dropped a match in the mill, which later became ignited with fatal results. He was seen near the mill immediately after the explosion, but he disappeared before any action could be taken.
The debris from the mill building was later converted into the Dallas and Waco Stage Stand, which was south of the powder mill site and immediately north of the Lasswell Grocery Company Warehouse. This state line was abandoned on completion of the Central Railroad into Dallas in 1872.
Miss Mollie Phillips was born in Marion County, Ky., Nov. 24, 1853. She was the only daughter and eldest child of Joshua G. and Lou (Peak) Phillips. In one of Miss Phillips’s interviews, she stated her mother, Lou (Peak) Phillips, was a sister of the wife of Jonathan Gore Phillips. Miss Mollie came to Texas via New Orleans and Galveston with her parents in 1855, and settled at Atascosa County about twenty-five miles from San Antonio. Because of friends and relations who had settled around Waxahachie, they moved here in 1861. Miss Phillips had four brothers, all have passed on. Robert G. Phillips was for many years a prominent abstractor; Alex died young in 1876; James H. and Jonty were prominent business men who have passed on more recently. Although Miss Phillips has passed her 82nd birthday, she has none of the infirmities of the average person of her age. She maintains a lively interest in current, as well as past, events. She has made her home in Dallas the last few years.
Source: Texas Genealogical Records, Ellis County, Volume XIX, 1750-1965, compiled by Rebecca Boyce Chapter, DAR, Waxahachie, Texas, published 1965; Pgs. 89-91
