...h destroyed nearly 20,000 rifles and pistols, although the workshops, the armory proper and the rifle works up the Shenandoah were saved. On January 2, 1861, Supt. A. M. Barbour had informed the United States ordnance bureau that he apprehended an assault on the armory, and that he had organized the armorers into volunteer companies for its protection. The next day, Maj. H. J. Hunt, of the Second artill...