If you’re anything like me – and I truly hope you’re not – then you went through a phase in your life where your greatest joy was in blowing things up. Had I known at the time that there was such a job as ‘Pyrotechnist,’ I’m sure that I would’ve immediately asked ‘where do I sign up?’ Fortunately for the world at large, this was not the case, and so, instead, I have to look back on a time when it was a real job.
Andrew J. Martin first became part of the historic record when he put on a display for a “democratic demonstration” near the Washington Navy Yard in 1852, an event that was described in the Baltimore Sun of July 9 of that year. While it occurred a few days after the 4th of July, it was clearly more a political than a patriotic display, as, along with “one hundred splendid rockets” that “illuminated the Heavens” while the words “F. Pierce and King” were displayed in “silver fire.” Franklin Pierce and William King had, the previous month, been nominated by the Democratic Party to lead their party in the upcoming presidential election. The rockets and fire were “the handiwork of Mr. Andrew Martin, pyrotechnist.”
The second time Martin came to the attention of the newspapers of the time was just under ten years later. It was during the uncertain time between the election and inauguration of Abraham Lincoln. Discontent in the south was edging towards outright secession, and when it became known that Martin had “received a letter from a man named Smith, residing at Charlestown, Virginia, desiring information concerning the mode of manufacturing certain kinds of fuses, and promising him a large reward if he would communicate concerning it,” and had not delivered this letter immediately to the appropriate authorities, he was immediately dismissed.
An 1885 fireworks display in honor of the inauguration of Grover Cleveland (LOC)
The first article, published in the January 26 Daily National Republican, made no bones about Martin’s guilt, but, over the next few days, more information leaked out, making him look much more innocent. First, on the 28th, the Washington Evening Star noted that he had not been discharged, but suspended. Not only that, but Martin’s supporters claimed that the information Smith had requested was not a secret at all, but “published in the ordnance books.” While Martin had not shown his boss the letter, he had shown some colleagues, and had not bothered answering, as the data was easily available. The article closed with an encomium on Martin’s character.
Full exoneration would take a few more days, but on February 4, the National Republican reported that Martin had “been restored to his position, the commanding officer being satisfied of the absence of any improper intention on his part.”
This must have been a relief to Martin, who had a wife and three young children at home. He continued to work at the Navy Yard throughout the Civil War, and even afterward. He also continued to make fireworks, including a display that was done for the 1868 Schuetzen Festival.
Andrew Martin died died in 1873, leaving a widow and five children. He was buried in Congressional Cemetery, along with his spouse, who lived until 1918.