USS Princeton disaster of 1844

The USS Princeton disaster of 1844 occurred on February 28 aboard the newly built when one of the ship's long guns, the "Peacemaker", then the world's longest naval gun, exploded during a display of the ship. Six people were killed:

• Armistead, the slave and personal valet of President John Tyler
• David Gardiner, father of Julia Gardiner, President Tyler's fiancée
• Secretary of the Navy Thomas Gilmer
• Beverly Kennon, the Navy's chief of construction
• Virgil Maxcy, American chargé d'affaires to Belgium
• Secretary of State Abel Upshur