 By 1821 when production ceased, other reliable sources of firearms existed, and the General Assembly felt production at the armory was no longer necessary, though it retained its storage function.Virginia appropriated funds in January 1860 to modernize the Virginia Manufactory with arms-making machinery manufactured in England; but the confrontation at Fort Sumter initiated the Union blockade which prevented delivery of the machinery.In 1861, the Confederacy captured the Union-held town of Harper's Ferry in western Virginia, and salvaged the machinery used to manufacture Springfield Model 1855 muskets.