The Greek legends of the Amazons, and the warriors of the Eurasian steppe that inspired them, were not the only women to have waged war. Perhaps the most prominent of the female warriors were the so-called Dahomey Amazons, an all-female force established by the rulers of the Kingdom of Dahomey.
The appeal of one strange object, which achieved dizzying popularity in my lifetime, and today lives on mostly for nostalgia, is not so difficult to explain. All you need to do is turn one on and wait.
During the civil war, the manufacture of powder and explosives was often handled by the most vulnerable, young women and children, whose labor was needed when so many men had been sent off to war. On March 13, 1863, the confederacy experienced a munitions disaster, in the confederate capitol of Richmond.