Among London's many problems as it grew at the beginning of the nineteenth century was travel between the two banks of the river Thames, which held important ports that could accept shipping coming up the river from the channel. Bridges would interfere with that important trade, so in the years of the 19th century engineers began to examine the only other option: instead of going over, going under the river.
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.