There were “rebellious” activities in colonial America well before the French and Indian War and the series of governmental acts that would eventually culminate in the American Revolution. The history of the ‘poor potter’ of Yorktown, and how his business reflected the growing desire for American independence, deserves to be remembered.
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.