The loss of the vessel known throughout Chicago as the “Christmas Tree Ship” is a symbol of dangers faced by the ships and sailors who braved the storm ridden great lakes in the age of sail.
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.