Texas, California, and Vermont were all independent for a time, and the state of Hawaii was a kingdom for nearly a century before US interests overthrew the monarchy. Much lesser known was the short lived Republic of Florida.
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.