The death of William Henry Harrison had significant consequences, including the collapse of a major political party. And the story of how he died that most of us learned in school is almost certainly false. In fact, he might well have been the victim of a serial killer of presidents- the water in Washington DC.
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.