In the war in the Pacific, the battle of Tinian lies relatively forgotten alongside the likes of Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Guadalcanal. The reason might, frankly, be that the invasion of Tinian went too well.
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.