Were it not for war, the NFL might not even exist. College and professional players brought the game with them when they went off to both World Wars, where they played a crucial role in the development and popularization of American football.
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.