Here's the tidbit about the Peacemaker.....Very interesting!
On February 28, 1844, Captain Robert Field Stockton constructs and commands the U.S.S. Princeton; demonstrates aboard ship, before dignitaries, his invention of a large cannon called "The Peacemaker." It explodes and accidentally kills the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Navy, and the soon-to-be father-in-law of President John Tyler; Wounds others including himself. Stockton was exonerated from blame for the incident. (California's city, Stockton, bears his name)