In 1837 he bought into a gunpowder production company that had been established two years earlier on the Scantic River in the town of Enfield, Connecticut.
[2][3] During the early years of the Civil War, Colonel Hazard was under suspicion by the federal government as being sympathetic to the Southern cause.
It was well known that he was a good friend of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and that he lived in the South and had developed many business relationships.
In fact, much of the powder in the Southern arsenals at the outset of the war was manufactured by the Connecticut company.
The mill at Hazardville was in operation 24 hours a day and produced 40% of all the gunpowder used during the Civil War by the Union.