More Earthquake Reports From the Area 1811-1812

 J. Mark Lowe

I have received many comments about the 1811-1812 Earthquakes, so I will share some additional earthquake reports from  A Detailed Narrative of the Earthquakes which occurred on the 16th day of December, 1811 (Transactions of the Literary and Philosophical Society of NY, vol. 1, pp. 281-307).  Since the earthquakes continued into the new year of 1812 - we will pick up this story after the holidays.   

Isoseismal map for the earthquake
of December 16,1811, 08:15 UTC
(first of the 1811-1812 New Madrid series)
usgs.gov

The testimony of Colonel Samuel Hammong, in a letter of the 6th February, 1812, which I received from him, was to the following effect. He confined himself strictly to what he know from personal observation. The first shock he witnessed was on the 15/16th of December last. He was then at Herculaneum in Louisiana. A few seconds before the motion was felt, he and others heard a considerable roaring or rumbling noise, resembling a blaze of fire acted upon by wind. The motion of the frame of the house on which he stood was tremulous. It began instantly after to rock pretty violently. This continued, as he thought, about ten to twelve minutes. The vibrations of the chimney were, perhaps, about three or four inches each way, and were in the direction of southeast and northwest nearly. The noise which preceded the shock was from the northwest. Its commencement was about two o'clock in the morning. One hour after there was a second, which was light, and of very short duration. No houses or chimneys were thrown down by either of those. The motion was very much like the first, but of short duration. This injured several brick and stone chimneys. Its duration between one and a half and two and a half minutes. About sunrise the same morning there was a fourth shock. The vibrations of the chimneys at twenty-five feet from the ground, were at least four inches each way. The direction was the same as the first. The motion of the earth was very perceptible. Cradles rocked, and the church bells rang. Several chimneys were cracked to their bases, and some were broken off as low as the stem or funnel. In this last shock, the water in the river Mississippi was thrown into commotion, bubbling like boiling water; and, in a few minutes, the whole atmosphere was filled with smoke or fog, so that a boat could not be seen within twenty paces from the water's edge; and the houses were so shrouded as not to be seen fifty feet; this smoke continued all the forepart of that day.

In passing along upon his journey, he found the effects had been pretty uniform, and their occurrence and duration nearly the same, as far as Carthage, in the state of Tennessee. There were one or more shocks every twenty-four hours, from the first-mentioned one, until the night of January 1, 1812. Then, at about half after three in the morning, being at Carthage, he felt a severer shock. It threw bricks from a chimney which had been previously broken by the first shock; he found, on inquiry, that the motion was considerably greatest near the large water courses. The court-house at Carthage is a large brick edifice, and was cracked to its foundation, and considerably damaged. Several chimneys had been cast down, by the shock of the 16th of December. Everywhere it was stated to him by those who witnessed the motions, that they were from the south of west, to the opposite point, or vice versa. In the county of Christian, (Kentucky,) af fine and fresh spring was observe to run very muddy for several hours. On examining it, after the feculence had settled, he found it to be so strongly impregnated with sulphur; so much so that it was spoiled for domestic uses; indeed it had been converted to one of the strongest brimstone springs he ever met with.

But considerable as these operations were, they were surpassed by others which took place along the river Mississippi; indeed, the strata underlying the bed of this stream appear to have been the principal seat of the commotion or, at least, the place where it was most considerable. The phenomena were described in the most fearful and alarming strains by several writers. Much exaggeration was interwoven with some of the narratives. Some, indeed, were tinctured with fable and burlesque. Among the various recitals it became exceedingly difficult to find out the true, or even the most probable, account. Five or six witnesses, who seem to have been wholly unknown to each other, agree in so many particulars, that their united evidence may be considered to approach as near to the truth as we can expect to arrive.

First, the writer of a letter from the Chicasaw Bluffs, dated December 21st, to his correspondent in Cincinnati, stated many particulars from his personal observation. The first shock happened at thirty minutes after two, on the morning of the 16th, and was followed by many more within a few days. The boat was acted upon by the water in such a manner as to induce a belief that she had grounded; but upon sounding, he could find no bottom. The current, at the place where he was at the time of the occurrence, (eighty-seven miles below the mouth of the Ohio,) acquired three times its former velocity, and the river rose six feet upon its former level; the trunks of trees, bedded in the bottom, suddenly rose in great numbers to the surface; the banks tumbled down at an alarming rate; and the land was rent by cracks and fissures.

Secondly, a writer from New Madrid, in a communication to a friend in Lexington, dated 16th December, describes a tremendous noise as rousing the family from their sleep, rocking the house, throwing down the chimney, and terrifying them so, that they passed the remainder of the morning, from two o'clock, when the shock was felt, in the open air. During the time of the shock, the heavens were very clear and serene; there being not a breath of air stirring; but in five minutes it became very dark; and a vapour which seemed to impregnate the atmosphere, had a disagreeable smell, and produced a difficulty of breathing. This darkness continued until nearly the break of day. During its continuance there were six more shocks. About half after six it cleared up. However, the danger was increased by another shock, which racked the houses violently, and threw down the chimneys. The darkness returned, and it was accompanied by loud noises, and a bounding motion up and down. Many persons were so alarmed that they formed encampments in the fields. The shocks were repeated from time to time, until the 28th, and then amounted to sixty-seven.