“Earthquake”
Date
2-1-1812
Newspaper
The Supporter
Page and Column
Page 3, Column 3
Newspaper Location
Chillicothe, Ohio
Serial Number
566
Abstract
Report from the Lexington Statesman of the effects of the earthquakes of December 16, 1811 and January 23, 1812 at New Madrid. Talks of retrograde movement of the river at Little Prairie and that the land south of New Madrid was extensively changed. Good report.
Transcript
EARTHQUAKE. At New Madrid, (Louisiana Territory) the shocks have been uncommonly violent-throwing down chimnies and houses, and compelling one-third of the inhabitants to remove from the place to the adjacent hills, and the remainder to encamp in tents in open fields. The earth was so convulsed, as to render it difficult for one to keep their perpendicular position, the motion being estimated at about 12 inches to and fro. The shocks were accompanied with a partial darkness, a tremendous noise, and sulphurious smell. Sixty-seven shocks have been witnessed, in all, which have split and cracked the earth in an hundred places in the neighborhood. During the violent shocks, the people, by their yells and shrieks, discovering their extreme alarm, and upon one of those occasions, a lady was known to faint and never recover! The face of the country below, about Little Prairie, has almost entirely changed; large lakes having been converted into dry land, and fields into lakes-the banks of the river fallen in-hills destroyed, and the earth cracked in every direction. The St. Francis was, at one time, very low-at another overflowing the surrounding country. At Little Prairie, the Mississippi is said to have formed an eddy, & presented a retrogade motion, and in 15 or 20 minutes afterwards resumed its course, and rose about 5 feet. SEVEN Indians are said to have been swallowed up in one of those apertures in the earth, ONE of whom only made his escape, who states, that this calamity was foretold by the Shawanoe Prophet, for the destruction of the whites. Lexington Statesman.
Recommended Citation
"“Earthquake”" (1812). New Madrid Compendium Far-Field Database. 554.
https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/cas-ceri-new-madrid-compendium/554