“Earthquake”

Date

4-4-1812

Newspaper

Savannah Republican

Page and Column

Page 3, Column 1

Newspaper Location

Savannah, Georgia

Serial Number

722

Abstract

Account of Mr. Werner who was an eyewitness to the February 7, 1812 earthquake. From Lexington Reporter. February 29, 1812

Transcript

LEXINGTON, (Ken.) February 29. EARTHQUAKE.-Several persons passed through Lexington, on the 27th instant, who were near New-Madrid on the 7th ult. One of the gentlemen (Mr. Werner) states, that the earthquake which occurred during the night of the 7th, occasioned his barge, with 600 barrels of flour, besides other articles, to sink, and the whole was lost. Another gentleman, whose name is not recollected, stated, that during the convulsion the bank of the river just below New-Madrid caved in, and let loose his boat. About the same time there was a back current in the river which drove the boat several miles up a small bayou; and during the convulsion, the motion of the boat was so violent as to slave many of the barrels of flour in the boat. The quaking continued three days, when this gentleman thinking it prudent not to go farther, left his property and decamped. Both the gentlemen state, that some obstruction had presented itself in the river something like a rapids or falls, which greatly endanger the navigation; also, that the buildings in New-Madrid are greatly damaged, much of the land round about was under water, and the few remaining inhabitants were encamped out; that the land in innumerable places is opened in large fissures; and the inhabitants of the town of New-Madrid entertain the opinion, that the ground on which the town stood had sunk some fifteen feet. A few moments after the first shock, it rose about ten feet. They heard of many boats being lost, and that the land where the town of Little Prairie stand; is sixteen feet under water. In addition to the above we have been favored with the perusal of several letters from near New-Madrid, of the date of February 21, which confirms the whole of the above particulars. Those letters can be depended on they state the number of boats lost of which accounts are already received, to amount to fifty, together with a number of lives. There is a certainty that a bar composed of stone coal, burnt substance, &c. has been thrown up, directly under the bed of the river. Island No. 8, from the junction of the Ohio to the Mississippi is entirely sunk. Indeed the effects already ascertained are terrible. The inundations are progressing through the low lands, and it would appear that there had not been yet any volcanic eruption sufficient to draw off the cause. The shocks are now running up the river and through what is called the American bottom, &c.--Reporter.

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