After spending a night in a campground in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, my husband and I were encouraged to visit the Peshtigo Fire Museum. It wasn't hard to find, since most streets have signs pointing visitors in the right direction. The Great Fire is the claim to fame for the little town that actually had to rise from the ashes of despair, since about 7/8th of the population was killed within an hour and a half on the evening of October 8th, 1871.
The people of Peshtigo want everyone to know about this tragedy. We were shocked to hear that it happened on the very same night of the Great Chicago Fire, which killed 250 people, and has the added legend of Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicking over a lantern to start it all. Peshtigo was isolated for a couple of days, without news being spread, since all forms of communication had been damaged. Within less than 2 hours, at least 1500 people had died....perhaps up to 2500 folks due to records having been destroyed.
It had been a mill town, using the technique of "slash and burn" to clear plots of land. The mills in town had piles of sawdust around them, and the town's streets were covered with even more sawdust.
There had been a drought, and many small wildfires had been starting up, and put out as fast as possible by men with buckets. For two weeks before the big fire, a woman who lived on the outskirts of town told her children that "the sky was so smoky from the wildfires that the sun couldn't shine through". The clothes on her line looked grey and the smoke made it hart to breathe. The location of their home saved their lives so they could tell their story.
They said that at 8:30 p.m., the "heavens opened up and it rained fire". Men dropped their buckets and ran to try to save their own families. Someone said, "It was like the air was on fire!" Clad in nightgowns and caps, they "shrieked with horror as the fire engulfed their loved ones and they saw them burned alive." Some folks jumped down their wells for safety, but were boiled alive.
Hundreds of people felt that the Peshtigo river, already at a low ebb was their only chance. So many parents led their families into the water, followed even by their cattle, horses and pigs. Unfortunately, the bridge over the river became compromised by the raging fire and succumbed to the weight of carriages and horses and fell in to the river to crush those under it.
Some made it through the night and the next day, staying in the river, trying to stand securely on the mucky river bottom or holding on to horses, or whatever they could. Still, the river wasn't safe, for "swooping sparks and bits of fire dropped out of the sky burning entire bodies". Still a rushing river, some citizens died of hypothermia in the frigid water.
A nice story out of this tragedy, is that Father Pernin, of the Catholic church in town, rescued the Tabernacle, which holds the communion host (Christ's body) from the church and brought it down to the river. It was found later, floating in the reeds, untouched by fire, and not even smelling of smoke. It is on display at the Fire Museum in Peshtigo, encased in plexiglass, good as new.
There have been several theories of how this inferno enveloped so many lives so fast. The true cause is uncertain. Between drought, wildfires in the area, the fact the town was rife with sawdust, kindling for the fire. Studies by weather historians suggest there may have been meteorite falls to add to the possibilities. Other scientists say that there were several fires that occurred that day in Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin that could have been caused by the impact of fragments from the Comet Biela.
When it comes down to a root cause, no external source of ignition was actually needed. On the day of the fire, a cold front moved in from the West fanning the smaller fires, starting the firestorm. It raged hotter than a crematorium, turning sand into hot glass.There were reports that the firestorm generated a tornado so powerful that it threw rail cars and houses into the air. A wall of flame, a mile high, five miles wide, traveling at 90-100 mph, covered 1.5 million acres of forest and prairie till there was nothing left to burn.
A very welcome and heavy rain finally fell the next day, calming the fire. In the days ahead, the father of the family mentioned before who lived on the outskirts of town, came with others to pick up the dead and make rough boxes in which to bury them. As many as 5 bodies from one family shared a casket, since they were reduced to only bones. Others weren't burned, they just suffocated from the intense hot air. Up to 350 bodies that couldn't be identified are buried in a mass grave, in the memorial cemetery outside the museum in Peshtigo.
So there. I've told about a piece of history that is little known. Sorry if it was hard to take.
God bless the souls of the people of Peshtigo.
The people of Peshtigo want everyone to know about this tragedy. We were shocked to hear that it happened on the very same night of the Great Chicago Fire, which killed 250 people, and has the added legend of Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicking over a lantern to start it all. Peshtigo was isolated for a couple of days, without news being spread, since all forms of communication had been damaged. Within less than 2 hours, at least 1500 people had died....perhaps up to 2500 folks due to records having been destroyed.
It had been a mill town, using the technique of "slash and burn" to clear plots of land. The mills in town had piles of sawdust around them, and the town's streets were covered with even more sawdust.
There had been a drought, and many small wildfires had been starting up, and put out as fast as possible by men with buckets. For two weeks before the big fire, a woman who lived on the outskirts of town told her children that "the sky was so smoky from the wildfires that the sun couldn't shine through". The clothes on her line looked grey and the smoke made it hart to breathe. The location of their home saved their lives so they could tell their story.
They said that at 8:30 p.m., the "heavens opened up and it rained fire". Men dropped their buckets and ran to try to save their own families. Someone said, "It was like the air was on fire!" Clad in nightgowns and caps, they "shrieked with horror as the fire engulfed their loved ones and they saw them burned alive." Some folks jumped down their wells for safety, but were boiled alive.
Hundreds of people felt that the Peshtigo river, already at a low ebb was their only chance. So many parents led their families into the water, followed even by their cattle, horses and pigs. Unfortunately, the bridge over the river became compromised by the raging fire and succumbed to the weight of carriages and horses and fell in to the river to crush those under it.
Some made it through the night and the next day, staying in the river, trying to stand securely on the mucky river bottom or holding on to horses, or whatever they could. Still, the river wasn't safe, for "swooping sparks and bits of fire dropped out of the sky burning entire bodies". Still a rushing river, some citizens died of hypothermia in the frigid water.
A nice story out of this tragedy, is that Father Pernin, of the Catholic church in town, rescued the Tabernacle, which holds the communion host (Christ's body) from the church and brought it down to the river. It was found later, floating in the reeds, untouched by fire, and not even smelling of smoke. It is on display at the Fire Museum in Peshtigo, encased in plexiglass, good as new.
There have been several theories of how this inferno enveloped so many lives so fast. The true cause is uncertain. Between drought, wildfires in the area, the fact the town was rife with sawdust, kindling for the fire. Studies by weather historians suggest there may have been meteorite falls to add to the possibilities. Other scientists say that there were several fires that occurred that day in Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin that could have been caused by the impact of fragments from the Comet Biela.
When it comes down to a root cause, no external source of ignition was actually needed. On the day of the fire, a cold front moved in from the West fanning the smaller fires, starting the firestorm. It raged hotter than a crematorium, turning sand into hot glass.There were reports that the firestorm generated a tornado so powerful that it threw rail cars and houses into the air. A wall of flame, a mile high, five miles wide, traveling at 90-100 mph, covered 1.5 million acres of forest and prairie till there was nothing left to burn.
A very welcome and heavy rain finally fell the next day, calming the fire. In the days ahead, the father of the family mentioned before who lived on the outskirts of town, came with others to pick up the dead and make rough boxes in which to bury them. As many as 5 bodies from one family shared a casket, since they were reduced to only bones. Others weren't burned, they just suffocated from the intense hot air. Up to 350 bodies that couldn't be identified are buried in a mass grave, in the memorial cemetery outside the museum in Peshtigo.
So there. I've told about a piece of history that is little known. Sorry if it was hard to take.
God bless the souls of the people of Peshtigo.
