On December 15, 1811, two of Thomas Jefferson's nephews murdered a
slave in cold blood and put his body parts into a roaring fire. The
evidence would have been destroyed but for a rare act of God -- or,
as some believed, of the Indian chief Tecumseh.
That same day, the Mississippi River's first steamboat, piloted
by Nicholas Roosevelt, powered itself toward New Orleans on its
maiden voyage. The sky grew hazy and red, and jolts of electricity
flashed in the air. A prophecy by Tecumseh was about to be
fulfilled.
He had warned reluctant warrior-tribes that he would stamp his
feet and bring down their houses. Sure enough, between December 16,
1811, and late April 1812, a catastrophic series of earthquakes
shook the Mississippi River Valley. Of the more than 2,000 tremors
that rumbled across the land during this time, three would have
measured nearly or greater than 8.0 on the not-yet-devised Richter
Scale. Centered in what is now the bootheel region of Missouri, the
New Madrid earthquakes were felt as far away as Canada; New York;
New Orleans; Washington, D.C.; and the western part of the Missouri
River. A million and a half square miles were affected as the
earth's surface remained in a state of constant motion for nearly
four months. Towns were destroyed, an eighteen-mile-long by
five-mile-wide lake was created, and even the Mississippi River
temporarily ran backwards.
The quakes uncovered Jefferson's nephews' cruelty and changed
the course of the War of 1812 as well as the future of the new
republic. In When the Mississippi Ran Backwards, Jay Feldman
expertly weaves together the story of the slave murder, the
steamboat, Tecumseh, and the war, and brings a forgotten period
back to vivid life. Tecumseh's widely believed prophecy, seemingly
fulfilled, hastened an unprecedented alliance among southern and
northern tribes, who joined the British in a disastrous fight
against the U.S. government. By the end of the war, the continental
United States was secure against Britain, France, and Spain; the
Indians had lost many lives and much land; and Jefferson's nephews
were exposed as murderers. The steamboat, which survived the
earthquake, was sunk.
"When the Mississippi Ran Backwards" sheds light on this
now-obscure yet pivotal period between the Revolutionary and Civil
wars, uncovering the era's dramatic geophysical, political, and
military upheavals. Feldman paints a vivid picture of how these
powerful earthquakes made an impact on every aspect of frontier
life -- and why similar catastrophic quakes are guaranteed to
recur. "When the Mississippi Ran Backwards" is popular history at
its best.
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