[donsutherland1]

From August 29-September 2, 1775, a “savage” hurricane tracked from coastal North Carolina to New Foundland.1 A letter from New Bern, North Carolina recounted, “We had a violent hurricane…which has done a vast deal of damage here, at the Bar, and at Matamuskeet, near 150 lives being lost at the Bar, and 15 in one neighborhood at Matamuskeet.”2 Southeast Virginia was battered in similar fashion.

The September 9, 1775 edition of The Virginia Gazette reported:

The shocking accounts of damage done by the rains last week are numerous: Most of the mill-dams are broke, the corn laid almost level with the ground, and fodder destroyed; many ships and other vessels drove ashore and damaged, at Norfolk, Hampton, and York [Yorktown.

In the heavy storm of wind and rain, which came on last Saturday3, and continued most part of the night, the Mercury man of war as drove from her station abreast of the town of Norfolk, and stuck flat aground in shoal water…4

It was also reported from Norfolk that “The late heavy wind and rain have been productive of great mischief to the mills, corn, &c. &c. [etc. etc.] in and about this neighborhood. There is hardly a possibility of getting any grain ground for the use of the inhabitants of this city. Large trees are in many places blown up by the roots, and the corn laid level with the ground; the fodder in general is almost entirely lost. We are informed that the devastation at Norfolk is inexpressible.”5

The hurricane’s impact at Williamsburg was described as follows:

Every day last week it rained more or less, and sometimes continued chief part of the night; but on Saturday6 it never ceased pouring down, and towards noon the wind began to rise, which increased soon afterwards to a mere hurricane, it blowing most furiously from the N.E. till near 10 o’clock at night. Infinite damage has been done to the crops of corn and tobacco, much wheat spoiled in barns, a great number of trees blown down, and almost every mill-dam in the country given way…

At Norfolk, all the small craft were drove ashore, besides some ships, which have been chiefly got off, except the Mercury man of war, Capt. M’Cartney, who lies in two feet water only…7

The hurricane also brought strong winds and heavy rain to Philadelphia. The Virginia Gazette reported:

All last week we had squally weather and rain, but on Saturday evening8 it began to blow hard at N.E. and S.E. and by midnight increased to a hurricane, attended with heavy floods of rain, which raised the tide in our river [the Delaware River] higher than has been known these several years, and has occasioned much damage in the stores on the wharves, among sugar, salt, and other perishable articles; wood, staves, plank, &c. [etc.] was washed off the wharves, and many boats and small craft were sunk or beat to pieces.

We hear the above storm has done considerable damage along the river, by breaking the banks of the meadows, drowning cattle, &c [etc.].

We hear no less than 30 sail of vessels are ashore in our river, among which are the ship Caesar, Capt. Miller; brig. Rachel, Capt. Clay, at Reedy Island, the brig. Betsy, Capt. Douglass, at Rombay Hook, the others were chiefly river craft, many of which are drove so high on shore that they will be hardly worth the expense of launching.9

Endnotes:

1. David Roth and Hugh Cobb, “Virginia Hurricane History,” http://www.hpc.ncep....oth/va18hur.htm.
2. The Virginia Gazette, October 21, 1775.
3. September 2, 1775.
4. The Virginia Gazette, September 9, 1775.
5. The Virginia Gazette, September 7, 1775.
6. September 2, 1775.
7. The Virginia Gazette, September 8, 1775.
8. September 2, 1775.
9. The Virginia Gazette, September 21, 1775.

[rainstorm]

thanks for the info. do you know anything about a cane that hit dc in 1812? i was watching the history channel about the british burning washington and they said a cane hit at the same time

[usedtobe]

rainstorm, on Jun 21 2005, 04:59 PM, said:

thanks for the info. do you know anything about a cane that hit dc in 1812? i was watching the history channel about the british burning washington and they said a cane hit at the same time

The Roth and Cobb site indicates the storm could be fm 1813 or 1814. The 1814 date seems more likely.

August 27-28, 1813: A hurricane struck Charleston and spread gale force winds as far north as Maryland. An all-day easterly gale was seen in the Upper Chesapeake Bay on the 28th. A north-northeast wind began on the 27th. By 10 p.m., it shifted to southeast, accompanied by squalls. As winds became southwest, strong winds buffeted the region until 1 a.m. the 28th. By 11 a.m., winds were dying and the sun was shining once more. The U.S. schooner Carolina went ashore near James Island.

The War of 1812 was in progress. A large prison ship, with 50 passengers aboard composed of the British schooner Dominico, parted cables and was driven into the marsh of James Island by the gale (Chapman).


August 24-25, 1814 (Burning of Washington): A very hot day accompanied the retreating of Federal troops from the Capitol. As Dolly Madison and an armed escort stopped in Tennallytown (Tenlytown) during their retreat, a strong wind accompanied by dark clouds rolled over Washington county. Winds near hurricane force and a prolonged downpour added to the drama of the day. The rains were helpful, as they helped firefighters quench the fires set by the British (Helm). The weather signs mentioned point to this either being a severe thunderstorm, or a tropical cyclone.

[donsutherland1]

Rainstorm,

Wes cited a site with great information. FWIW, the August 1813 hurricane that made landfall in South Carolina is estimated to have been a Category 3 hurricane at landfall.

I'm uncertain about the 1814 storm--whether it was a tropical cyclone or severe thunderstorm. I have not found many references to a hurricane at that time and none with reference to widespread damage. In addition, at the time references to high winds along the lines of "it blew a hurricane" were fairly common. Currently, I lean toward the idea that the 1814 system was a severe thunderstorm but I have not ruled out the other option.

[usedtobe]

donsutherland1, on Jun 21 2005, 06:11 PM, said:

Rainstorm,

Wes cited a site with great information.  FWIW, the August 1813 hurricane that made landfall in South Carolina is estimated to have been a Category 3 hurricane at landfall.

I'm uncertain about the 1814 storm--whether it was a tropical cyclone or severe thunderstorm.  I have not found many references to a hurricane at that time and none with reference to widespread damage.  In addition, at the time references to high winds along the lines of "it blew a hurricane" were fairly common.  Currently, I lean toward the idea that the 1814 system was a severe thunderstorm but I have not ruled out the other option.

Don,

I think you are right about the 1814 storm probably being a severe thunderstorm. It's still probably the one associated with the buring of DC. As you've noted, back then, "it blew like a hurricane" was quite common.



Wes

[rainstorm]

thanks for the replies. it probably was a thunderstorm

[donsutherland1]

Wes,

I'm reasonably confident that the 1814 storm was the one associated with the burning of D.C. Statistically, odds might also be against the 1814 storm's having been a hurricane. 1813 saw the Charleston, SC hurricane have some impact on the D.C. area. 1815 saw a major hurricane plow into New England (though I don't know whether it actually affected D.C. at all--I'd suspect a path not too dissimilar from the 1938 or 1944 hurricanes for that one.

1814 did see tremendous rainfall. Roth and Cobb refer to the "High Fresh of 1814"--for those not familiar with French, "fresh" stands for "freshet" or flood--in describing an 1816 system.

Could Washington, D.C. have seen such frantic tropical activity over such a short period of time? Statistics appear to argue against it. A lack of reports of widespread damage from winds argue against it.

Needless to say, I'm still somewhat cautious about making any certain statements. After all, the 19th century saw Georgia affected by at least 5 major hurricanes. However, since 1898, Georgia has not experienced such a hurricane. Therefore, one might need a much larger body of statistics than what is available now and even into the early 20th century, short-lived tropical cyclones were often missed due to an absence of satellites, etc.

[tamarack]

1775 appears to have been an active tropical season for the EC. Notes from Arnold's march to Quebec strongly infer that the army was impacted by a tropical disturbance in late October, while the lead companies were 10-15 miles south of the border between Maine and P.Q.
The army members' notes, collected by the late Kenneth Roberts for his fictional book "Arundel", include multiple reports of the Dead River rising more than 8' overnight, after a rise of several feet the previous day, turning a narrow channel (normal flow there is 40' wide by 2-3' deep) into a broad "lake". Heavy winds, beyond the prior experience of the diarists, were also observed. Strong extra-tropical storms are common that time of year, but the one described in these notes appears to stand well outside the norm.

[BlizzardNole]

The 1814 incident in DC during the War of 1812 was a tornado! It reportedly killed 30-plus British soldiers and caused alot of damage. Here is a snippet about it from the LWX site:

"August 25, 1814 in the early afternoon, a strong tornado struck northwest Washington and downtown. The severe tornadic storm arrived the day that the British Troops had set fire to the Capitol, the White house and other public buildings. The storm's rains would douse those fires. The tornado did major structural damage to the residential section of the city. More British soldiers were killed by the tornado's flying debris than by the guns of the American resistance. The tornado blew off roofs and carried them high up into the air, knocked down chimneys and fences and damaged numerous homes. Some homes were destroyed. It lifted two pieces of cannon and deposited them several yards away. At least 30 Americans were killed or injured in the heavily damaged buildings and an unknown number of British were killed and injured."

[JamieO]

BlizzardNole, on Jun 22 2005, 06:48 PM, said:

The 1814 incident in DC during the War of 1812 was a tornado!  It reportedly killed 30-plus British soldiers and caused alot of damage.  Here is a snippet about it from the LWX site:

"August 25, 1814 in the early afternoon, a strong tornado struck northwest Washington and downtown. The severe  tornadic storm arrived the day that the British Troops had set fire to the Capitol, the White house and other public buildings. The storm's rains would douse those fires. The tornado did major structural damage to the residential section of the city. More British soldiers were killed by the tornado's flying debris than by the guns of the American resistance.  The tornado blew off roofs and carried them high up into the air, knocked down chimneys and fences and damaged numerous homes. Some homes were destroyed. It lifted two pieces of cannon and deposited them several yards away. At least 30 Americans were killed or injured in the heavily damaged buildings and an unknown number of British were killed and injured."

Glad you posted that. It was actually given credit for helping us defeat them.

[donsutherland1]

BlizzardNole,

Thanks for this additional information. I was reasonably certain that the event was not a hurricane.