Posted on 10/31/2023 10:28:39 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
On May 19, 1780, Historian Thomas Campanella explains, "A preternatural gloom settled upon the New England landscape, and by noon the sun had been all but blotted from the sky." New England's "Dark Day" was read as an omen, even, perhaps, as the biblical end of days. But the question has persisted for nearly two and a half centuries- what could have blotted out the Sun?
New England's "Dark Day." May 19, 1780 | 17:11
The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered | 1.29M subscribers | 303,085 views | May 19, 2023
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Transcript 0:00 · foreign 0:08 · of 1780 represented a difficult period 0:11 · for the young United States the winter 0:14 · of 1779-1780 had been so harsh that it 0:18 · was generally called the hard winter and 0:20 · the Continental Army struggled as much 0:22 · against cold and starvation as it did 0:24 · against the British the goal of American 0:27 · Independence was still very much in 0:30 · doubt when ill Omen struck the land for 0:33 · days in New England the sun appeared red 0:35 · in the morning and the evening and then 0:37 · on May 19 0:39 · 1780 historian Thomas Campanella reports 0:42 · a better natural Gloom settled across 0:45 · the New England landscape and by noon 0:47 · the sun had all but been blotted out 0:51 · New England's dark day was read by some 0:54 · as an ill Omen and by others as maybe 0:56 · the biblical end of times in the 1:00 · question of what could have blotted out 1:01 · the sun in the middle of the day in May 1:03 · vexed historians for nearly two and a 1:06 · half centuries 1:07 · it is history that deserves to be 1:10 · remembered 1:12 · writing in a 2007 edition of the journal 1:15 · environmental history Campanella 1:17 · described the morning of May 19 1780 in 1:20 · New England night melted in today 1:22 · songbirds greeted the Dawn and the 1:24 · Thousand Yankee farmsteads stirred to 1:26 · life it seemed a perfectly ordinary 1:28 · spring morning in New England 1:31 · but he continues things were far from 1:34 · ordinary on this Vernal day 1:37 · an account published in the Boston 1:39 · Continental journal and weekly 1:40 · Advertiser on May 25th 1780 notes that 1:43 · the hemisphere for several days have 1:45 · been greatly obscured with smoke and 1:46 · Vapor so that the sun and moon appeared 1:49 · unusually red 1:50 · after a difficult winter the weather was 1:52 · said to have been unseasonably warm the 1:54 · advertising note said on Thursday 1:55 · afternoon in the evening a thick Cloud 1:58 · lay along the South and West the wind 2:00 · small 2:01 · and on the morning of the 19th the sun 2:03 · was again red Friday morning early the 2:05 · sun appeared red as it had done for 2:07 · several days before Samuel Phillips 2:09 · Savage Justice of the piece from Western 2:11 · Massachusetts who had played an 2:13 · instrumental role in planning the Boston 2:14 · Tea Party wrote in his journal the sun 2:17 · rises and sets very red 2:20 · the conditions had already raised alarm 2:22 · David E Phillips a professor of English 2:24 · at Eastern Connecticut State University 2:25 · wrote in his 1992 book legendary 2:28 · Connecticut they say that during the 2:30 · first two weeks of May in 1780 the Skies 2:32 · over much of New England have been so 2:33 · dark that people had difficulty 2:35 · conducting their daily Affairs because 2:37 · of reduced visibility even during the 2:39 · sunniest days 2:40 · many of the good Puritan folks saw in 2:42 · the lowering Heavens a sign of God's 2:45 · displeasure but the red skies and what 2:48 · Savage described as remarkably thick air 2:50 · would become something altogether 2:52 · different as the morning of Friday the 2:54 · 19th went on 2:55 · Samuel Williams a professor of 2:57 · mathematics and philosophy at Harvard 2:59 · University described the odd phenomena 3:00 · in a 1783 edition of the Memoirs of the 3:03 · American Academy of Arts and Sciences 3:06 · it came before the hours of 10 and 11 3:08 · A.M and continued into the middle of the 3:10 · next night but with different 3:11 · appearances at different places as a 3:14 · matter of approach it seemed to appear 3:15 · first of all in the southwest the wind 3:17 · came from this quarter and the Darkness 3:19 · appeared to come on the clouds that came 3:20 · from that direction 3:22 · the degree to which this Darkness arose 3:24 · was different in different places 3:26 · the phenomenon covered a wide area 3:28 · Professor Williams wrote that the extent 3:30 · of the darkness was very remarkable from 3:32 · the accounts that had been perceived it 3:33 · appears to have extended all over the 3:35 · New England states it was observed as 3:37 · far east as Falmouth to the Western we 3:39 · hear it reaching to the farthest points 3:41 · of Connecticut and Albany to the 3:43 · Southward it was observed all along the 3:45 · Seacoast to the north as far as 3:47 · settlements extend 3:49 · Savage described the Paul as a light 3:51 · grassy Hue near the color of pale cider 3:53 · that came on as an appearance of the 3:55 · whole visible heavens and that finally 3:57 · attended with a Gloom nearly resembling 3:59 · that of an eclipse of the Sun 4:01 · General George Washington with his army 4:03 · in New Jersey described the event in his 4:05 · diary heavy and uncommon kinds of clouds 4:08 · dark at the same time bright and reddish 4:10 · kind of light intermixed with them 4:12 · brightening and darkening alternatively 4:14 · Williams also noted the odd changes in 4:16 · color the complexion of the clouds was 4:18 · compounded of a faint red yellow and 4:20 · brown during the darkness objects which 4:23 · commonly appear green were of the 4:24 · deepest green verging to Blue and those 4:26 · which normally appear white were highly 4:28 · tinged with yellow 4:30 · Sergeant Martin was in New Jersey with 4:32 · Washington he wrote it has been said 4:34 · that the darkness was not so great to 4:36 · New Jersey as in New England now credit 4:38 · was there I do not know but I know that 4:40 · it was very dark where I was then in New 4:42 · Jersey so much so that the fowls went to 4:44 · their roosts the Cox crew and the 4:46 · whippoorwill sung their usual serenade 4:48 · the people had to light candles in their 4:50 · houses to enable them to see to carry on 4:52 · their usual business 4:54 · the accountant the Continental Journal 4:56 · described similar Darkness about 11 4:58 · o'clock the darkness was such as to 5:00 · demand our attention and put us upon 5:01 · making observations at half past 11 in a 5:04 · room with three windows 24 pains each 5:07 · all open towards the southeast and South 5:09 · large print could not be read by persons 5:11 · of good eyes 5:12 · about 12 o'clock the windows being still 5:14 · open a candle casts the shade so well 5:16 · defined on the wall is that profiles 5:18 · were taken with as much ease as they 5:20 · could have been in the night about one 5:22 · o'clock a glin of Light which had 5:24 · continued till this time in the East 5:25 · shut in and the Darkness was greater 5:28 · than it had been for any time before 5:30 · Professor Williams noted this level of 5:32 · Darkness was experienced throughout New 5:34 · England in most parts of the country it 5:36 · was so great that people were unable to 5:38 · read come and print determine the time 5:40 · of day by their clocks or watches dine 5:42 · or Mendes their domestic business 5:43 · without the likes of candles candles 5:45 · were lighted up in houses the birds 5:48 · having sung their evening songs 5:49 · disappeared and became silent the fouls 5:51 · retired to roost the were crawling 5:54 · all around as at the break of day 5:55 · objects could not be distinguished but 5:57 · at very little distance and everything 5:59 · bore the appearance and Gloom of night 6:02 · the account in the Continental Journey 6:04 · noted woodcocks which are night birds 6:06 · whistled as they do only in the dark 6:07 · frogs peeped in short there was the 6:10 · appearance of midnight at noon day 6:13 · well some accounts have the darkness 6:15 · lifting a little late in the day 6:16 · Washington wrote that this continued 6:18 · till afternoon when the sun began to 6:19 · appear the darkness was more evident at 6:22 · night Sergeant Martin wrote that the 6:24 · night was as uncommonly dark as the day 6:26 · was Campanella writes it was so terrible 6:28 · dark confided experience Richardson of 6:30 · Sudbury Massachusetts that we could not 6:33 · see our hand before us Samuel Tenney 6:36 · suggested that the inky black was 6:37 · probably as gross as ever had been 6:39 · observed since the almighty Fiat gave 6:41 · birth to light 6:43 · even a sheet of paper held within a few 6:45 · inches of the eyes was as black as 6:47 · velvet 6:48 · in his normally bright West room Savage 6:50 · could not discern either of the windows 6:51 · but by feeling for all was Universal 6:54 · black 6:55 · when the belated gibeous Moon finally 6:57 · Rose at three minutes past nine o'clock 6:58 · in Boston it was not silver nor even 7:01 · Pink as it had been for several evenings 7:03 · but blood red 7:05 · the moon was nearly full yet its Ruddy 7:07 · light was soon extinguished by the pawl 7:09 · of Gloom now a truly terrible Blackness 7:11 · descended on the land kind of Egyptian 7:13 · Darkness for the correspondent to the 7:15 · Massachusetts spy in which no optic was 7:18 · discernible but by the help of some 7:20 · artificial light 7:22 · theories started quickly regarding what 7:24 · could cause it to become as dark as 7:25 · midnight in the middle of a May Day 7:27 · Williams took careful notes on the 7:29 · weather including readings of barometric 7:31 · pressure he speculated that upon the 7:33 · hole it is evident that the atmosphere 7:34 · was charged in a high degree with vapors 7:37 · that these Vapors were of different 7:38 · densities and occupied different heights 7:40 · by this means the Rays of the lights 7:43 · falling upon them must have suffered a 7:44 · variety of refractions and Reflections 7:46 · and therefore I become weakened absorbed 7:48 · or so far reflected is to not fall upon 7:50 · objects in the earth in the usual manner 7:54 · John Ross writing in a 2008 edition of 7:56 · American Heritage list other answers 7:58 · offered at the time one postulating that 8:01 · a blazing Star had passed between the 8:02 · Earth and the Sun another attributing 8:04 · the dark day to the rise of aqueous 8:06 · sulfurus betimius selenius vitreous 8:10 · particles into the atmosphere 8:12 · Ash argued another commentator vast 8:15 · quantities of elastic heterogeneous 8:17 · Vapors generated in consequence of the 8:19 · great body of snow which covered the 8:20 · Earth so long the winter passed and 8:23 · exhaled during the warm dry weather 8:24 · stated another 8:26 · the observer in the Continental Journal 8:28 · noted a strong smell and a light 8:30 · scum that formed on rainwater which he 8:32 · found to be nothing but the black ashes 8:34 · of burnt leaves given these signs it 8:36 · concluded that the vast body of smoke 8:38 · from the woods which had been burning 8:39 · for many days mixing with the common 8:41 · exhalations from the earth and water and 8:43 · condensed by the action of winds from 8:44 · opposite points May perhaps be 8:46 · sufficient cause to produce the 8:48 · surprising Darkness 8:50 · others however found these scientific 8:52 · explanations to be insufficient in a 8:55 · broadside titled some remarks on the 8:56 · great and unusual Darkness a writer 8:58 · identified only as a farmer in the state 9:00 · of Massachusetts Bay claimed that the 9:02 · sudden Darkness excited a few of the 9:04 · learned to make some very curious 9:05 · observations that the Gloom was for 9:07 · example occasioned by the smoke of burnt 9:10 · leaves which I think nothing can be more 9:13 · simple and absurd 9:15 · Campanella argues many perhaps most new 9:18 · englanders responded to the sudden 9:20 · darkness by turning to God 9:21 · all day and into the night the faithful 9:23 · rushed into their meeting houses 9:25 · quoting history of Mike Dash a 2014 9:28 · edition of BBC News notes the Northeast 9:30 · quarter of the United States was a 9:32 · deeply Protestant Society with a 9:34 · profound interest in guilt sin and 9:36 · Redemption 9:37 · Campanella notes and the Bible a 9:40 · normative text in nearly all aspects of 9:42 · early New England life had much to say 9:44 · about Dark Skies black Suns red moons 9:47 · and the like congregants knew only too 9:49 · well that for example the Lord had 9:51 · instructed Moses in the book of Exodus 9:52 · 10 21 to stretch out thine hand towards 9:55 · heaven that there may be Darkness over 9:57 · the land of Egypt even darkness which 9:59 · may be felt and Moses stretched forth 10:01 · his hand towards heaven and there was a 10:03 · thick darkness in all the land of Egypt 10:05 · for three days 10:06 · indeed preternatural darkness is a 10:08 · recurrent theme in both the Old and New 10:10 · Testaments of the Bible while light is a 10:12 · symbol of goodness and Purity darkness 10:15 · is a master image for chaos separation 10:17 · and death and the synonym of sin and 10:20 · Evil 10:21 · Dash told the BBC there are some verses 10:23 · in Matthew that might have led them to 10:25 · believe that this was the second coming 10:27 · of Christ at the time natural events 10:29 · even birds fighting in the sky were a 10:31 · sign of God's intentions the dark day 10:33 · would have seemed like a warning to man 10:35 · campanello writes that his clergyman 10:37 · dyrus Timothy Dwight put it a very 10:39 · general opinion prevailed that the day 10:41 · of judgment was at hand 10:44 · 2009 edition of the Smithsonian noted 10:46 · that a revolutionary war Pfeiffer 10:48 · recalled people came out wringing their 10:49 · hands and Howling the day of judgment is 10:51 · calm Port John Greenleaf Whittier wrote 10:54 · in 1868 that men prayed and women wept 10:57 · all years grew sharp to hear the Doom 10:59 · blast of the trumpet chatter the black 11:01 · sky 11:02 · Dash who wrote about the phenomenon in 11:04 · his 1998 book Borderlands writes that 11:07 · for The Devout Christians who believed 11:09 · in the literal truth of the Bible the 11:10 · important was obvious 11:12 · thousands of people left their work the 11:14 · pie is headed for church while many 11:16 · others found comfort in taverns 11:19 · a poem published as a broadside wrote 11:21 · let us adore and bow before The 11:23 · Sovereign Lord of Might who trunks away 11:25 · The Shining day into the shades of night 11:28 · the anonymous Farmer in the broadside 11:29 · route oh backsliding New England attend 11:32 · now to the things which belong to your 11:33 · peace before they are forever hid from 11:36 · your eyes 11:38 · this fear reached the halls of 11:39 · government writing in his 1992 book 11:42 · legendary Connecticut historian David 11:43 · Phillips writes the Connecticut General 11:45 · Assembly began their deliberations on 11:47 · May 19 1780 the Chamber of the State 11:50 · House in Hartford grew so dark that it 11:51 · seemed as if the sun had been turned off 11:53 · to many members of the legislature 11:55 · devout Puritans as they were it appeared 11:57 · that the promised day of judgment was at 11:59 · hand 12:00 · probably as much out of General 12:01 · consternation is out of inability to 12:03 · conduct business in the dark the House 12:05 · of Representatives adjourned 12:08 · but in that story a unique hero Rose in 12:11 · the form of a judge and member of the 12:12 · Connecticut Council today called the 12:14 · state senate Phillips continues 12:16 · in the council however it was a 12:18 · different story 12:19 · their advice on how to proceed under 12:21 · such trying circumstance was sought by 12:23 · the members from their most respected 12:24 · colleague Abraham Davenport with 12:27 · scarcely any hesitation the worthy 12:29 · Stanford lawmaker answered I am against 12:32 · adjournment the day of judgment is 12:34 · either approaching or it is not if it is 12:36 · not there is no cause for the 12:38 · adjournment 12:39 · if it is I choose to be found doing my 12:41 · duty I wish therefore that candles may 12:44 · be brought 12:45 · John Greenleaf Whittier memorialized 12:47 · Davenport and there he stands in memory 12:50 · to this day erect self POI is a 12:52 · rugged-faced half seen against the 12:53 · background of the unnatural dark 12:55 · a witness to the ages as they pass 12:58 · that simple Duty hath no place 13:01 · for fear 13:03 · one interesting impact of the religious 13:04 · fervor surrounding the event was the 13:06 · rise of a religious movement that would 13:08 · become much more powerful in the United 13:09 · States in the 19th century Smithsonian 13:11 · Magazine writes the Dark Day ended at 13:14 · midnight when the Stars once again 13:15 · became visible in the night sky but 13:18 · lingering concerns about a pending 13:19 · apocalypse prompted some people to seek 13:21 · out an obscure Christian sect the 13:23 · Shakers who had recently settled near 13:25 · Albany New York 13:27 · a splinter of the Quaker movement the 13:28 · Shakers preached complete celibacy as 13:30 · the true path to Redemption 13:32 · the Shakers knew an opportunity when 13:34 · they saw one and embarked on a 26-month 13:36 · mission throughout New England which 13:38 · brought them hundreds of converts what 13:40 · could cause this extraordinary Darkness 13:42 · remained a matter of question for more 13:44 · than two centuries suggestions included 13:47 · everything from meteor showers to 13:49 · volcanic eruptions to a lunar or solar 13:51 · eclipse but in 2008 researchers at the 13:54 · University of Missouri thought that they 13:56 · found the solution investigating tree 13:58 · rings in the Algonquin region of Canada 14:00 · they determined that there had been a 14:02 · major forest fire in the 1780s yeah 14:05 · should apparently entered the atmosphere 14:06 · in effective conditions hundreds of 14:08 · miles away supports the conclusions that 14:10 · were made in the Continental Journal but 14:12 · as American settlement with no more than 14:14 · maybe 200 miles Inland observers at the 14:16 · time could not possibly have known that 14:18 · these forest fires had occurred that is 14:21 · the evidence needed to prove the 14:22 · conjecture of 1780 required the 14:24 · technology of the 21st Century 14:27 · while American Heritage notes that new 14:29 · englanders would not soon forget that 14:31 · dark day it lived on in folklore poems 14:34 · tracks and sermons for Generations it 14:36 · turns out the day was not in fact unique 14:39 · Williams noted that other instances of 14:41 · dark days in the Americas had been 14:43 · observed in 1760. 1732 and 1762 and 14:47 · physicist William Corless searched 14:49 · through scientific journals and found 14:50 · references to 46 incidences of dark days 14:53 · occurring between 1091 and 1971. 14:57 · Campanella writes that in the end May 14:59 · 19th was just another day in the life of 15:02 · colonial America but it represented more 15:04 · than a day as Campanella goes on the 15:07 · event led to a broad discussion in 15:09 · broadsheets and newspapers in the Boston 15:11 · area about both the theological and the 15:13 · scientific implications that would 15:15 · contribute to the development of the 15:17 · culture of scientific inquiry and 15:19 · intellectual creativity that would 15:20 · eventually characterize New England and 15:22 · transform Boston into the intellectual 15:24 · Center of America 15:27 · American Heritage notes that this new 15:29 · unfolding culture of scientific inquiry 15:31 · that was sweeping the Western world was 15:33 · a a revolution that was almost as potent 15:36 · as the war for independence from the 15:39 · English 15:40 · you know I call myself the history guy 15:42 · because I love history and I love to 15:44 · travel and learn about history in the 15:46 · places where it actually occurred and 15:48 · what really excites me is the 15:49 · opportunity to go learn about history 15:51 · anywhere in the world with history guy 15:53 · fans and we're going to have the chance 15:55 · to start doing that in 2024. if you 15:58 · think you would like to take a trip with 16:00 · the history guy then 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foreign 17:01 · [Music] 17:02 · [Applause] 17:04 · [Music] 17:04 · [Applause] 17:09 · [Music]
When I was a kid, I read about this in a kooky little book, "Strangely Enough" (a school book club purchase), and later one of my science teachers (7th grade) said that the apparent explanation was large forest fires in western North America.
Someone forgot to change the battery in the smoke alarm!
‘Face
;o]
Lizzo..........Her Indian name: Blocks the Sun...........
LOL!
Not only that, it probably was actually a battery fire!!! Eee! Runnnnnn!
New England’s Dark Day occurred on May 19, 1780, when an unusual darkening of the daytime sky was observed over the New England states[1] and parts of eastern Canada.[2] The primary cause of the event is believed to have been a combination of smoke from forest fires,[3] a thick fog, and cloud cover. The darkness was so complete that candles were required from noon on. It did not disperse until the middle of the next night.[4][5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England%27s_Dark_Day
Gene Clark - She Darked the Sun (Final Concert - April 13, 1991)
6:23
Francis Hickory
234 subscribers
1,140 views
June 15, 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp5LyadDHm0
I had a copy of that too, and I'm pretty sure I bought it through the Scholastic Book Club. My parents would never let me get all the books I wanted from SBC, but I did all right.
SBC is probably what we used too. The books were dirt cheap, which was good, it fit the family budget. :^) An older sister had an even kookier title, “Beyond Unseen Boundaries”.
He got it right.
Thanks DP.
Volcanic eruption in Iceland ....
Ben Franklin postulated the link between volcanic eruption with the cold dreary being experienced
Also noteworthy, is that @ 50 years later, the 'stars fell from the sky'
Both biblical prophesies.
Noteworthy also is that Frederick Douglass witnessed it and wrote about it:
Frederick Douglass: “My Bondage and My Freedom” 1855, pg. 145
One of the most meaningful accounts of the stars falling from heaven came from Frederick Douglass, who at the time was a 15-year-old slave in Talbot County, Maryland.
Here was his reaction: “I witnessed this gorgeous spectacle, and was awestruck. The air seemed filled with bright descending messengers from the sky. It was about daybreak when I saw this sublime scene. I was not without the suggestion, at that moment, that it might be the harbinger of the coming of the Son of Man; and in my then state of mind I was prepared to hail Him as my friend and deliverer. I had read that the ‘stars shall fall from heaven,’ and they were now falling. I was suffering very much in my mind. . . . I was looking away to heaven for the rest denied me on earth.”
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