The Peshtigo Wildfire in Wisconsin killed between 1500 and 2500 people.”””
It happened the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, so no one remembers Peshtigo.
To this day, the death toll for that fire has never been matched.
My grandmother went through it. They lived in Peshtigo at that time.
My Grt Gramps and two of the boys were out in the woods at the time setting up logging camps and RR spurs. They never knew it happened till they came back from up north of there. Smoke wasnt even paid attention to since the farmers had been clearing land and burning stumps and brush.
So it caught them all by surprise in a way.