I don’t quite recall when I first heard of the 1871 Peshtigo Fire that burned some 1.2 to 1.5 million acres in and around Peshtigo Wisconsin on October 8 to 9, 1871, leaving over 1,200 people dead and destroying the town of Peshtigo. I write this today in remembrance of the 1871 Peshtigo Fire. A map of the fire may be found on this page from the Wisconsin Historical Society.
I want to start out by sharing a video report on the fire.
Direct link to YouTube video from KRQE
The Peshtigo Fire was one of at least three fires that burned on October 8, 1871, two others were the Chicago fire and the wildfires that burned in Michigan, however the most destructive of these wildfires in terms of loss of life is the Peshtigo Fire (see Hultquist’s article on the Great Midwest Wildfires of 1871).
Stephen Pyne has a chapter on the fire history of the Great Lakes in his book, Fire in America: A Cultural History of Wildland and Rural Fire (1997, pp. 199-218), if you are so inclined and have access to his book (perhaps from your local library) it is worth a read. He writes about the period from 1870 to 1930. He says:
Fires of unprecedented size and intensity rampaged over small villages and towns of moderate size and thereby earned names as historic events. … The fires were the product of a particular set of conditions: wholesale logging which made the Lake States from 1880 to 1900 the chief source of timber and an unrivaled tinderbox of abandoned slash; farmers looking for cheap, easily cleared land and not adverse to use land for land clearing; and railroads, whose transportation potential made both logging and farming economical feasible and whose brakes and smokestacks were a frequent source of ignition (Pyne, 1997, p. 199).
The Rev. Peter Pernin, a Catholic Priest who served in Peshtigo in 1871 and survived to write about his experiences in an essay writes of how fire was used in 1871 (note1): "The year 1871 was, however, distinguished by its unusual dryness, Farmers had profited … to enlarge their clearings, cutting down and burning the wood that stood in their way. Hundreds of laborers employed in the construction of a railroad acted in like manner, (Pernin 1971 pp. 247-8)” Fr. Pernin goes on to say that hunters would stop at night and set small fires for cooking and warmth,
An exacerbating condition was present in 1871, extreme drought, see Schafer, 1927, p. 98 who writes of tinder dry vegetation, wells drying up, and streams and rivers running low. The Wisconsin Historical Society has a short essay on the night Peshtigo was destroyed by fire, here is an excerpt describing the prolonged drought:
It had been dry in 1871, terribly dry, the summer drought extended well into fall. Grass, weeds, and trees became like tinder. Streams ceased to run and wells gave out. Swamps that ordinarily held two or three feet of water crackled under foot like twigs.
The drought covered much of the United States. Fires raged from the Alleghenies to the Rockies and beyond. In Wisconsin, fires sprang up in many parts of the pine forests. In the northeastern part of the state, they burned from west of the Wolf River to Lake Michigan. This is an area 70 miles wide and 100 miles deep. Little Suamico, Pensaukee, Sturgeon Bay, and Oconto were saved from destruction only because everyone who was able helped to fight the flames.
October came, but it brought no rain. (Wisconsin Historical Society, Historic Essay: The Night Peshtigo Wisconsin, Was Destroyed by Fire).
Several smaller fires had burned in and around Peshtigo in the days leading up to October 8. (see Pernin pp.248-9), and with the extreme drought and high winds on the night of the eighth. On Sunday, October 8, some in Peshtigo had been in Church services:
The place, a flourishing village of from 1500 to 2000 souls, lay seven mils inland from the port of the same name, being, being built on high sandy ground on both sides of the Peshtigo River. On Sunday night (October 8), just as the people of the village were returning to their homes after church, a startling, ominous noise was heard in a southwest direction. Some described it as like the rumbling noise of a great storm. Others spoke of its resemblance to the sound of a threshing machine. Others said it was like the moving of many freight trains. … a great light appeared overhead and suddenly, almost instantaneously, fire from heaven as it seemed to the doomed inhabitants, fell upon every part of the town which burst into flame almost like a magazine of powder. The river failed to impede the onrush of the conflagration (Schafer, 1927, p. 101).
Survivors reported such as Fr. Pernin reported high winds during the Peshtigo Fire. While detailed meteorological observations from that period are somewhat limited, there may have been cold front accompanied by high winds that moved in on the night of the Peshtigo fire that may have led to the horrific fire conditions that night (Hultquist, 2013).
In the aftermath of the fire in the morning of October 9, many in Peshtigo and outlying areas were dead. The exact numbers of those who perished, the figure of 1,200 dead may well be conservative, the number dead may have been as high as about 2,400 (see Hultquist's article on the 1871 Midwest Fires). I read two accounts of survivors of the Peshtigo fire, one by Fr. Pernin (cited previously) spent hours in the Peshigo River during the fire storm helping others, and the Abraham and Elizabeth Family who built a fireline around their house, see this Historical Essay from the Wisconsin Historical Society. I found both accounts be very poignant, the horror of that night came through.
The fire burned between 1.2 million and 1.5 million acres, burning 17 towns including Peshitgo. The damage in Peshtigo was be far the worst of the 17 towns. Of the 1,200 to 2,400 deaths about 800 perished in Peshtigo (see Estep reprinted by the US NWS Greenbay Wisconsin).
I should note the Peshtigo, WI has a Peshtigo Fire Museum where you may read stories and learn more about the fire. I should note that I was not able to their article on the fire because of security issues, but I had no problem with the stories page and their home page. In addition, there is Peshtigo Fire Museum Page on Facebook which seems to be available to those without a Facebook account.
All I can say at this juncture is that I remember the Peshtigo Fire, the Chicago and Michigan Fires that burned on October 8, 1871. The Michigan Fires that night may have resulted in 500 deaths and 300 people likely died in the Chicago Fire (see Hultquist's article on the 1871 Midwest Fires).
I will write more on the Peshtigo Fire next week, so stay tuned.
Note: Edited on October 16, 2021 for clarity, readability, and other minor corrections.
Notes
1. Fr. Pernin's account of the Peshigo Fire that I reference in this article was reproduced by the Wisconsin Historical Society in The Wisconsin Magazine of History in 1971, V54, #4. There is a later reproduction of Fr. Pernin's account, The Great Peshtigo Fire, the most recent being in 2014 published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press: 2nd edition with a forward by Stephen J. Pyne. I have not read the 2014 edition.
Other articles in this series:
Reference List
Estep, Kim, Green Bay Press-Gazette reprinted by the U.S. National Weather Service Greenbay Wisconsin, Peshtigo Fire. Obtained on October 1, 2021 from https://www.weather.gov/grb/peshtigofire
Hultquist, Thomas, Science and Operations Officer, U.S. National Weather Service Twin Falls Minnesota, The Great Midwest Wildfires of 1871. Obtained on October 7 from https://www.weather.gov/grb/peshtigofire2
Hultquist, Thomas, 2013, The Great Peshtigo Fire of 8 October 2013, presentation at the Omaha AMS Chapter Meeting on 13 January, 2013
Mass, Jeff, 1999, Peshtigo Fire Map. Obtained on October 6, 2031 from https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Image/IM101577
Pernin, Peter (Rev) 1874, Great Peshtigo Fire: An Eyewitness Account, reprinted in Wisconsin Magazine of History V54 #4 (Summer 1971) pp. 246-272. obtained on October 5, 2021 from https://content.wisconsinhistory.org/digital/collection/wmh/id/46361
Pyne, Stephen J, 1997, Fire in America, University of Washington Press (Seattle and London)
Schafer, Joseph, 1927, Editorial Comment: Great Fires of Seventy-One, Wisconsin Magazine of History V11 #1 (September 1927) pp. 96-106. Obtained on October 5, 2021 from https://content.wisconsinhistory.org/digital/collection/wmh/id/6167
Wisconsin Historical Society, Historical Essay: Peshtigo Fire. Obtained on October 6, 2021 from https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS1750
Wisconsin Historical Society, Historical Essay: Place Abraham and Place, Elizabeth, Survivors of Peshtigo Fire. Obtained on October 7, 2021 from https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS15931
Wisconsin Historical Society, Historical Essay: October 8, 1871: The Night Peshtigo Wisconsin, Was Destroyed by Fire. Obtained on October 6, 2021 from https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS2911