The Great Fire of 1871
The same time when Chicago burned.
The same fire where Richard Kenny and Bartholomew Kenny lost their farms and houses in Nasewaupee, WI
Peshtigo Wisconsin
This article is from, "History of Door
County, Wisconsin, The County Beautify", by Hjalmar R. Holand, M.A. Volume 1 -
Copy write 1917
There is one even in the history of Door County
which in the memory of the people of the southern half of the county stands
forth like the recollection of a horrible, indescribable nightmare. This is the
great fire of Sunday, October 8, 1871, when in the darkness of the night a great
torrent of fire descended upon them like the crash of judgment day, which burnt
their farms to barrenness and destroyed their homes, forests and lives of their
friends and relatives. In describing such a cataclysm of nature, the pen of a
later historian is utterly unable to picture the tragic event. To set forth in
orderly narrative the bitter terror and suffering of those night hours is as
futile as it is to paint a sunset - only those who went through and survived
that night of hell can have or give any conception of its horrors.
The year 1871 is unique in our annals for the havoc that was wrought both on sea
and land. On land forest fires raged throughout the fall, leveling cities,
burning up scores of little settlements in Northern Wisconsin and Michigan and
destroying thousands of lives. At Peshtigo more than four hundred men, women and
children were burned to death within an hour. Most of these terrible events
passed almost unnoticed because they were overshadowed by the greater tragedy of
the destruction of Chicago which took place on October 9th.
The summer of 1871 was excessively dry. Cultivated lands became parched and
cracked and the swamps dried up. By the middle of September people became very
alarmed. Forest fires were raging in many different parts all over the county
which could not be put out. The swamps were on fire. Corduroy roads were burning
and fences were reduced to ashes. Several mills and many homesteads were from
time to time destroyed. No rain came but the fire serpent kept crawling
underground, frequently blazing forth, destroying timber which had stood for
centuries. The atmosphere all over the county was oppressive to inhale. At night
the sight was disheartening. The whole heavens around the horizon were aglow,
and the dark red, as seen through the smoky atmosphere, seemed to threaten a
greater calamity soon to take place. The days dragged by and the settlers fought
the fire as best they could.
Sunday (or "Sadday," as it was afterward termed), October 8th, the morning
dawned with no perceptible change. In the afternoon the wind was quite fresh but
died down in the evening and an unnatural stillness followed. In a few minutes
there came a fierce gust of wind, followed by a loud roaring. In the southwest
dense clouds were noticeable. Then a flame shot up quickly followed by many
leaping tongues of fire. Soon these flames were almost obliterated however by
huge columns of smoke which now and then split apart showing a furnace of fire
behind. The terrific roaring of the wind together with the crash of falling
trees caused the stoutest hearts to flutter. The night was made more hideous by
the startling cries of birds, flying frantically in every direction. Wild
animals came bursting into the clearings, with whimpering wolves seeking shelter
among the bellowing cattle. People heard, saw and felt the terror of the lawless
elements that had engulfed them, screamed with terror and fled in confusion
along the highways and into their fields. Then suddenly a whirlwind of flame, in
great clouds, from above the tops of the trees, fell upon them enveloping
everything. It was an atmosphere of fire. People inhaled it and fell down dead.
Almost all, both the victims and the survivors, had but one thought - "it is the
destruction of the world!"
This tornado of fire swept up from Brown County, overrunning the towns of Union,
Brussels, Forestville, Gardner, Nasewaupee, Clay Banks, and Sturgeon Bay. In
Gardner and Nasewaupee a number of big swamps with
a thick growth of timber had previously, in September, burned out, leaving large
areas where this greater forest fire found but little to feed on. Because of
this earlier destruction the fire was hindered and the Village of Sturgeon Bay
and the northern towns were saved. The next day, October 9th, the long looked
for rain finally came, drenching everything for hours and the fire ceased.
The people of Surgeon Bay had watched with great
terror this approaching storm of fire and knew that the smoked wrapped forest
country of Brussels and Garnder a terrible calamity had taken place and many
must have lost their lives. The people of Sturgeon Bay had finally reached
Williamsonville and the sight was the most horrible imaginable! Dead bodies were
strew in all directions, and most all were burned beyond recognition. Something
like thirty-five laid in one heap! Some had one or both legs burned off; another
was minus an arm while still another had the head or other parts burned to a
crisp--men, women and children composing the pile. The fleshy portion that that
remained un charred was cooked through and when moved would fall to pieces!
Added to the most affecting sight was the most unbearable odor that arose from
the burned bodies that had been moistened by the drenching rain!
While Williamsonville lost more lives than the other settlement in Door County
because of its comparatively large population, the awful scenes that were here
enacted were repeated in scores of other places. Throughout almost the entire
southern half of the county the fire raged like a hurricane and almost
everywhere the humble but superstitious people believed that judgment day had
come...The dreadful scene lacked nothing but the sounding of the last trumpet -
and, indeed, the approach of the awful roaring and the premonitions from the
distance supplied even that to the appalled imagination of the people.
A large list of people were listed below on this article that had lost their
lives. Another list that was reported to the Door County Advocate of Oct. 26th,
1871 of loss of property in Door County on the Night of October 8th. In that
list was:
Nasewaupee
Richard Kinney, house and contents, crops and farming tools.
B. Kinney, house and contents.
Wm. Mulvihill, house, barn, and hay.
(Note that there was a long list of casualties and farms that burned)