When the Mississippi Ran Backwards: Empire, Intrigue, Murder, and the New Madrid Earthquakes

Although I'm steeped in the history of the Mississippi River (as a consultant to the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium and as a Mississippi River writer), rarely have I come across a more readable book than Jay Feldman's tour through this history of the New Madrid quakes of 1811-1812. I live on the shores of America's River, yet I find that very few people know the history of the New Madrid, so forcefully chronicled by Feldman, and have little idea of the potential for future quakes to rock our world. As important, Jay Feldman writes of Lydia Roosevelt, not as the little woman behind the great man (wife of Nicholas Roosevelt), but instead as a brave equal partner alongside her husband in making history, i.e. proving the Mississippi safe for steamboat travel. Rising from the pages of Feldman's fascinating and well-documented account, also is Tecumseh, a charismatic leader and man of great insight. For those who live along rivers, along oceans, within fault lines, in the pathways for hurricanes and tornadoes, as well as for others fascinated by these stories, When the Mississippi Ran Backwards is a must read. This much I know is true. I was given the book for Mother's Day. I read it within a week. When my own mother visited the following week, she attempted to secret it out of our house. Instead, I bought her a copy of her own!

Starting on December 16, 1811 and lasting into the calamitous year of 1812, a series of earthquakes leveled towns, settlements and Native American villages along the drainage of the Mississippi centered near New Madrid in what is now Missouri. This catastrophic series of quakes (at least three near or greater than 8.0 on the modern Richter scale) occurred during the land speculation and grabbing of the early 1800s and killed an untold number of people. The legendary "prediction" of the great Shawnee chief Tecumseh that he would stamp his foot and the earth would move if the tribes did not join him in an alliance against the whites had come true. This then set off a war fought within the American War of 1812 with Britain and continuing beyond it. Indeed Tecumseh and his allies had much to grieve them, as unscrupulous land speculators and settlers took over Native American land with little or no payment and by dealing with tribes who often had no exclusive ownership of the land they sold. All of this turmoil and more are caught in "When the Mississippi Ran Backwards: Empire, Intrigue, Murder, and the New Madrid Earthquakes" by Jay Feldman. Feldman has interwoven numerous threads of history that revolved around the great quakes, the most damaging, but least known, earthquakes in the history of the United States. The account is full of interesting characters- Tecumseh of course, but also George Morgan (the founder of New Madrid), the evilly inclined James Wilkinson (who robbed everyone he could and held allegiance to no one but himself), the Prophet (Tecumseh's brother), William Henry Harrison (the "hero" of Tippecanoe and future President of the United States), Nicholas and Lydia Roosevelt (involved with Fulton and others in the development of the steamboat), John James Audubon (famous bird painter and naturalist), Andrew Jackson ( "hero" of the Creek War and future President of the United States) and many others. In all this is a rich tapestry of history and natural events that set the stage for "manifest destiny", the Civil War and modern America. All of the people involved are vividly described and events show that Native American and people of European descent were both capable of horrible acts of barbarity. However, Tecumseh stands out as a great leader (even begrudgingly noted by his nemesis William Henry Harrison), the Roosevelts as plucky and innovative (Lydia was pregnant and still traveled with her husband on the early steamboat New Orleans, actually giving birth just a month and a half before the great quake), Harrison as a scheming liar (correctly stated by Tecumseh, proving that a liar and thief could even then become President of the United States and that in fact a properly spun near Pyrrhic "victory" like Tippecanoe could make you popular enough to be elected to high office), and Jackson as destroyer of both Native American friend and foe alike (as it served his purposes). A good read and I think a necessary one for anyone wh

The great American earthquake was the one that hit San Francisco in 1906, and has since been celebrated in song, story, and cinema. Most people have forgotten a worse series of earthquakes that struck in three months starting in 1811. The New Madrid earthquakes not only were stronger, but they covered a much wider area. Now when we get real-time coverage of earthquake disasters, we have lost the history of this one. In _When the Mississippi Ran Backwards: Empire, Intrigue, Murder, and the New Madrid Earthquakes_ (The Free Press), Jay Feldman has told the story of the earthquakes themselves, but they occupy only a fraction of the book. Much of his work is an examination of how the earthquakes changed American history. There are some characters within it who were simply affected by the earthquakes in peculiar ways, and some of the connections Feldman draws to larger events are tenuous, but this is an entertaining look at a particular event that did befall the young nation. The earthquakes that rocked the Midwest began on 16 December 1811, and were completely unexpected. They were calamitous for the people in the region, but one of the reasons that they are so little remembered is that there were few people there to be shaken. The chief story here is about, of all things, the war between the American government and the Indians. The main character in the story is the Shawnee leader Tecumseh, who threatened to stomp his feet from a distance and shake down the houses of Indians who opposed him. The earthquake was timed to do so, increasing his prestige and allowing him to lead the tribes as a unified force. The town of New Madrid itself was the brainchild of Revolutionary War veteran George Morgan, who wanted to make his fortune on land. All his planning went for naught, for the town was destroyed by the earthquakes. The brothers Lilburne and Isham Lewis were nephews of Thomas Jefferson, but were failing on their farm in western Kentucky. One night in drunken anger at their slave George who had broken a pitcher, they killed him with an ax in front of their other slaves to teach them all a lesson. Eventually justice was done, but only because the earthquake uncovered evidence of the crime. Inventor and engine-builder Nicholas Roosevelt and his intrepid wife Lydia took his steamship, the _New Orleans_, from Pittsburgh with the goal of making steam the transportation of the Mississippi. Against all predictions, they succeeded. The boat was on the Mississippi River when the first earthquake hit, and proved its mettle. It was big and strong enough to withstand the raging water, while smaller boats were lost. The long and colorful reign of the Mississippi steamboats had begun. Feldman has told these stories well, and has attempted to make the geology of the area plain. He goes into detail on general seismology, a useful summary of how earthquakes happen. At the time, no one had any idea, ascribing them to electrical forces or volcanoe

I'm not ordinarily a reader of historical non-fiction. But I received a free copy of Feldman's book and thought I'd give it a go. I'm so glad I did! The events and personalities that surround the events of 1811-1812 in America are fascinating. From the proud Shawnee Tecumseh to the irrascible Andrew Jackson, Feldmen paints a living, breathing document regarding the New Madrid earthquakes and related events. Some of the most interesting portions of the book deal with a steam boat innovator and his younger (by 24 years!) wife, who are the first to take a steam boat down the Ohio and Mississipi Rivers. It sometimes reads like a fictional account, but only because Jay Feldmen accomplishes what too few historians can - to make history truly interesting.

This is a real page-turner. Though it is a carefully-researched piece of fairly straight-up history, the author has woven a complex fabric, a tapestry revealing an little-known time in American History. He has included several personal stories of historical figures whose destinies were altered by the New Madrid earthquakes without pandering to the maudlin or the sensational. Every element is appropriate to the development of the tale and I read it with appreciation for the writing and the author's art as well as for the insights and information the book provided. I recommend this one highly as a really good read.