In the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Northern Japan on 11 March 2011, I wondered what extraordinary natural phenomena our foremothers and forefathers were exposed to during the Revolutionary War. Here’s a sampling of what I found.

Total Solar Eclipse

By the Revolutionary War, folks in Western civilization no longer believed that the sun was being “eaten” during a total eclipse. In fact, scientists could usually predict eclipses with a good deal of accuracy. George Washington knew in advance that the eclipse of 24 June 1778 was coming. By then, the Continental Army had emerged from the winter at Valley Forge and was assuming cohesion. The general, never one to pass up an opportunity, played up the eclipse as a portent that fortune would turn around for his army. The soldiers believed him and eventually proved him correct.

Hurricane

The hurricane of September 1775 gouged a deadly path up the North American Atlantic coastline from North Carolina to Newfoundland, killing hundreds of people. Some meteorologists believe the storm made a loop in the ocean after first landfall, then returned to slam the mid-Atlantic coast a second time before plowing north. In 1775, no one could see hurricanes coming and prepare. Rebels and redcoats alike wondered what God had intended by such a ferocious portent.

Forest Fire

On 19 May 1780, residents of several New England towns reported an eerie reddish glow to the sunrise. A la Apocalypse, skies darkened over the course of the morning until the sun was obliterated by noon. Many people stopped working and sought solace in churches or taverns, where they expected to meet their Maker. But by the next day, visibility and sunlight had returned to normal. Analysis of tree rings in Eastern Ontario about 225 years later showed that a massive wildfire had occurred there in the Spring of 1780. Scientists now believe that smoke from the fire caused the mysterious mid-day darkness.

Although no earthquakes occurred during the Revolutionary War, there are records of an impressive earthquake 18 November 1755 in New England. Near Cambridge, MA, chasms appeared in the earth, and boats in the harbor crashed together. A tsunami from the quake apparently traveled all the way to the West Indies the same day and sucked water from a harbor in St. Martin. And comets, those classic historical harbingers, failed to decorate the Revolutionary night sky. However August – September of 1769, folks around the world were treated to the sight of a lovely comet that, at times, had six tails. Both Charles Messier and Captain James Cook remarked on this comet.

The more I read about history, the more it seems as though things don’t change all that much. During the Revolutionary War, we knew little about seismology, thus most people then would have labeled an earthquake like the one in Japan as a portent. In 2011, our knowledge of seismology is considerably greater. Yet many people still consider the earthquake in Japan a portent. Do you suppose the Mayan prediction of the end of civilization in 2012 predisposes us to believe in portents?

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