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Domestic News
May 23, 1840
Macon Intelligencer
Macon, Noxubee County, Mississippi
What is this article about?
A devastating tornado struck Natchez on Thursday, the 7th inst., destroying much of the city, killing an estimated 200-1000 people (mostly at the levee), sinking steamboats, and causing over $1.26 million in property damage. Relief efforts from Vicksburg.
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The Tornado at Natchez.
We copy from the Vicksburg Whig the following notice of a most terrific storm and loss of life in the city of Natchez. We have received no newspapers from Natchez since the catastrophe, from which a more correct history of the calamity might be obtained.
"At a late hour yesterday evening, our city was thrown into a state of the most intense excitement and consternation, by the arrival of the steam boats Smithland and Wm. French, from below with the appalling intelligence that the city of Natchez was in ruins, and the lives of not less than TWO OR THREE HUNDRED citizens destroyed. At about two o'clock on Thursday, the 7th inst., Natchez was visited by the most terrific gale on record, and although it lasted but about five minutes, the destruction of life and property stands without a parallel. At the time the Smithland and the Wm. French left, all was confusion, gloom and death, and no accurate estimate could be formed as to either the loss of life or property, though both must be appalling. We had a conversation with Capt. McConnell, of the French, who assures us that the number of persons killed cannot be less than TWO OR THREE HUNDRED, while some other persons on board think that the number killed, including citizens and boatmen at the landing will not fall much short of one thousand! Every house in that part of the city under the Hill, was prostrated by the fury of the tempest, and their inmates either killed or shockingly mangled. In the city on the bluff, the effects were most destructive, the storm swept all before it, and in its wild career, the humble tenement and the lordly mansion shared one common ruin. Not a solitary house has been left unscathed.— Those that were not levelled to the dust, were unroofed and otherwise seriously damaged. Parker's splendid Hotel, known as the Southern Exchange, is a heap of ruins, being literally levelled to the earth. The City Hotel and the Mansion House were both unroofed, and otherwise very much injured. In a word, every house in the city is more or less damaged, and every tenement in that fair city sends forth its mourners for the dead thus suddenly heralded to the "dim land of dreams." At the river too, the angel of destruction was not less busy, and his shafts were hurled with unerring aim. The steam-boat Hinds, which was in the act of leaving for this city with FORTY PASSENGERS, was instantly sunk, and every soul on board perished except three. The steam-boat Prairie, which was also at the landing, had her cabin blown off, and a number of passengers drowned. The number of flat boats at the levee was very large, and the loss of life and property among them must be terrible indeed. We have no list of the names of the persons killed, and consequently know not upon whom this awful calamity has fallen with the greatest force. It is enough to know that it has fallen upon a city heretofore sufficiently unfortunate.
It is enough to know that it has fallen upon our neighbors, our friends, and our brothers, and that they have the deepest sympathy and condolence our hearts can offer them, in this the hour of their greatest affliction: We have never seen this community more excited than it was yesterday evening, and we are sure there is not a heart in this city which does not beat with sympathy and sorrow for the mighty calamity which has fallen upon what was lately the fairest city of the South.
Since the above was in type, we have received the following, through the Vicksburg Whig:
The Calamity at Natchez:
We continue to receive the most appalling accounts of the destruction of life and property in this ill-fated city, though every thing is still of the most indefinite character. No lists of the killed and wounded has yet been published, nor is it known how many have been hurried to eternity, by this sudden and awful visitation of Providence. Our city has been plunged in the deepest gloom from the time the afflicting intelligence first reached us up to this moment. A very large meeting of the citizens was held at the court house on Saturday morning, of the proceedings of which we refer you to another column.
The committees appointed by that meeting to proceed to Natchez, left on the first boat, accompanied by large numbers of our citizens as volunteers, and whatever can be done by them to aid and alleviate the distress of our neighbors, will be done with promptness and alacrity which ever characterises this community in the hour of trial. We have conversed with several gentlemen who have visited the scene of ruin and who represent it as truly heart-rending. From all we hear, we incline to the opinion that the number of citizens of Natchez who perished on Thursday, is very small and that the greatest destruction of life was among the strangers and boatmen on the levee.— The following is an estimate of the amount of property destroyed, made by several gentlemen, and published in the Free Trader of Friday:
Houses and goods under the hill $150,000
Four steamboats, 50,000
Fifty flat boats at the landing, 100,000
Buildings, &c. below Main and west of Canal street, 25,000
Below Main, west of Canal, south of Franklin to Main, 25,000
Rail Road Depot, buildings, &c. 50,000
Light-house and adjoining buildings on the south, 8,000
Judge Covington's building and furniture, 10,000
Above Rail Road and west of Canal street, 63,000
North of high street and east of Canal street, 30,000
East of Rankin, south to Main, 15,000
Theatre square, 35,000
East of Rankin to limits south, 22,000
South of Orleans and west of Rankin, 20,000
Knight's house and square, 10,000
Parker's Hotel and square, 70,000
City Hotel, Mansion House and square, 50,000
Two squares north of Franklin, west of Pearl street, 10,000
South of Franklin, north of Orleans, west of Pearl, east of Wall streets, 68,000
Two squares from High to Franklin between Pearl and Commerce streets, 5,000
Franklin to Orleans, between Pearl and Commerce street, 60,000
Commerce to Union, south of High and north of Orleans streets, 224,000
Union to Rankin, south of High and north of Orleans streets, 155,000
$1,260,000
We copy from the Vicksburg Whig the following notice of a most terrific storm and loss of life in the city of Natchez. We have received no newspapers from Natchez since the catastrophe, from which a more correct history of the calamity might be obtained.
"At a late hour yesterday evening, our city was thrown into a state of the most intense excitement and consternation, by the arrival of the steam boats Smithland and Wm. French, from below with the appalling intelligence that the city of Natchez was in ruins, and the lives of not less than TWO OR THREE HUNDRED citizens destroyed. At about two o'clock on Thursday, the 7th inst., Natchez was visited by the most terrific gale on record, and although it lasted but about five minutes, the destruction of life and property stands without a parallel. At the time the Smithland and the Wm. French left, all was confusion, gloom and death, and no accurate estimate could be formed as to either the loss of life or property, though both must be appalling. We had a conversation with Capt. McConnell, of the French, who assures us that the number of persons killed cannot be less than TWO OR THREE HUNDRED, while some other persons on board think that the number killed, including citizens and boatmen at the landing will not fall much short of one thousand! Every house in that part of the city under the Hill, was prostrated by the fury of the tempest, and their inmates either killed or shockingly mangled. In the city on the bluff, the effects were most destructive, the storm swept all before it, and in its wild career, the humble tenement and the lordly mansion shared one common ruin. Not a solitary house has been left unscathed.— Those that were not levelled to the dust, were unroofed and otherwise seriously damaged. Parker's splendid Hotel, known as the Southern Exchange, is a heap of ruins, being literally levelled to the earth. The City Hotel and the Mansion House were both unroofed, and otherwise very much injured. In a word, every house in the city is more or less damaged, and every tenement in that fair city sends forth its mourners for the dead thus suddenly heralded to the "dim land of dreams." At the river too, the angel of destruction was not less busy, and his shafts were hurled with unerring aim. The steam-boat Hinds, which was in the act of leaving for this city with FORTY PASSENGERS, was instantly sunk, and every soul on board perished except three. The steam-boat Prairie, which was also at the landing, had her cabin blown off, and a number of passengers drowned. The number of flat boats at the levee was very large, and the loss of life and property among them must be terrible indeed. We have no list of the names of the persons killed, and consequently know not upon whom this awful calamity has fallen with the greatest force. It is enough to know that it has fallen upon a city heretofore sufficiently unfortunate.
It is enough to know that it has fallen upon our neighbors, our friends, and our brothers, and that they have the deepest sympathy and condolence our hearts can offer them, in this the hour of their greatest affliction: We have never seen this community more excited than it was yesterday evening, and we are sure there is not a heart in this city which does not beat with sympathy and sorrow for the mighty calamity which has fallen upon what was lately the fairest city of the South.
Since the above was in type, we have received the following, through the Vicksburg Whig:
The Calamity at Natchez:
We continue to receive the most appalling accounts of the destruction of life and property in this ill-fated city, though every thing is still of the most indefinite character. No lists of the killed and wounded has yet been published, nor is it known how many have been hurried to eternity, by this sudden and awful visitation of Providence. Our city has been plunged in the deepest gloom from the time the afflicting intelligence first reached us up to this moment. A very large meeting of the citizens was held at the court house on Saturday morning, of the proceedings of which we refer you to another column.
The committees appointed by that meeting to proceed to Natchez, left on the first boat, accompanied by large numbers of our citizens as volunteers, and whatever can be done by them to aid and alleviate the distress of our neighbors, will be done with promptness and alacrity which ever characterises this community in the hour of trial. We have conversed with several gentlemen who have visited the scene of ruin and who represent it as truly heart-rending. From all we hear, we incline to the opinion that the number of citizens of Natchez who perished on Thursday, is very small and that the greatest destruction of life was among the strangers and boatmen on the levee.— The following is an estimate of the amount of property destroyed, made by several gentlemen, and published in the Free Trader of Friday:
Houses and goods under the hill $150,000
Four steamboats, 50,000
Fifty flat boats at the landing, 100,000
Buildings, &c. below Main and west of Canal street, 25,000
Below Main, west of Canal, south of Franklin to Main, 25,000
Rail Road Depot, buildings, &c. 50,000
Light-house and adjoining buildings on the south, 8,000
Judge Covington's building and furniture, 10,000
Above Rail Road and west of Canal street, 63,000
North of high street and east of Canal street, 30,000
East of Rankin, south to Main, 15,000
Theatre square, 35,000
East of Rankin to limits south, 22,000
South of Orleans and west of Rankin, 20,000
Knight's house and square, 10,000
Parker's Hotel and square, 70,000
City Hotel, Mansion House and square, 50,000
Two squares north of Franklin, west of Pearl street, 10,000
South of Franklin, north of Orleans, west of Pearl, east of Wall streets, 68,000
Two squares from High to Franklin between Pearl and Commerce streets, 5,000
Franklin to Orleans, between Pearl and Commerce street, 60,000
Commerce to Union, south of High and north of Orleans streets, 224,000
Union to Rankin, south of High and north of Orleans streets, 155,000
$1,260,000
What sub-type of article is it?
Disaster
Weather
Shipping
What keywords are associated?
Natchez Tornado
Storm Destruction
Lives Lost
Property Damage
Steamboat Sinking
Levee Disaster
What entities or persons were involved?
Capt. Mcconnell
Where did it happen?
Natchez
Domestic News Details
Primary Location
Natchez
Event Date
Thursday, The 7th Inst.
Key Persons
Capt. Mcconnell
Outcome
estimated 200-300 killed, possibly up to 1,000 including citizens, boatmen, and passengers; steamboats hinds sunk (37 of 40 perished), prairie damaged with drownings; numerous flatboats destroyed; total property damage estimated at $1,260,000.
Event Details
A terrific gale lasting five minutes struck Natchez at 2 PM, destroying homes, hotels, and buildings throughout the city and levee area; every structure damaged or ruined; major impact on river traffic with boats sunk or damaged.