THE PESHTIGO FIRE – This piece of neglected history may be one of the most Balladeer’s Blog-ish topics in Balladeer’s Blog’s sixteen-year history. On October 8th, 1871 Peshtigo, Wisconsin burned down in a monumental conflagration that killed OVER FIVE TIMES AS MANY PEOPLE AS THE GREAT CHICAGO FIRE KILLED!
Both fires happened on the same day, but Chicago’s greater renown caused its disaster to overshadow what happened in Wisconsin to this very day.
The Peshtigo Fire is still the deadliest wildfire in known American history. The flames spread throughout the Door Peninsula and even spread to the Upper Peninsula. Roughly 1.2 million to 1.5 million acres were destroyed and estimates of the death toll go as high as 2,500 people.
Unexpectedly high wind speeds and dry conditions caused several slash-and-burn fires to wind up merging into one disastrous firestorm. In addition to Peshtigo, Wisconsin sixteen other locations were devastated.
In Peshtigo alone 350 bodies were buried in a mass grave because no one was still alive who might have been able to identify them.
Witnesses of the conflagration recounted how a fire whirl/ fire tornado formed for a time, hurling homes and railroad cars into the air.
Several people sought to save themselves in the Peshtigo River only to drown or die of hypothermia in the cold water. Supposedly one father hopelessly surrounded by flames slit his children’s throats so they would not have to suffer from burning to death.
The next time you hear about the Great Chicago Fire reflect a little on this neglected disaster from the same day.
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