When the Mississippi Ran Backwards
Jay Feldman
(Reviewer - Coletta Ollerer)
2005 Free Press/Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 0743242785

Empire, Intrigue, Murder, & the New Madrid Earthquakes.

In a time when the area was only lightly populated, the shocks that razed the Mississippi River town of New Madrid in the winter of 1812 were among the strongest earthquakes in America's history, & mostly forgotten.

“This is the story of the greatest series of earthquakes in the history of this country, of the people caught up in them, of the extraordinary confluence of forces and events leading up to them, and of the upheaval they caused.” (p14)

Associate Reviewer Coletta Ollerer writes:

When the Mississippi Ran Backwards is a fascinating history of events of the four months beginning in December 1811 when the earth shrugged. “The New Madrid quakes... were felt as far away as Mexico, Canada, Boston, New Orleans, and the Rocky Mountains” (p15), from the epicenter in presentday southern Missouri.

We meet the movers & shakers of the time: Tecumseh, the Shawnee leader. William Henry Harrison, governor of the Indiana Territory & later president. James Wilkinson, one of the boldest scoundrels in early US history. George Morgan, founder of New Madrid. Nicholas & Lydia Roosevelt & their steamboat, New Orleans & the Lewis brothers from Virginia.

Tecumseh, strong man & leader of the Shawnees was traveling the area looking for disciples for his “pan-tribal confederation” against the white encroachment. Tecumseh is credited with knowledge of the impending 'quake when in a confrontation with Big Warrior, the Creek chief, who is not enthusiastic about the confederation, Tecumseh said, “You do not believe the Great Spirit has sent me. You shall know. I leave Tuckabatchee directly and shall go straight to Detroit. When I arrive there, I will stamp my foot on the ground and shake down every house in Tuckabatchee.” (p9)

William Henry Harrison as governor of Indiana Territory was charged with dealing with Tecumseh & Indian unrest in general. The former was a hardnose unbending type determined to acquire as much land as he could for Americans. He had no empathy for the Indians.

James Wilkinson, a bold & unprincipled double-dealer who was described by one who knew him as “the only man he ‘ever saw who was from the bark to the very core a villain’” (p41) His scruples firmly set in the negative column, he did all he could to discredit Colonel Morgan with the Spanish authorities so that he might control river traffic to New Orleans rather than Morgan, all without success. Unfettered with regrets about his failures he went on to devise more schemes.

Colonel George Morgan of New Jersey, with the approval of the Spanish ambassador Don Diego de Gardoqui, led an expedition down the Mississippi to find a suitable site for a town in Spanish Louisiana (present day Missouri) on the west bank of the Mississippi. He laid out the town, called for settlers & had high expectations of wealth for himself & his sons as a consequence. “Morgan was... endowed with tremendous physical energy and endurance... he had been a merchant, an Indian agent, and a scientific farmer.” (p26)

Two important rivers to western expansion were the Ohio & the Mississippi. Downstream going was easy for the many types of vessels which transversed these rivers but the upriver trip took a great deal of time & effort. Enter the steamboat. The New Orleans, with a vertical wheel on either of the body, was the invention of Nicholas Roosevelt. His wife, Lydia, was his staunch supporter.

The Lewis family was prominent in Virginia with connections to Meriwether Lewis & Thomas Jefferson. The mismanagement of their Virginia estates prompted Lilburne & Isham Lewis to try their luck in Kentucky. Their brutish ways were revealed dramatically when the earthquake hit.

These individual stories & others intertwine to make for history with the readability of a novel. We enter the lives of these early 19th century notables & non-notables during, & after the dramatic & totally unexpected upheaval of their turf.

When the Mississippi Ran Backwards is an unforgetable read!
(08/28/05)

Coletta
2005©Coletta Ollerer
A RebeccasReads.Com Associate Reviewer

Reviewer's Bio:
I have always enjoyed writing. As a teenager I submitted to magazines like Seventeen, & was politely rejected. As a young mother, I had several poems published in The Chicago Tribune. Born in Chicago in 1932, I still live in the area. Since I retired, I have had some success on the Internet with my book reviews, stories & poetry. I enjoy historical fiction mostly, but will read anything uplifting, informative & fun. When I'm not reading & writing, I'm making jewelry, sewing needlepoint, & painting.