From that time until about sunrise a number of lighter shocks occurred, at which time one still more violent than the first, took place, and the same accompaniments as the first, and the terror, which had been excited in everyone and indeed in all animal nature, was now, if possible, doubled. The inhabitants fled in every direction of the country, supposing (if it can be admitted that their minds were exercised at all) that there was less danger from a distance than near the river.

In one person, a female, the alarm was so great that she fainted and could not be recovered.²

There were shocks each day, but lighter than those already mentioned, until Jan. 23, 1812, when one occurred as violent as the severest of the former ones, accompanied by the same phenomena as the former.

From this day on until the fourth day of February, the earth was in continual agitation, visibly waving as a gentle sea. On that day, there was another gentle shock nearly as hard as the preceding one. Next day for such, and on the seventh day about four a.m., a concussion took place so much more violent than those that preceded it that it was denominated the hard shock.

The awful darkness of the atmosphere which as formerly, was saturated with sulphurous vapor and the violence of the tempestuous thundering noise that accompanied it together with all the other phenomena mentioned as attending the former ones, formed a scene the description of which would require the most fanciful imagination.

At first, the Mississippi seemed to recede from its banks and its waters gathered up like a mountain, leaving for a moment many men, which were here on their way to New Orleans to the bare land, in which time the poor sailors made their escape from them. It then rose 15 or 20 feet perpendicularly and expanding, as it were, at the moment, the banks were overflowed with a retrograde current rapid as a torrent; the boats which before had been left on the sand, were torn from their moorings and suddenly driven up the little creek at the mouth of which they laid, to a distance, in some instances of nearly a quarter of a mile.

The river falling immediately as rapidly as it had risen receded within its sbanks (sic ³) again with such violence that it took with it whole groves of young cottonwood trees which edged its borders. They were broke off with such regularity in some instances that a person who had not witnessed the facts would be with difficulty persuaded it had not been the work of man.

A great many fish were left on the banks, unable to keep pace with the water. The river was literally covered, with wreckage of boats, and it's said that one was wrecked in which there was a lady and six children, all of whom were lost.

In all the hard shock mentined (sic), the earth was horribly torn to pieces, the surface of hundreds of acres was from time to time covered over of various depths by the sand which issued from the fissures which were made in great numbers all over this country, some of which closed immediately after they had vomited forth their sand and water, which it must be remarked was generally the matter thrown up.

In some places, however, there was a substance somewhat resembling coal or stone coal thrown up with the sand.

It is impossible to say what the depths of the fissures or irregular breaks were. We have reason to believe that some of them were of great depth.

The site of this town⁴ was evidently settled down at least 15 feet, and not more than a half mile below the town there does not appear to be any alteration of the bank of the river. But back from the river a small distance, the numerous large ponds or lakes, as they were called, which covered a great part of the country, were nearly all dried up.

The beds of some of these were elevated above their former banks several feet, producing an alteration of 15 to 20 feet from their original state, and lately it has been discovered that a lake was formed on the opposite side of the Mississippi in the Indian country, upward of a hundred miles in length and from one to six miles in width and from a deph (sic) of 10 to 50 feet. It has communication with the river at both ends, and it is figured that is will not be many years before the principal part, if not the whole, of the Mississippi will pass that way. ⁵

We were constrained by the fear of ou7r houses falling to live 12 or 18 months after the first shock in little light camps made of boards. But we gradually became callous and returned to our homes again.

Most of those who fled from the country in the time of the hard shocks have returned home. We have felt since their commencement in 1811, and still continue to feel light shocks occasionally.

It is seldom, indeed, that we are more than a week without feeling one, and sometimes there are four a day.

There were two the past winter, much harder than we have felt them for two years before; but since then they appear to be lighter than they have ever been and we begin to hope that before long they will entirely cease. I have now, sir (sic), finished my promised description of the earthquake, imperfect, it is true, but just as it occurred to my memory. Most of the truly awful scenes have occurred three or four years ago.

They, of course, are not related with that precision which would entitle it to the character of the full and accurate picture. But, such as it is, it is with great pleasure in the full confidence that is given a friend.

And so, Sir, wishing all good, I must now bid you adieu.

Your humble Servant,
Eliza Bryan

¹ Probably a misspelling of "shed," a shortened version of "watershed." The author may have intended to refer to a mounting wall of water that built as the Mississippi River's southern flow was briefly obstructed by the earth's convulsion. Once the convulsion relaxed the water would have rushed into a huge drainage area outside the normal banks.

² At the time of the earthquake medical science was not entirely beyond bleeding as a therapeutic modality. Knowledge of myocardial infarction, stroke, and shock was painfully lacking. This victim was most likely a heart attack victim.

³ This may be another misspelling. I am unfamiliar with any term of this sort. It does not refer to the great S-bend in the River north of the epicenter of the quake. The earthquake of 1811-12 created the large S-bend.

⁴ The town was probably the original settlement of what is now the county seat, New Madrid. The original village lies beneath the Mississippi River.