The Horror of a Great Darkness Overwhelms New England Fourteen hours of seemingly interminable horror on May 19 1780 and the following night descended on New England. No one who lived through the experience of the Dark Day, the Dark Night, and the Blood-Red Moon would ever forget those long black hours. There was nothing about the sunrise that morning that would have indicated that the day would turn out to be one never to be erased from memory. True, the past several days had seen a reddish and rather dim Sun climb the morning sky in the east, and the Moon, nearing full, had looked discolored. But no one was particularly alarmed by this, as it was spring, and New England, the most populated part of the British colonies was, as every year, …show more content…
Churches were packed as people thronged to hear whatever words of consolation and reassurance that their pastors could provide to them. Not infrequently, however, sermons that day were notably short on consolation and reassurance, but long on warning and condemnation of sin. Humans understood that something unusual was happening. No one thought that nightfall had truly come. But the brute creation, the various farm animals, and their wild cousins, behaved as though the day, but so shortly before begun, had come already to its premature close. Cows returned for their evening milking, chickens sought their roosts, and dogs, sensitive to the concern and fright that their masters so obviously felt, cowered at the doorsteps of houses, seeking whatever comfort their terrified owners could give them. The birds of the air vacated the skies and sought their nests; frogs began their evening serenade, as all nature welcomed the end of a day that only to human minds had not really …show more content…
So the Moon should have risen big and bright on the night of May 19, but it failed to do so. Not a trace of it. Nor could any stars be seen either. The day had been as dark as midnight over much of New England, and though there were neither gas lights nor electric lights at that early era, there were candles to light the homes. Accustomed as Americans of that time were to the nighttime hours, they had never seen a night so utterly black as this. Those who, for one reason and another, were out and about on the roads of rural America that unusual night, found themselves confronted by a darkness that was no less remarkable than that of the daytime hours had been. Horses, the primary means of transportation, could not see to put one foot in front of the other, and simply refused to move. At various times that evening after the Moon rose, though invisibly, the sky cleared sufficiently to present the dreadful specter of a blood-red disc rising to the zenith of the heavens. This phenomenon especially was noted after midnight had ushered in the 20th of May. Bloody and round, the Moon at least offered some small hope that the darkened heavens were at last beginning to clear. Gradually stars began to appear, and the next morning the Sun, to the immense relief of all, rose at its accustomed time and
Cronon, William. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. New York: Hill and Wang, 1983. Print.
Cronon, William. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. New York: Hill and Wang, 1983. Print.
The setting is eighteenth century Boston, Massachusetts. The population in Boston between 1760’s and 1790’s ranged from sixteen thousand to eighteen thousand . Some of the major building that are well known for the time period are Old State House; originally called Town House, this building is very historic the Boston Massacre of 1770 took place in front of this building, also the Declaration of Independence was first read off the balcony. Also Boston has the Old South Meeting House; which in that time was the largest meeting space, this was where the “convocation met before the Boston Tea Party, and this is community commemorated the Boston Massacre” . Another building is the Old North Church, the first stone was laid in April of 1723 taking twenty-two years to complete, this is the oldest church is Boston today. This church’s steeple was immortalized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his poem “The midnight ride of Paul Revere” . The geography in Boston is that it was a coastal region with poor soil, this was not a farming community, and most people that lived in Boston were people that practice a trade or a craft. The climate in Boston ca...
In the 1720’s to the 1820’s there were several events, changes, and processes that occurred in America. The three events I am choosing to analyze are: The Great Awakening, The Revolution, and The Market Economy. Each one of these events had a cultural, social and economic aspect. Each one of these events had different impacts and was manifested in several different ways.
An impulse of affection and guardianship drew Niel up the poplar-bordered road in the early light [. . .] and on to the marsh. The sky was burning with the soft pink and silver of a cloudless summer dawn. The heavy, bowed grasses splashed him to the knees. All over the marsh, snow-on-the-mountain, globed with dew, made cool sheets of silver, and the swamp milk-weed spread its flat, raspberry-coloured clusters. There was an almost religious purity about the fresh morning air, the tender sky, the grass and flowers with the sheen of early dew upon them. There was in all living things something limpid and joyous-like the wet morning call of the birds, flying up through the unstained atmosphere. Out of the saffron east a thin, yellow, wine-like sunshine began to gild the fragrant meadows and the glistening tops of the grove. Neil wondered why he did not often come over like this, to see the day before men and their activities had spoiled it, while the morning star was still unsullied, like a gift handed down from the heroic ages.
Surviving anywhere south of New England was a major challenge for the colonists in the seventeenth century in part due to the overwhelming majority of men in society combined with a high death rate. Just to continue a family was a daunting challenge, and in many cases, this venture proved unsuccessful. Population consistency was sustained only through the immigration of people from England until the later portion of the seventeenth century when the population began to rise on its own. The New England colonies, however, were polar opposites in every sense. Be...
During the early settlement of North America persons of varied backgrounds came to the New World. Both families and Individuals from Western Europe or the central coast of Western Africa made the arduous journey across the Atlantic. Some hoped to find easy riches or religious purity. While others were torn from their families to provide slave labor for a blossoming economy. The motives for uprooting and moving over the Atlantic are as broad and diverse as the colonies that took shape upon the arrival of these new settlers. Although there were fundamental and cultural differences between the early colonies it is important to note that these differences were to be put aside when they were faced with a common foe. The role of colonial newspapers and the sharing of information coupled with the role of the Crown’s taxation policies lead to an underlying connection between New England, the Middle Colonies and the Southern Colonies. These connections are what allowed the original 13 colonies to overcome their differences and unite to win the American Revolution.
6 American Bee Journal July 1921, ‘Incidents in Massachusetts Colony Prior to 1654’ by George W. Adams
Often when looking at American history, people tend to lump all the characters and actors involved as similar. This is especially the case in regards to Early American Colonial history. Because the Puritan communities that grew rapidly after John Winthrop’s arrival in 1630 often overshadow the earlier colony at Plymouth, many are lead to assume that all settlers acted in similar ways with regard to land use, religion, and law. By analyzing the writings of William Bradford and John Winthrop, one begins to see differing pictures of colonization in New England.
The town of Boston was a very unstable throughout the 1760’s. This instability quickly turned to violence in the early part of 1770’s. Tension had already begun to in the beginning of the year with various clashes between the British and the colonists. However, in early March the tensions erupted into bloodshed to create what we now know as the Boston Massacre. The occurrence of these events is a fact, however, the interpretations of them has changed over time. The reports are colored by events that are taking place during the period of time in which they were written and by the author’s own prejudices and opinions. However, we can use these imperfections as a way of tracking what is occurring in America and the state of politics.
Not only was this a good time for the Church, but this was also a very
"North America Review." Rev. of Uncle Tom's Cabin. North American Review [Boston] Oct. 1853: 467-93. Stephen Railton, 1998. Web. 24 Sept. 2013.
"Several changes of day and night passed, and the orb of night had greatly lessened, when I began to distinguish my sensations from each other. I gradually saw plainly the clear stream that supplied me with drink, and the trees that shaded me with their foliage. I was delighted when I first discovered that a pleasant sound, which often saluted my ears, proceeded from the throats of the little winged animals who had often intercepted the light from my eyes. I began also to observe, with greater accuracy, the forms that surrounded me, and the boundaries of the radient roof of light which canopied me. Sometimes I tried to imitate the pleasant sounds of the birds, but was unable. Sometimes I wished to express my sensations in my own mode, but the uncouth and inarticulate sounds which broke from me frightened me back into silence."
As the first rays of the sun peak over the horizon, penetrating the dark, soft light illuminates the mist rising up from the ground, forming an eerie, almost surreal landscape. The ground sparkles, wet with dew, and while walking from the truck to the barn, my riding boots soak it in. The crickets still chirp, only slower now. They know that daytime fast approaches. Sounds, the soft rustling of hooves, a snort, and from far down the aisle a sharp whinny that begs for breakfast, inform me that the crickets are not the only ones preparing for the day.
Night had fallen on the animal farm, though no animal was sleeping peacefully. Sleep was impossible that evening, for in the morning it would be known who was destroying the farm and who killed the old leader. Once before the farm was in shambles, and the animals looked to their new leader, Freud, to save them again as he had once before.