Solar Eclipse of August 7, 1869

Excited about the coming eclipse? 148 years ago (August 7, 1869), Americans living in virtually the same regions that lay in the path of the August 21, 2017 solar eclipse were treated to what some referred to as the event of the century (I, however, would dispute that since the Civil War had ended only four years prior).

The total solar eclipse of August 7, 1869 as seen in Shelbyville, Kentucky



 

The epicenter of this national event was Burlington, Iowa (scores of scientists huddled together here to view the event) and Shelbyville, KY (see picture), which was inundated with thousands of visitors seeking to witness the celestial phenomenon. For my Kentucky and Tennessee friends, the total solar eclipse followed a path through Louisville and Shelbyville (KY) and Bristol (TN/VA). But those living in Columbia and Knoxville, much like the coming event, saw a near total eclipse.



August 28, 1869 cover of Harper's Weekly which documented the solar eclipse as it crossed over the American continent.



Nimrod Porter's diary entry from August 7, 1869

Nimrod Porter, a Maury County farmer whose diary is a treasure for TN Civil War era historians, simply recorded: "The eclipse in the evening attracted much attention. Almost a total one of the sun."





Knoxville Daily Press and Herald, August 8, 1869 

Though some Knoxvillians ventured north by rail to Bristol, most chose to stay home and view a near total eclipse of the sun (see Daily Press and Herald).

According to William Brownlow's Knoxville Whig (Aug. 11, 1869): "Immense preparations had been made in the way of smoked and stained glass. We preferred the smoked, as when looking at the sun it is better on the eyes 'to see through a glass darkly.' . . . We didn't see them, but we are informed that fowls went to roost in East Knoxville, birds sought their nests and several laborers quit work, thinking night had come, because the daylight had gone for a season."