I’ve written before about the Tombigbee flood of 1847.
It is considered the worst flood ever recorded along the upper Tombigbee. It washed away almost the entire towns of Colbert, West Port and Nashville in what was then Lowndes County. All the other area river towns and communities, Cotton Gin Port, Aberdeen, Waverly and Columbus suffered significant damage. Additional research, including finding an account of the flood from an Aberdeen newspaper, revealed much more detail and that it was not just a local disaster.
The storm and ensuing floods of December 1847 stretched from the Mississippi River to the Ohio River Valley, to the Erie Canal to the James River in Virginia. Damages along the upper Tombigbee alone were estimated at $1 million and nationwide at $10 million. That was a staggering amount in 1847.
Just how bad in other parts of the country was this disaster that washed away three towns along the upper Tombigbee is provided by a correspondent for the Louisville (Kentucky) Democrat. Describing traveling north on the Mississippi River during the December flood, he reported: “At Helena, on Saturday, the first foamy drift of the great Ohio freshet was discovered, but we had passed Memphis before we met the immense mass of floating drift, timber, fences, firewood, wrecks of buildings, &c., that covered the Mississippi for nearly a hundred miles. The good strong boat Lafayette, thundered and crashed over this mass with no delay and little damage.”
Here in Columbus, The Columbus Democrat reported on Dec. 18, 1847:
“Unparalleled Freshet — Great Loss of Property, &c. — The immense quantity of rain which we have had recently, commencing on the night of Thursday week last and ending the Sunday following, has caused our water courses to rise to an unprecedented height … the ‘oldest inhabitant,’ …admits that the Tombigby never before within his recollection rose so high, spread so wide or put on the appearance of an inland sea as it has done this week. … All the low lands have been submerged to a frightful extent. From the foot of the hill on Main Street a sheet or rather miniature sea of water, is spread out to the view, unbroken except by the tall trees for miles to the west. Many families who reside near the river have been compelled to leave their houses, which the water has surrounded, filling some of them to a depth of many feet. The steamer Putman was able, Wednesday morning to take a new route. The engineer turned the bridge (the 1842 bridge crossed at Fourth Street) on the west side and steering over the old field made a short cut across the bend, into the main stream some distance above the bridge. Where the Putman ploughed its way through water ten feet was dry land the week before. … At Westport alone, where there was a large quantity of cotton stored away, the loss has been estimated at from eighty to one hundred thousand dollars. What makes the loss greater is the fact that but a small portion of the cotton crop had been shipped; most of it was stored away at different landings on the river and as much of it could not be removed in time, the water, rising with unprecedented rapidity, swept if off, rendering all the efforts of the owners to save it to no avail.
“Most of the bridges in the county have either been swept away or considerably injured. The Columbus Bridge is shattered a little at the west end, but the damage can be easily repaired. The bridge east of the town over the Luxapalila has been swept off. We learn it has floated down the stream and lodged against Maj. Blewett’s bridge, which has been in danger, if that too has not been carried off. … Fortunately, no human lives have been lost — at least we heard of none.”
The flood’s impact on Aberdeen was reported by one of its newspapers The Mississippi Advertiser on Dec. 22, 1847:
“The late freshet in our river has startled the ‘oldest inhabitants’ out of their propriety … and from universal testimony we are led to believe the loss, sustained quadruples that of any known freshet within the memory of the ‘oldest inhabitant.’ The loss in this neighborhood is immense; we have no means of forming even a fair conjectural estimate, and probably never shall have. The damage to cotton stored in the different sheds is very great. … The stores under the hill commencing at the room beneath this office and running east to McFarlane & Co’s., were filled with water from sixteen to thirty inches. The room occupied by this office was inaccessible by the usual way — the water was from 4 to 8 inches deep at the entrance door. The floor of the house occupied by Cozart & Clarke, the Eagle Tavern opposite, and in short, every floor east of them except McFarlane’s was more or less under water.
“We learn by the Houston Patriot, that the rain in that neighborhood was very heavy, and that it was accompanied with severe winds. Several houses were blown down and much damage otherwise done.
“A gentleman from Cotton Gin informs us a man was drowned in that neighborhood in attempting to ford Carlisle’s creek.
“A likely negro boy belonging to Capt. W. Johnson was drowned on the west side of the upper cotton sheds while attempting to float out cotton. This is the only loss of life we have heard of in this neighborhood.
“A pilot upon our river says he never saw the Bigbee so high as far down as Vienna before. At Waverley, Colbert and Westport, in Lowndes county, great damage has been done by the water. Some planters whose cotton was stored in sheds on the bank of the river have lost their entire crop. It is said the loss at Waverley is very great various estimates are given, ranging from fifty to sixty thousand dollars. Of the loss at Colbert we have heard various estimates made, ranging from 30 to 50 thousand dollars We do not believe the total damage, so far as we have heard, can be covered by less than a million of dollars. This includes the loss in cotton, stock, depreciated value of property and the expense of removing goods, cotton, &c.
“Of the loss sustained in this town (Aberdeen), we are not prepared to give anything like a definite opinion.”
The flood of 1847 had a lasting impact on area towns. Nashville and Colbert never recovered. West Port had started to recover when another flood in 1851 again washed the town away. The Columbus Cut-Off on the Tenn-Tom Waterway, that created the Island across from Columbus, cut through what had been the town of West Port. In 1847, part of Aberdeen’s growing business district was developing beneath present day downtown and near the river. After, the flood businesses began to move to the higher ground where downtown now is.
Thanks to Carolyn Kaye for transcribing the 1847 newspaper articles.
Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].
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