Orangeburg, South Carolina Tornado
May
6, 1861
Fearful tornado
--A correspondent of the Charleston
Mercury gives the following description of a
tornado which occurred in the neighborhood of
Orangeburg, South Carolina, on the 6th instant:
It began about half-past 4 o'clock, going from
West to East. It first broke out in its fury
upon the plantation of
L. C. Glover, Esq., doing much damage
to the fences, and very seriously injuring one
of the negroes Rapidly passing from this
locality, it rushed in its desolating course
successively over the plantations of
R. T. H. Legare, J. J.
Andrews, H. Ellis and H. Wannamaker,
tearing the fences to pieces and ripping up the
crops most frightfully. It next swept through
the plantation of Mrs.
John O'Cain utterly destroying all
the buildings upon her place, crippling one
little negro, and throwing
Mr. George H. Pooser about one
hundred feet, literally covering him with
lumber. It next passed to the plantation of
Dr. J. G. Jenkins, and here the work
of devastation was most complete. The doctor's
dwelling and out-buildings were entirely new and
well arranged, but so utter was the destruction
wrought in a moment by the furious whirlwind,
that scarcely a vestige of any of the houses
remain. Two of his negroes were instantly
killed, and he himself, his wife and child, and
two negroes, were badly bruised and wounded.
The hurricane next passed over the plantation of
Jno. Rickenbacker,
Esq., destroying all his negro
houses, and wounding one or two of his negroes.
It then passed over Four-Hole Swamp, but what
damage it has occasioned beyond is not yet
ascertained.
The course of the gale which I have indicated
extends for a distance of twenty-five miles, and
the width of the path of the whirlwind was about
a quarter of a mile. The roar of the tempest was
frightful. When first seen, the whirlwind was
red, but soon afterwards it became very black.
Its power was wonderful, and it bore heavy
fragments of Dr.
Jenkins's houses more than two miles
from the site of the houses. In traversing the
wood it twisted up and prostrated the largest
pine trees in every direction, and in one
instance it tore up a stone wall entire, leaving
it with its foundations highest.
The Daily Dispatch, Richmond, VA 13 May
1861
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