Accounts describing the Mississippi Valley Earthquakes of 1811-12

At 2:15 a.m. on December 16, 1811, a unique sequence of earthquakes began in what is today southeast Missouri and northeast Arkansas. Although the area was sparsely populated,the earthquakes, generally referred to as the New Madrid earthquakes, were felt throughout a wide area if the Central and Eastern United States. Consequently, they were widely reported in newspapers and in other written accounts.