Through a Night of Horrors: Voices from the 1900 Galveston Storm

by Casey Edward Greene (Editor), Shelly Henley Kelly (Editor)

The hurricane winds that lashed over Galveston Island the night of September 8, 1900, unleashed a horror that no survivor would ever forget and that more than six thousand people would not survive. This was a tempest so terrible that no words can adequately describe its intensity, one survivor wrote soon after the tragedy, yet many did try to describe it.

Galveston's Rosenberg Library, noted for its fine archives of local and early Texas history, holds many accounts of the storm. Some were recorded in the days and months immediately following the disaster; others were put down after many years had passed. The letters, memoirs, and oral histories collected in this volume allow the survivors to tell in their own words what they witnessed and experienced during the most catastrophic natural disaster ever to befall the United States. Seventy dramatic photographs of the storms aftermath underscore the horror.

The days leading up to the storm were chronicled in a journal kept by Isaac M. Cline, local meteorologist for the U.S. Weather Bureau. The volume editors have used his terse and unforeboding accounts to frame the letters that detail the storm that followed.

The letters and memoirs included in this extraordinary volume not only provided catharsis to their writers but also left important documentation about the events for future generations. Oral history recordings made in the 1960s and 1970s provided further accounts given by survivors as they approached the end of their lives. Readers can imagine in these stark yet poignant stories, most never before published, the voice softened to barely a whisper as it describes a mother's despair or a narrator's last painful memory of a sister who perished after handing over her youngest child. Their vivid descriptions stand as moving testimony to the enormity of the worst natural disaster Americans have ever experienced.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

206 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2000

Reviews

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was amazing to hear about the 1900 storm from the words of the survivors themselves.

Fun fact: the second author (Shelly) is a friend of a friend.

[Heather Alderman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very intense, real accounts of the 1900 storm.

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read and watched a few documentaries about the Galveston hurricane of 1900, this book takes letters, memoirs and interviews of those who survived. From young children to adults. Some lost their entire families, homes and everything others were lucky enough to have their homes only slightly damaged and loved ones still alive. There were stories from men recruited into the army or police to help stop looters and get rid of the thousands of bodies and help rebuild the city. There were unusual tales, like someone keeping their cow in the dining room where it survived the storm, people rescuing each other in boats even though they were just across the street. One young man hearing a woman calling for help and gathering up some people to help only to find the men inside the house in distress were not willing at first to help save the women and children inside. It was a sad book but also one that showed the courage and will to survive of the various survivors. But it does show hopefully how far we've come in predicting the weather and as a result have saved countless lives.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chose this book because I've always had a fascination with the Hurricane of 1900. So much was wiped out in a single storm. Families, homes, stores, city blocks disappeared, never to be seen again.

Comprised of letters, interviews, and writings of survivors of the 1900 Galveston Hurricane, this is a tough read. The horror of that one September night is mindnumbing. I kept trying to imagine myself in that storm but just knew I wouldn't have been one of the survivors.

This is a really good book but I kept having to put it down. I couldn't handle it all in one reading. It was just too real.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

First person accounts that are interesting, but quite similar and repetitive. Annotations by editing team would have made this far more informative.

Very limited context and assessment in the Introduction and I missed reading an Epilogue to wrap up the collection of stories, oral histories and memoirs and discuss the aftermath.

Maybe it’s just me, but I dislike endnotes when there is relevant information to inform the reader, which could have been included in footnotes. Endnotes are fine for reference citations. I found myself continuously flipping to the endnotes for added insight that would have been better placed in footnotes.

[James Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book written from diaries, letters and interviews of people who lived through and experienced thr storm. A book I always refer back to when researching. Full of valuable information. Highly recommend.

[Frances · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put this down.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

First-hand accounts of the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.

[MKF]

DNF

[jj Grilliette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good reading. I liked hearing what the survivors actually wrote.

[Joseph R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This compilation of eyewitness accounts shows the residents' reactions to the storm that struck Galveston Island in 1900. It's divided into letters, memoirs, and oral histories that have been transcribed. Interspersed with the letters are reports from National Weather Service meteorologist Isaac Cline who was stationed at Galveston through the storm. The texts give a very vivid portrait of what people went through. A common theme is the belief that they wouldn't make it through the night. Another striking reaction is in the aftermath when people were just numb to the horror of the situation--the thousands of dead, the wretched smell of mud and slime, the complete devastation in some areas. Survivors describe walls of debris, some two stories tall, caused by the storm surge that came in from both the north and south sides of the island. Most people had no sense of how bad it would get since they had lived through plenty of other "big blows." The book includes dozens of pictures of the devastation and maps to show where the various survivors waited out the storm. The end notes explain various details or discrepancies that arise from people misremembering what happened.

Recommended--this book is more for people interested in the history of the storm than for general readers.

[J.M. Kirkley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a rich historical gem filled with eye witness accounts of the citizens of Galveston who experienced the devastating 1900 hurricane. I appreciate the research that went into compiling accounts from survivors that were penned days following the Storm, up to oral accounts recorded decades later. As an author, I leaned heavily on these accounts to bring the Great Storm to life in my novel.

I also had the privilege of working with Mr. Greene at the Rosenberg LIbrary as I did research for my book. I found his breadth of knowledge invaluable as I sorted through conflicting accounts.

[Kerrie Highley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for the Rosenberg Library museum book club. It was compiled and edited by two people working at the library and is well researched and told. Reading these first hand accounts of that totally tragic storm was heartbreaking! I cannot imagine how horrible it was to survive the storm and then be faced with all the horror, pain, and suffering in the aftermath. For those survivors life was a nightmare and a living hell. Not for the faint hearted, but very enlightening.