The 1886 Charleston earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 7.6 on the Richter scale. It threw many people from their beds at 9:51 pm on the night of August 31, 1886. The earthquake rattled most of the East Coast, killed about 60 people, and caused much damage all along the coastal plain of South Carolina. It remains the strongest earthquake to date along the Eastern Seaboard affecting an area north to south from New York to Cuba and east to west from Bermuda to the Mississippi River.
Here are a few local reports about the 1886 Earthquake as felt in Beaufort County as explained in Beaufort County Historical Society Paper #11, Reminiscences of Beaufort Storms by E.B. Rodgers in 1950:
"There was a rumbling from the northwest, then a slight shock, then a more severe shock and it lasted on through the night. The people thought the world had come to an end and rushed out of their houses and hurried to the churches. The white churches would not open. ... However, the Rev. Bythewood of the Tabernacle Baptist Church...opened its doors and to the surprise of all, the whites outnumbered the Negros [sic] in attendance."
"A tidal wave, twenty feet high, came up Beaufort River towards Port Royal and another down Beaufort River. They met just off Battery Creek and the water dashed high in the air..."
I doubt that there was a 20 foot tidal wave because the Palmetto Post, a newspaper based in Port Royal then, did not mention any tidal wave at all. It covered the 1886 earthquake quite extensively including reports about aftershocks or damage to area buildings. The newspaper included some colorful tidbits, such as "Weather Prophet Wiggins now claims to have predicted the great earthquake, and the most remarkable thing about it is that he claims that he predicted it before it occurred" (Palmetto Post, 16 September 1886, p. 2); the vilification of one John Thomson of Charleston for evicting earthquake survivors from his vacant lot; the inadequacy of the Western Union telegraph line in Beaufort; and, phosphate rock cracking at the Coosaw mines. But on the topic of a tidal wave, the newspaper is absolutely mum. I think that a 20 foot wall of water coming up and down the Beaufort River meeting at Battery Creek would have been noticed by someone and that the Palmetto Post would have included the event in its reporting - if it had really happened.
I propose that the author of Reminiscences of Beaufort Storms had heard the story about the tidal wave throughout his life and was simply sharing what he had heard with the members of the Society. He was but a toddler when the Earthquake of 1886 occurred as the preface to his talk indicates. Here is what he wrote:
My friends of the Historical Society have taken me for a much older person than I am and have indicated it by asking me to tell something about the earthquake. I was only two years of age at the time -- I was born in 1884 and the earthquake was in 1886. However, I have heard many things pertaining to the earthquake and some of those present know more about what happened than I, and I hope they will correct me or add to what I might say so as to make the record as nearly complete as possible."
And perhaps someone at the Beaufort County Historical Society did discuss whether or not they had heard about the tidal wave as well. Local lore has a way of taking on a life of its own. Reminiscences can quickly turn into accepted not tested statements without the basic rules of historical research being considered. Given the date of Rodgers' presentation (June 1950), I doubt that he had access to the Palmetto Post newspaper issues from August - September 1886 in which he could read journalistic accounts of the earthquake and its aftermath. And, as his presentation title indicates, BCHS Paper #11 was a reminiscence, his recollections of what he had heard about the earthquake, not a formal historical study of local impacts of it on the Beaufort area.
My favorite tale about the earthquake that Rodgers shared is this one:
“When the first shock [of the 1886 Earthquake] came, James Crofut was taking a bath. In his haste to get to the relative safety of the street, he remembered his beaver hat, but forgot his clothes!”
I can confirm that Mr. James Crofut was taking a bath at the time of the earthquake from the August 31, 1886 diary entry that his wife Ellen Chapman Crofut (1837-1905) made.
She doesn't mention that he reached the street in the buff. He was a Bay Street merchant, real estate investor, and auctioneer. Here is what she wrote about the earthquake the day it happened:
Quite a severe shock of earthquake was felt here at 9.45 pm. Ja[me]s was taking a bath up stairs and I was writing letters. He came down and we went out in the yard. Mr. Mayo and Willie came over: were afraid to stay in their building, it shook so. There were eleven shocks before twelve o'clock
The people white and colored were very much frightened. The colored churches (except Waddell's) rung the bells at 11 o'ck [oclock] and the people went there and stayed all night, singing and praying.
Mr. & Mrs. Burr, Nellie, Mrs. Fitzsimmons and three children were out in the street. James told them to come in so they did and stayed half an hour or so. Most of the Beaufort people spent the night in the streets.
The next day she recorded seven more aftershocks, though "not severe". Several neighbors moved into their house at 201 Laurens Street fearing structural instability of their own homes. She also notes that communication with Charleston remained cut and that no mail from the North had arrived in Beaufort.
Telegraph messages began to arrive on Thursday, September 2, 1886 indicating the safety of family members More aftershocks occurred at 1 AM and 5 AM.
On Friday, September 3, 1886, Mrs. Crofut writes: "I was hesitating whether to go to church this afternoon as I feel too nervous to go anywhere by myself..." but some neighbors dropped by to visit. Later that evening, the couple
Thought we had better go to bed up stairs as there had been no shocks today except a slight one at noon. James was in bed, and I almost ready when there came a heavy shock and we hurried on our clothing and went over on the sea wall. Mrs. Willet was there with Katie, her servant, Mrs. Levin, Mrs. Murray (Brown), and the girl who works for her. James came home got our two double carriages, hauled them over there. Mrs. Willett, Katie, Mrs. Levin and myself got in one and stayed there till 5 a.m. There was muttering and rumbling all night but no heavy shocks.
Mrs. Crofut mentions aftershocks of varying strengths, sometimes several a day, through September 10th.
You are welcomed to make an appointment to read the diaries that Ellen Chapman Crofut kept from 1874 to her death, the clippings in the EARTHQUAKES vertical file, Reminiscences of Beaufort Storms, and the backfiles of the Palmetto Post on microfilm here in the Research Room. Contact: 843-255-6468 or bdc@bcgov.net to make the necessary arrangements.
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