Peshtigo: America's Deadliest Fire 

Yet another impersonator trying to scam you. I will never ask you to contact me on Whatsapp.

I always appreciate just how respectful you are of topics like this. No blame, no shaming nor any sensationalism. Just facts in a sober, respectful tone. Thank you for having a conscience, it seems all too rare these days.

As a Wisconsinite, fixing this pronunciation makes this video so much better

This channel deserves to be remembered.

As a Wisconsin native: I never saw the first one. You're nailing it in this video. I appreciate your rework of this, that gesture is very kind.

When you said, "The Chicago fire wasn't even the deadliest..." I thought you were going to say "of Illinois". But "of that day" really shocked me.

Peshtigo Wisconsin here. Thank you for finally fixing this. Yours was always the best documentary on it, but it always bugged me when I would send it to people when they asked what city I was from.

A man never knows when he gets up in the morning if he’s going to get back to the same spot at bedtime! Life is perilous indeed!

My dad's mom told me of this fire that her parents and grand parents somehow survived. It was a disaster that made the Chicago Fire look like a campfire. It has been storied by myself to my children and grandchildren. Thank you Lance, your podcasts are valuable.

One of the most amazing things on this day in 1871 is that students at the Forestry College at MSU in Lansing Michigan dropped everything and became some of the first wildland fire fighters. They saved the entire campus and city of Lansing from the Michigan fires

Lance, I'm surprised you haven't been approached by book companies to be an narrator for books on tape. Your talking skills truly keep a hold of your audience.

Whether it be a gift or a learned skill, I sure wish I possessed your skill at public speaking. You could make a recital of the telephone book seem interesting.

Also worth noting that on this same date 146 years later was another destructive fire. October 8th 2017 five northern California counties experienced 250 fires (21 major fires) that consumed 245,000 acres, 8,900 buildings and 44 deaths. The Tubbs fire near Santa Rosa alone destroyed 5,643 structures and 22 lives. It was the single most destructive fire in California's history up to that point. I was on duty that night and the fire still effects many of our families, friends and community. History will always repeat itself and we need to remember these lessons.

Coming from Australia I can sympathise with what those people went through. Our last two summers have been the worst in living memory with regards to bushfires.

Again; a pretty decent book on this is 2002's 'Firestorm at Peshtigo', by D. Gess and W. Lutz. I first read it soon after it was published, and in rereading it a few months ago, felt that it held up well. Some of the photos taken in the aftermath are very eerie, and the book does well in recreating the town and surrounding communities, the people, and the times. God knows, the survivors' stories are horrific. I'm glad 'The History Guy' went back to this, and pronounced the name correctly. It matters. :)

Years back I was fishing the Au Sable river in Michigan and as I smoked then I took a break from wading the river to smoke a cigarette, I carelessly threw down the butt and to my horror a fire immediately exploded next to me. It was my first instinct to throw my entire body onto it and roll around to put it out, and thank God I succeeded for if I didn't it was racing towards thick dry tinder that would have started a major fire. I suffered some pretty bad burns to my face and hands but it was worth it, it taught me an invaluable lesson on being extremely careful with fire in the woods, and I kicked my nasty cigarette habit soon after.

Growing up in Wisconsin (well over a half century ago) we learned about the Peshtigo fire in grade school. For most other areas of the country, and indeed the world, this may well be the first time many have heard of this. Bravo, History Guy, bravo.

As a former Wisconsin Wildland firefighter I truly appreciate you redoing this video.

Thanks from an early subscriber here in Wisconsin. I cringed at the earlier version. Remembering history is always better with the correct pronunciation. ;-)

'In one terrible instant' is one of the most powerful and truthful paradigms of humanity.

Damn, watching a Dr. Felton video and THG video pops up. With great reticence I switched mid video to THG. How lucky am I to subscribe to great history tellers?

5:40 What an incredible shot, I can only imagine what being on that bridge was like. Forest fires are absolutely insane......fire in general is scary, but the entire world around you going up in flames is just a whole new level of terrifying.

Good job. I am an 80 year old forester. Fire fighter and Fire Information and Safety Officer from South Carolina to Pacific Northwest.

Such a sweet thing for you to do to re-release the video! Sure sign that you're in it for the information the video provides and not just for the views. Mad respect to ya.

Been a medic and firefighter for over a third of a century. I'm always reminded of that line from Planes Fire and Rescue when she says it happens all the time, you only hear about the big ones. That's the truth. Stan Rogers did a wonderful version of the badger Drive, possibly the only song about the longest drivers on the rivers.

We still have forest fires in the Northern forests in the Midwest. They don't just occur out West. Last summer, the U.S. Forest service was conducing a controlled burn in my community in Northeastern Michigan. An "unforeseen wind event" caused that controlled burn to become uncontrolled. Homes were evacuated, many acres of forest burned, yet, I support the yearly, Springtime controlled burns. Thirty years ago, the U.S. Forest service didn't do that. I'm glad they do now, even if a sudden winds takes the fire where they don't want it to go. Better to have a forest fire when you're prepared, than to have a forest fire when you're not.

A sad report, History Guy, but a very poignant delivery of it. Thanks @The History Guy ... we appreciate the delicate way in which you tell us of so many terrible losses - even if more than 100 years ago. Some news anchors on the mainstream networks could take lessons.

What a stunning story. It reminded me of growing up during the Cold War and some of us children feared an atomic bomb or some other destruction hitting our school or homes. But instead, the people here were blind sided. Their fate was sealed in a sudden and horrific way that no one had ever worried about. And they lived long enough to experience true horror. Thank you for telling us about Peshtigo. It truly deserves to be remembered.

I fought wild fires in California and Nevada many years ago. Man is puny when dealing with such fires!

I enjoyed your first presentation. And no problem pronouncing the name "pesh-TI-go" as opposed to the way the locals call it "PESH-ti-go". Many Wisconsin names come from American Indian names and even Wisconsinites have problems pronouncing them. My comment then, repeated below: Some plaques next to graves in the Peshtigo cemetery: "Terance Kelly, his wife, and four children lived in the Upper Sugar Bush. When the fire came with the terrible wind and smoke, the family became separated. Voices could not be heard above the roar of the fire. Mr. Kelly had a child in his arms, as did Mrs. Kelly. The other two children clung to each other. In search for safety, each group lost track of the others. The next day, Mr. Kelly and a child were found dead nearly a mile from his farm. The mother and another child were safe. The other children, a boy and a girl, five, were found sleeping in each other's arms near the farm. The House, barn, and all the out buildings had burned to the ground." "Mellon: Their nineteen year old brother took these two Mellen children to the river. He walked into the icy water up to his neck with a child on each arm. The fierce heat compelled him to keep on wetting their hair or ducking their heads under water. This continued for nearly four hours until the flames subsided and when the older brother brought the children to shore. It was found that both had died of hypothermia." "Merkatoris: When the church bell sounded the fire alarm, Henry Merkatoris went out to the edge of town with the other men to try to stop the fire. Mrs. Merkatoris waited until the fire came into the city and when Henry failed to return she gathered her five children and crossed the bridge to the east side. They all went into the river and clung to some logs until the fire subsided. In the morning all were fearful that Mr. Merkatoris had perished in the fire, but soon the family spotted Henry coming through the smoke and ashes. He had survived!" "On the night of October 8, 1871, Peshtigo, a booming town of 1700 people, was wiped out of existence in the greatest forest fire disaster in American history. Loss of life and even property in the great fire occurring the same night in Chicago did not match the death toll and destruction visited upon northeastern Wisconsin during the same dreadful hours. The town of Peshtigo was centered around a woodenware factory, the largest in the country. Every building in the community was lost. The tornado of fire claimed at least 800 lives in this area. Many of the victims lie here. The memory of 350 unidentified men, women, and children is preserved in a nearby mass grave." The total death numbers from that fire were never determined. It was guessed that 800 inhabitants of Peshtigo died in the fire....BUT...there were many deaths outside the town. The total death count is now estimated to be over 2,000.

My father once mentioned to me that he had a great, great aunt who was killed in that fire. The found her remains lying on a two-track road a few miles from town. I'm glad you reminded me of this event. I'll be sure to pass this along to my other relatives. A bit of history they need to remember.

Every Wisconsin school child knows of the Peshtigo Fire. Our early Wisconsin Public Radio had a program in the early 1950s called "Wisconsin Tales and Trails." Fires on the same day burned vast areas on NE Wisconsin. The southern limits of related fires extended south to the northern limits of Manitowoc County, where I grew up, about 30 mi SE of Green Bay city. It burned a little settlement on Lake Michigan about a mile east of Two Creeks, WI (not to be confused with Two Rivers, WI as a well known biography of Carl Sandburg once did.) This settlement of a few building was next to a pier extending into Lake Michigan for loading lumber onto sailing vessels. As a child I briefly lived on an estate abutting this settlement when my father was in the Army of Occupation in Japan and my mom and I were invited to stay at the estate. The estate owner, a prominent naval architect, had been summoned to Germany to evaluate post-war shipbuilding facilities. At the time, in the late 1940s/early 1950s the ruins of the settlement was the town dump which the son of the estate owner and I would play among the ruins (mostly the stonework foundations and basements of the destroyed buildings.) Our imaginations build many things with the found objects in the dump. After I grew up and moved away, the county government realized the significance of the ruins, cleared the trash from the dump and made a small county park. As of my childhood the pilings of the dock still remained.

I believe the original was one of the first THG episodes I ever watched. Thank you for all these informative videos.

I used to fish the peshtigo river in my youth. The one sturgeon i got every yr was awesome. Our northern woods here in wisconsin were nearly cleared out by greedy lumber barrons who didnt care.

When he said, The Chicago Fire wasn't even the worst fire THAT DAY, my jaw hit the floor.

Thank you for sharing this. My grandmother used to tell me about how that same day, just on the other side of Green Bay, sparks from Peshtigo ignited fires on the peninsula and continued to burn its way toward the small town of Robinsonville where folks marched around their small church praying a rosary. Just as the fire reached the fence surrounding the church, it began to rain, sparing the church and the souls fearfully gathered there.

The best history channel on youtube.

Hey there history guy, you should do one on the Avondale mine fire in Pennsylvania back in the 1860's my great great grandfather was one of the over 150 who perished

Well Done. Learned this in the 4th grade growing up in Wisconsin. The History Guy deserves to be remembered.

Well, I’d say you’ve gotten RU-vid figured out - what, 1.3M subscribers? I know I watched the earlier video some years ago - couldn’t remember the town’s name - but remembered it was a tragedy like the Johnstown Flood. A RU-vid Short in my queue moved me to watch the earlier video prior to viewing this updated version. I wish the creator of “The Great War” would re-do his later video on softballer-supreme, Eddie Feigner, to get the pronunciation of the assumed surname corrected. Your revision was well done - you didn’t just go through the motions but you added material and were at least as expressive in your presentation - I think more so. This is in line with your stated aim to share, “history that deserves to be remembered.” Well done!

The Peshtigo fire is well remembered in many firefighting textbooks.

Thanks for doing an updated video on the Peshtigo fire! My dad grew up in Peshtigo, so we have been there a lot. Dad died in May, and he is now buried there.

I love these videos of events that deserve to be remembered. The History Guy's delivery is so full of respect for the dead and the impact on the community.

I spent and still spend many hours in those woods. Amazingly there are still burned trunks all around in the less traversed areas from this fire. Thank you for bringing their story back to life.

I lived in a pine forest with the only way out lined by large pine trees. I loved it there but have to admit in dry years it was disconcerting to feel a little trapped if the big 'IF' happened.

Well done, a fitting Memorial video. As a Firefighter in the Midwest, we often learn about the Peshtigo fire in our certification classes. Thank you for remembering the victims and educating those who were unaware.

As a native son of Wisconsin,I've always wanted to have the Peshtigo Fire to have it's place in history highlighted instead of being the Chicago Fire's stepchild. As someone that visited the Peshtigo Fire Museum October 7th 2021,I can tell you in the time frame you use,you didn't waste second. Thank You! I love history and it's very plain you do too. Best History Channel on RU-vid,by far!

The people of Wisconsin, and Peshtigo especially, appreciate your making the effort to remedy your prior mispronunciation. Keep on doing what you're doing! On, Wisconsin!

Another great video as usual about history that deserves to be remembered. I'm glad you were able to correct the pronunciation of Peshtigo, but I'm afraid you replaced it with another mistake. At approximately 8:54 in the video you mention that fires in White Rock and Port Huron Michigan occurred across Lake Huron from Peshtigo. Although White Rock and Port Huron are on Lake Huron, Peshtigo is in the opposite direction. White Rock and Port Huron would be more accurately described as across Lake Michigan from Peshtigo. A nitpick, I know, but I hope you will take some solace from the fact I was listening close enough to catch it. As do 1 million others, I greatly enjoy the THG videos.

thank you for this episode....I grew up about a half-hour from Peshtigo and stories and memorials about the fire abound in the area, including burned stumps that were everywhere in the woods on our farm

If you are a history nerd, this guy is AMAZING! And a pride of our STL metroplex. I remember seeing his first video, the original of this, and it gave me chills. This time around, was no different, except, I guess oddly oxymoronically, better. Way…way…way better. You sir are someone many of us could just simply have a beer with, and nerd out in the history of darts, or beer, or arcade games. Hardwood. Bars. Glass. You get the idea! Maybe I am a fanboy. But that’s because you are simply that damned good! Keep on keeping on, Lance! You’ve got an absolutely, unmatchable, astonishing talent! You make the obscure…relatable. And bring the relatable home to heart. Many can speak to a camera. Behind a camera. But few….very very few…can speak THROUGH the camera. You, sir, are one of those few! Thanks for doing what you do. And if in your day to day you aren’t a history teacher, you damned well should be! 😉

Thank you so much for this updated video. As a lifelong Wisconsinite who has been to the Peshtigo museum several times, I enjoyed the original video immensely. Your correction takes a good video and makes it amazing.

Here in August of 2023 after the tragic fire of Maui. May we never forget those who die in such unexpected tragedies. Always tell your family and friends you love them and not take life for granted. I appreciate this gentleman for his interesting and thoughtful videos. Rest in peace to those who have died in these unexpected disasters. ❤🕊️🙏❤

The first thing I thought of when I saw the thumbnail was "Peshteeeeego." As a Wisconsin native I'm glad you've revisited this. ;)

As a Wisconsinite, I cannot imagine the terror that people must have felt. This fire, the people it claimed, must be remembered.

I've read 2 or 3 books on these giant firestorms, and they are worth looking up. The most terrifying is the eyewitness accounts of people bursting into flames as they ran from the fires, and the people begging others to run for their lives, only to be stared at with incomprehension...then trying to haul their belongings with them, not realizing that for them, it was already too late. One train engineer just opened up his already burning train to out run the wall of flames burning up the prairie behind him, while the people in the last cars were catching fire and suffocating from lack of oxygen...he actually managed to get a few hundred to safety....

I've been pronouncing it incorrectly when discussing this with other FF and rescue personnel since your video originally went live. Wild story. Thanks for the update!

I'd visited the Peshtigo museum many years ago while traveling from lower Michigan to the Green Bay area. That place is history worth reviewing...Thank You for bringing it forward in history again!

My great grandmother had stories from her mom about family and friends affected by the great fire .

That was history I had never heard about. It’s history that deserves to be remembered. I shed a tear for those people.

So appropriate! There are really few new, unique things that happen to humanity. But people frequently forget that. Thanks for helping to make sure that history and its lessons, are remembered.

Just got home from work, perfect time to relax with a glass of ice water and THG

Thank you for remembering Peshtigo, this story has fascinated me since I first learned about it, despite having no personal connection to the town or region.

It's a good fix. There are now in Peshtigo more public places "to go" -well done History guy.

Thank you for this episode i had never heard of this fire and i had grown up in michigan most of my life it truely is history to be remembered thank you again for bringing this to us as always a wonderful bit of history to be remembered =)

Many thanks from Wisconsin for updating this THG classic! It is brilliant, as usual.

1st time i've seen your story of peshtigo. well done! i kept remembering when gatlinburg burned a few years back. for an area that usually does not get large forest fires it was shocking to see [and still see] the damage done and the intensity of the fire.

My day and I visited Peshtigo Wisconsin. Thompson Boat Company was located there. My dad knew about the fire. He took me to the mass Grave of those that could not be identified from the fire. As an eighteen year old the stories the residents told me are burned in my mind. Thank you for remembering those from Peshtigo.

You know what's even more interesting than the Great Chicago Fire? The Chicago Raising. Would love an episode on that unknown nugget of my cities history.

I am somewhat ashamed to admit I was not aware of this tragedy until now. Thank you again @TheHistoryGuy for enlightening me through another wonderful lesson.

Absolutely excellent!!! The way you honor the people that perished and the ending you gave is what makes History so great and important!!! History will always remember you and your channel because YOU DESERVE TO BE REMEMBERED!!!

thank you Mr History Guy, Gal and cats..."far fewer casualties but more witnesses" your respect in granting dignity to the forgotten dead and their history makes them....not forgotten, if only for the ten or fifteen minutes of your memorialization of them

Gotta respect a man who has the confidence and decency to admit a mistake and fix it.

if anyone happens to be in peshtigo, this was one of the best museums i've ever been to. it was more then just remembering the fire and what everyone went through, but a snapshot of the time and an excellent place to visit

For as much as we seem to learn from great fires like this one, it seems as if the knowledge is lost (or forgotten) and there are still large deadly fires. For as much as Forest Management is preached, it is not Practiced (so much).

Thank you again, for another lesson in history. Like most people, I have heard of the great Chicago Fire, but until watching your channel, I had not heard of the much more " destructive " Peshtigo Fire. Thank you again, so much.

Thank you for remembering this event again. I remember that first video. Your willingness to tell the story made me a subscriber. I can say that many of the people of WI remember this event, especially in the papermill cities, past and present. Having visited the museum and the city of Peshtigo, I am forever changed. Thanks again for retelling the story of Peshtigo.

I often get a touch affected by the last few sentences of your videos. Thanks for the fine work.

I live sorta near Peshtigo We are taught about the fire in Wis history in the 4th grade Outside of Wisconsin the much more famous Chicago fire obscures the Peshtigo fire from history

Thank you for taking the time to correct the pronunciation of Peshtigo. Thank you also for getting the pronunciation of our state correct. For some reason, nonnatives often pronounce it "Wes-con-sin". There is no "E" in Wisconsin.

I remember using the old video in a unit I taught on wildfires back in 2017 and 2018. I could point out the local fires from the classroom window. A relevant and timely lesson. Thanks for taking the time to clarify the pronuciation!

Never new, Thank you. RIP good people of Peshtigo.

I live off Highway 41 about 45 minutes south of Peshtigo and I never heard about this fire, nor was it ever mentioned in any of the History/Social Studies class I took back in High School. Amazing how history-altering events like this can "disappear" unless you live literally right where it happened and they put up a plaque or memorial or something (that you may or may not ever stumble across).

Living in Australia I am more than familiar with firestorms they are a common occurrence where I live and let me tell you it is without a doubt the most terrifying thing a person can live through in the summer of 2019 my entire town was almost wiped out it was awful thank you so much History Guy for telling these stories 🙏

As a kid growing up in NE Wisconsin, we were taught about this fire in grade school, though I doubt many others outside of the region were. It is almost a source of irritation that our history was upstaged by another fire in Chicago. Thank you for covering this!

This is the best video on the Peshtigo Fire that I've seen. If it is ever mentioned, it's usually as an aside on a video of the Great Chicago Fire. Thank you. Subscribed.

My great-grandparents had a homestead in Oconto County. I had always been told that the fire stopped a mile to a mile and a half from their farm.

Thanks for mentioning the Comet fragment theory, most dismiss this as absurd. I do find it fascinating that so many towns and cities burned down over a large area of Mid-West on the same day.

I loved this story the first time, and I saw RU-vid recommend this one, I looked past it, but it gives me a good chuckle when outa state ppl pronounce Wisconsin names. I wanted to hear that pronunciation again, lol. Have fun with oconto, Suamico, ashwaubenon… thanks for this story.

As an ex-canadian that moved to Wisconsin, and found your original vid...I appreciate this. And Go Pack Go,

I actually Found a painting of the great Chicago fire stuck behind a WWI print from 1918 in our shed. I live in Louisiana. It had apparently been put there by my great grandfather who had gotten after the death of my great great grandmother, who lived on our property about one hundred years ago. The WWI print hung in my Great great grandfathers dining room and was remembered by my grandmother and seen in pictures, but thought lost until I discovered it only a few feet from our old home. Alas, it was quarantine which brought me to clean and restore the WWI painting and its filthy original frame and glass and when I took out the painting I discovered a beautiful painting of flames to which was labeled the Chicago fire the print was from 1909.

Very profound final statement. Great job as usual.

My aunt is from there and she had mentioned this fire a few times. So happy to share this with her

Horrifying . Long ago dead but still feeling empathy for the lives lost and for those who would have been .

Loved the update. Remember watching the first one.

I remember the first video you did on the great Peshtigo Fire. In the comments you indicated your regret at not getting the pronunciation of Peshtigo correct. I am a Wisconsinite and didn’t care because I was just glad you told the story! We learned about it in grade school and I have since visited the museum, it is an important part of the preservation of the knowledge of where we have been and how we have learned from our mistakes. I live in the only town in the USA spelled with five “O’s” and if you can pronounce Oconomowoc WI correctly you deserve a special recognition for your devotion to telling the stories of all of us so well! Thanks again for helping us all remember that, while we are not perfect yet, we are getting more perfect everyday. As people, as a nation, and as a planet. God grant us the grace to keep moving forward! (Wisconsin’s State Motto!)

Peshtigo is my hometown. My dad's house is next door to the only structure left standing after the fire. And that is fact. A picture of that building is in the museum.

Thank you for all your work and effort. I look forward to these as they make my day.

Thank you for telling this story, our family moved to this area 15 years ago and found people are still deeply moved by this tragic event. Come visit us next October

I'm glad you remade this. It is history that deserves to be remembered indeed