THE DAY OF THE DOUBLE DAWNS

THE DAY OF THE DOUBLE DAWNS
The Great Eclipse of 1900

All photos and drawings (except the eclipse from Siloam)  are @ The Atlanta Constitution.


Lost in the ubiquitous hoopla of next Monday’s total eclipse is the story of the Great Eclipse of 1900.  For 69 years, residents of Georgia had not seen a total solar eclipse since February 12, 1831 when the moon’s shadow moved along a path from LaGrange to Atlanta to Athens.   The last time the sun went completely dark in Laurens County was on September 9, 1687 and just two and one half years earlier on January 24, 1685.  We did come close on March 7, 1970,  when the western line of total darkness ran along a line half way between Vidalia and Lyons under mostly cloudy Saturday morning skies.   It won’t happen in Dublin until September 5, 2165, 148 years from now.   May 11, 2078 will see a virtual repeat of the 1900 eclipse, but across the center of the state,  possibly with 1 minute and 22 seconds of total darkness here.  So some of you may be able to go the same spot and see a total eclipse in the same spot twice. And, if you can wait until March 22, 2267,  go down just below Cedar Grove towards Alamo and you will experience the wondrous thrill total darkness in the middle of the day.

Monday morning May 28, 1900 first dawned with mostly clear skies much to the delight of dozens of professional astronomers stationed along the centerline of the moon’s shadow path and the thousands of amateur curiosity seekers along the path of total darkness.   The northern edge of totality stretched from LaGrange to Elberton, while the southeastern limits of total darkness stretched from Fort Benning though Milledgeville, some 37 miles away from Laurens County.  In Dublin, it is estimated that 98% of the sun was hidden, slightly more than the coming eclipse.

Unfortunately, no written accounts of the eclipse’s visibility here in Dublin have survived.  So, we must look to reports from Macon and Milledgeville.

In Macon, the old, the young, and the curious rose before dawn to seek out a spot to view the relatively rare event.  Few, if any, people in Macon that morning had ever witnessed total darkness in the day, albeit that  this time, the eclipse occurred early in the morning.  Everyone who could procure a piece of smoked glass looked to the east to watch the moon’s slow path across the face of a blazing sun, Some cut pinholes in cardboard to watch the projection of the eclipse on the ground below.  Those who had no protection, squinted and took brief glances as the skies returned to total darkness.  After the event, the city was littered with discarded shards and whole pieces of smoked glass, as the city experienced its second dawn of the day.

While the scientists disagreed, reliable witnesses reported at least five seconds of totality which occurred about 8:05 a.m., somewhere in the center of the times which were hand calculated by the astronomers in the area.

In Milledgeville, eclipse watchers began to scurry about town early in the morning to find the best site free from trees and tall building. Some even climbed atop tall buildings, including the Masonic Lodge and Georgia Military College, while others motored north of town to Scoggin’s Hill for an clear view of the horizon. Dr. George Case reported from his station on the roof of the Masonic building that the eclipse began at 6:31 a.m. just as expected.  Totality lasted for 50 seconds, five times the predicted length and prompting the point that there could have been a few seconds of totality, some 35 miles to the south at the northern tip of Laurens County.  The entire thrilling celestial event lasted two hours, 18 minutes, and 25 seconds.  At the zenith of the eclipse, the stars, Venus, and Mercury returned to the sky as roosters crowed and geese cackled in deference to the unexpected quick, but brief, return to darkness.

On the western margin of the state, conditions in Columbus  were relatively the same as those in Milledgeville.

African American residents of Thomaston gathered for the Hammenial Eclipse in their annual celebration of their freedom granted by President Abraham Lincoln thirty seven years before. The day was filled with fine food and frivolity.

The glorious splendor of the eclipse in Georgia was not without its lamentable tragedies.  Over in Newman, where the skies were completely dark for a couple of minutes, fifty-year-old Orange Daniel and seventy-year-old Tempie Burpee died during the moments of totality.  Superstitious friends and relatives believed that their deaths were caused from the overwhelming shock of witnessing the event, while the medically educated believed it was heart disease and old age which took the former slaves to Heaven.

In Marietta, where the moon’s shadow only partially obscured the still rising, morning sun, a tragedy of exceedingly regrettable sadness took place in C.M. Crosby’s drug store on the north side of the public square in Marietta.  Crosby, a local druggist, joined his family in their yard, where they watched the entire eclipse through pieces of smoke glass.  Crosby, seemingly in good and normal spirits, left home to resume his normal work schedule.  He signed a receipt for a customer.  When he saw his pistol in his roll top desk drawer, he picked it up, secreted it into his pocket and walked out the back of the drug store.   Shortly after entering a small out building near the rear of the store, Crosby put the pistol to his head  and pulled his trigger.  Authorities acknowledged that Crosby has been suffering from chronic asthma and consumption, but maintained that Crosby’s suicide was
due, at least in part, to the eclipse.

The United States Naval Observatory assigned dozens of astronomers and other scientists to man observation stations along the long of the greatest totality.  In Georgia, the main group was sent to Barnesville in northwestern Central Georgia.  A similar station was established in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Smaller groups were assigned to Columbus, Thomaston, (pictured left) Siloam, and Washington, Georgia.

Multiple tests, astronomical and meteorological, were conducted.  In many cases, the scientists were slightly off in their calculations as to the timing of the eclipse, a task made somewhat difficult without the aid of the computers we have today which can predict the time, location, and duration as far back as a 4000 years ago and a far in the future as a thousand years.  Many scientists believe that as the moon gradually moves further away from Earth in the distant future total solar eclipses will cease to occur.

Newspaper men from around the country flocked to the stations to interview the scientists before and after the grand event.  The best telescopes and cameras were pointed skyward to capture every phase of the eclipse.  The day ended with some adulation mixed with despair from the partial failure of some of their equipment.

As we prepare for this Monday’s extraordinary event, please keep in mind the powerful rays of the sun, which can damage your eyes.  Use an approved filter, make quick glances, and revel in the moment.   If all goes well, it will be my third and most likely last total eclipse in my home state, although I would love to lie in a lawn chair on a roof top when I am 122 years old and gaze at the double dawns.

Savannah Georgia, area, March 7, 1970

Atlanta, Georgia,  May 30, 1984, Annular Eclipse