Bill Dixon (3)

Amazing story! This author did a great job describing the details of what these people experienced trying to survive during this Cat 4 hurricane with 140 mph winds that hit Last Island, off the Louisiana coast, on August 10, 1856.

Step-by-step, the author leads into the storm with a mix of reporting and novel-style writing with information gathered from first account news reports and personal journals from the survivors, ship logs, and records from various university archives. All facts are cited for further reading or research. He did his best to try and dispel a lot of myth's and wild stories passed down surrounding this storm, which may have stemmed from the fictional novel, "Chita: A Memory of Last Island" by Lafcadio Hearn. I love that it read more like a novel with facts and quotes inserted. Although I didn’t feel like I got to know the true survivors, I sure did feel like I experienced this storm with them. He follows through with the aftermath of the storm as well.

Last Island was only about 23 miles long and ½ a mile wide and only 5 or 6 feet above sea level. Normal tides were normally 2 feet. This hurricane brought in a 8 to 9 foot tidal surge and combined with a storm surge at high tide, this presented a huge problem for everyone on the island. The storm separated the island into three small islets: Raccoon, Whiskey and Trinity.

It was estimated that close to 400 people (white and black) were on this island resort at the time of the hurricane. They were able to account for at least 190 lives lost, with dozens that were washed out into Caillou Bay and up to 25 miles down the coastline to Oyster Bay and deep into marshes, which some were most likely not accounted for. Some survived, but most died after a period of time from thirst and/or starvation. There were 250 who survived the ordeal in the beached hull of the STAR for three days, and still other survivors found floating on debri, trees or hiding from the storm in water cisterns. The author does provide a list of survivors and deaths on the island, as well as a list of survivors on the ships, which were few, and ones lost (pgs. 226-38).

You’ll find a few photos of some survivors, but I was a little disappointed. I thought there should have been more. These were wealthy plantation owners. I’m sure they would have been photographed at some point in their life. If I was the author, I definitely would have tried to chase down more of those photographs to use with this historical book. Pictured in the book, considered to be the very last living survivor of the storm, is Thomas Bryan Pugh. He was only 3 years old on that day. His story was told by his parents who also survived. He lost two siblings in the storm. Thomas died one day after his 99th birthday, on May 4, 1952.
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My ancestors who were alive and living around Iberia Parish area during this time:

2nd great-grandparents:

Jean Clebert Broussard (1822-1900)
Modeste Emelie Decuir (1829-1897)

and

Jules LeBlanc (1819-1884)
Marguerite Pamela Boudreaux (1824-1869)

3rd great-grandmother:
Marie Felonise Broussard (1792-1879)… (más)

[Last Days of Last Island] by [Bill Dixon] shows that being rich doesn't always come with common sense. In the mid 1800 in America the rich were looking for new ways to enjoy their wealth. In Louisiana the plantation owners found a beautiful island off the coast. It had great views and fishing. Also the breezes were a nice change from the temperatures inland in the South.

The catch is this "island" was little more than a large sandbar. What we know as barrier islands. This did not deter them from building it up as a resort for the well to do. What could go wrong?

There was no weather forecasting as their is today and the Gulf Coast was as prone to hurricanes then as it is now. There also was no easy escape since the only way to the island was by boat.

[Dixon] tell the tragic story of life and death on Last Island during the Hurricane of 1856. The research is well done and the narrative makes the saga of the inhabitants real in this pre Civil War natural disaster. Although he does get quite repetitive with details it was still a very informative read.… (más)