The Little Ice Age
cold centuries
changed
the history of
New England.
Lying
climate alarmists
would have
us believe
there was no
Little Ice Age.
In reality,
the climate
was unusually cool
for many centuries,
with the coldest
climate between
1600 and 1800.
Some scientists
specify that the
coldest period
was between
1645 and 1715,
especially the
1690s.
During that period,
the average winter
temperatures in
North America
fell two degrees
Celsius.
The NASA
Earth Observatory
blames diminished
solar activity
for the Little Ice Age,
although scientists
have other theories.
Historians agree
the Little Ice Age
froze rivers
and canals in
Northern Europe,
wiped out
cereal production
in Iceland, and
caused famines
in France, Norway
and Sweden.
( Colder winters
also meant
denser wood,
contributing to the
superior tone of the
Stradivarius violin. )
The Little Ice Age
brought many
unusually
cool summers
and cold winters
to New England.
During the
Great Snow of 1717,
for example,
a series of snowstorms
buried houses.
The Cold Friday of 1810
was near the end of the
Little Ice Age.
People died
in their homes,
when the
temperature
plunged
more than
60 degrees F.
in less than
one day.
During the
Little Ice Age,
George
Washington
and his army
suffered through
the cold weather
at Valley Forge,
during the winter
of 1777-78.
Washington
and his troops
suffered
even more in
Morristown, N.J.,
during the
Hard Winter
of 1779-80.
Violent snowstorms
battered the Northeast,
and both Boston and
New York harbors
froze over.
The weather
made it impossible
to bring supplies
to the men --
and the soldiers
finally mutinied
in early May 1780,
although an officer
persuaded them
to abandon
their rebellion.
Extremely harsh winters
destroyed the first colony
in what is now Maine,
and delayed colonization
in New England
for a decade.
A group of English investors,
called the Plymouth Company,
chartered the Popham Colony
in coastal Maine.
( aka Sagadahoc Colony )
Two ships, that were
carrying 120 settlers,
set sail in May 1607
under the leadership
of George Popham.
Popham’s death
and the cold
winter of 1607,
drove the colonists
back to England.
Sir Ferdinando Gorges,
one of the investors,
recalled in 1622,
‘all our former hopes
were frozen to death.’
As a result,
English interest
in colonizing
New England
disappeared
for a decade.
No one
had ever seen
anything like the
Great Colonial
Hurricane
of 1635,
that blew down
houses and
forests, and
flattened
‘all the corn
to the ground,
which never
rose more.’
An extremely
harsh winter
followed the
hurricane,
which caused
the crops to fail.
Unfortunately,
for Metacomet,
( King Phillip )
the unusually
cold winter
of 1675-76
caused
many of
his people
to starve.
It also led to
one of the
Indians’
worst defeats,
in the "King
Phillip's War".
The swamps
that usually
protected a
Narragansett
fort froze
during that
cold winter.
That allowed
Benjamin
Church
and his men
to massacre
the Indians.
And up to
1,000 Indians
were sold
into slavery,
and 5,000
were killed
in battle,
or died of
sickness or
starvation.
Another
2,000
fled west,
or north.
In 1816,
known as
The Year
Without
a Summer,
six inches
of snow
fell in June,
and
every month
of the year
had a hard frost.
Temperatures
dropped to
as low as
40 degrees F.
in July and
August.
The cold,
dry weather
of 1816 created
a strong craving
for the
warmer weather
and fertile soils
out west.
Thousands of
New England families
gave up their farms,
packed their belongings
into wagons, and
moved to Pennsylvania
and the Ohio River Valley,
( which includes Ohio,
West Virginia, Indiana,
Illinois, and Kentucky ).
Between 1810 and 1820,
Maine lost as many as
15,000 people.
Sixty Vermont towns
lost population
during that decade,
and 60 more towns
stayed the same,
while the total
U.S. population
grew about 32%
Massachusetts
gained only
50,000 people,
from
1810 to 1820,
while Ohio
gained
five times
as many.
The
Massachusetts
Legislature
tried to hold on
to its citizens
by passing a
homestead act
that gave settlers
100 acres of land
for only $5.