54 pages • 1 hour read
David LaskinThe Children's Blizzard
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2004A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 11-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 11 Summary
The attention of the national media soon descended on the destroyed communities of the Great Plains. Major cities like Chicago had received news of the blizzard’s approach before the Dakotas but paid it little attention at the time. Only after the extent of the damage was reported, as well as the youth of many of its victims, did newspapers start to seize on the narrative. The tragedies of George F. Allen and Robert Chambers were widely reported on. However, the courage of the young female schoolteachers like Minnie Freeman and Etta Shattuck most captivated the general public. A newspaper called the Omaha Bee started the Heroine Fund to reward the young women for their bravery. The Heroine Fund raised over $10,000 for the women, which was a particularly staggering sum in the 1880s.
The media narrative quickly took on a life of its own, however. Disputes about the number of dead became contentious. The official number estimated the dead at about 200; however, others claimed that the death toll was closer to 1,000. The accuracy of the death toll emerged as more than just statistics in the national narrative, instead becoming more about “prairie public relations” (243). The newspapers and governments of the Great Plains states defended their region as just as habitable as the polluted East Coast or the malaria-plagued South. A depressed economy that depended on the continued immigration of settlers could not afford to scare anyone off.
Etta Shattuck, despite the national attention, funds, and the best of medical attention, succumbed to sepsis on February 6, 1888, at the age of 19. Her family reported that even in her delirium, she remained calm and unafraid.
Chapter 12 Summary
Chapter 12 begins with an account of the funeral details for the novel’s primary characters who died in the storm. Etta Shattuck received the most lavish funeral, since her story had been followed so closely by national media. She was buried among the Civil War veterans in her town’s cemetery. The other funerals for the victims of the blizzard were nowhere near as elaborate or expensive. Families made coffins out of the whatever scrap lumber they could find, then struggled to bury their dead in the frozen earth. Often, pastors could not make it to homes or graves for a Christian burial service and were forced to offer prayers months later, after the spring thaw.
Lena Woebbecke, despite her injuries, was one of the few survivors. George Burkett, a county official, raised money for her to receive proper medical care. Though her right foot had to be amputated, she was later able to walk with a prosthetic. The Heroine Fund, meanwhile, distributed life-changing sums of thousands of dollars to Etta Shattuck’s family and to Minnie Freeman.
However, many people’s heroism and suffering went unacknowledged. Thousands of survivors, even those who had saved others through bravery like Fred Weeks, were essentially ignored by the press. Non-fatal injuries left many survivors disabled. This hardship, as well as the loss of livestock and crops, left the inhabitants of the Prairies demanding to know why the Signal Corps had failed to sufficiently warn anyone of the threat. Sergeant Glenn, in charge of the official storm report, implicated the bureaucracy of the Corps as the cause of the failure. The Army regulations that dictated the Corps’ actions led to individual Signal Corps officers being unable to take action in the face of obvious weather disaster.
Greely, meanwhile, “downplayed” the severity of the storm. There were political reasons behind this: telling the truth about the blizzard might frighten potential settlers away from the Great Plains, stymying the government’s plans to spread European settlements throughout America. Unlike Greely, Lieutenant Woodruff was excoriated for his failure. A suitable scapegoat, Woodruff’s enemies like Professor Payne were determined to “make him pay for encroaching on their turf” (255). Despite pleas to Greely to support him, Woodruff was reassigned to a new commission on May 23, 1888.
After the Signal Corps failed to successfully forecast another snowstorm in March, which essentially froze New York City and killed about 400 people in New York state, the Signal Corps started to remain open at all times instead of closing on Sundays. The Corps also moved their telegraph and telephone wires underground where they could less easily be compromised by weather. Nevertheless, the Signal Corps had become “a national embarrassment” (261). In 1889, President Harrison recommended that weather prediction and data gathering be removed from the responsibility of the Army and instead become the purview of the Department of Agriculture. This move, more politically motivated than in the interest of public safety, nevertheless substantially improved the weather service.
The narrative then begins to follow the later lives of the survivors of the blizzard. In their dealing with normal domestic issues, the survivors nonetheless never forgot the blizzard. Though people still settled on the prairie lands, “the Dakota boom had ended” (267). The hope that had characterized the settlers’ attitudes in the 1870s and early 80s was destroyed by the bleak fact that extreme weather conditions were not the exception on the prairie, but the norm. The exaggerations that brought immigrants to the plains, the bureaucratic neglect of the settler communities, the unpreparedness of those communities for the weather of this new land, and the stark injustice of an economic system that left some people burning buffalo bones for warmth, all combined to disillusion the settler communities.
Natural disasters and an economic depression caused a “great exodus” of the prairie, with over 60% of the settlers abandoning their homesteads by the late 1890s. To this day, the Great Plains states remain the least populated and poorest in the nation. However, the out-migration led to bison populations growing once more. Native American populations have also increased in the area.
The European settlers of the region, through this blizzard, realized that the land they had been offered wasn’t free after all but cost them dearly in life and limb. Optimism might have brought them to the area, but disaster laid bare the terrible vulnerability of life on the prairies.
Chapters 11-12 Analysis
These final chapters illustrate how communities rallied together in the aftermath of the blizzard. Despite the devastation, individuals like Minnie Freeman and Etta Shattuck emerged as heroes, captivating the public’s attention and prompting the establishment of the Heroine Fund to recognize their bravery. This fund raised substantial amounts, showcasing the generosity and support of the wider community for those affected by the disaster. However, it was clear that particular types of heroes captivated the public more than others, since the young women received attention and accolades, while young men like Fred Weeks were essentially ignored.
Laskin also highlights the challenges of reconciling differing accounts and managing public perception in the wake of the disaster. Disputes over the official death toll and concerns about the region’s reputation led to a flawed portrayal of the disaster in the national media. Scrambling to mitigate the blow to their reputation, the Signal Corps also used Woodruff as a scapegoat, despite his years of dedicated service. As Laskin notes, it was unlikely anyone at the time could have done a better job than Woodruff at predicting the blizzard, but political pressures did shape his approach toward issuing warnings, at the expense of public safety.
Furthermore, the chapters shed light on the economic and environmental Challenges of Frontier Life for 19th-Century Immigrants, from the struggle to bury the dead in frozen earth to the bureaucratic neglect that hindered disaster preparedness and response efforts. The narrative underscores the stark realities of frontier life, where individuals grappled with isolation, extreme weather conditions, and economic hardship.
These chapters explore how the blizzard and its aftermath profoundly influenced American history and collective memory. The disaster spurred national attention and media coverage, prompting debates over weather forecasting, disaster preparedness, and government responsibility and highlighting The Role of Natural Disasters in Shaping American History. Moreover, the narrative examines the long-term repercussions of the disaster on settlement patterns, economic development, and cultural attitudes toward the Great Plains region. The blizzard exposed the vulnerability of frontier communities and challenged the prevailing optimism and narratives of westward expansion. The disillusionment and hardship experienced by settlers ultimately led to a “great exodus” from the prairie lands, reshaping the demographic and ecological landscape of the region.
