to have extended all
over the New England States. It was observed as far east as
Falmouth [Portland, Maine]. To the westward, we hear of its
reaching to the furthest parts of Connecticut, and Albany. To
the southward, it was observed all along the seacoasts. And to
the north as far as our settlements extend....

"With regard to its duration, it continued in this place at
least fourteen hours: but it is probable this was not exactly
the same in different parts of the country. The appearance and
effects were such as tended to make the prospect extremely dull
and gloomy. Candles were lighted up in the houses; the birds
having sung their evening songs, disappeared, and became
silent; the fowls retired to roost; the cocks were crowing all
around as at break of day; objects could not be distinguished
but at a very little distance; and everything bore the
appearance and gloom of night." (See pages 234-246.)

Whittier has commemorated it in the poem, "Abraham Davenport:"

"'Twas on a May day of the far old year
Seventeen hundred eighty, that there fell
Over the bloom and sweet life of the spring,
Over the fresh earth and the heaven of noon,
A horror of great darkness....

"Birds ceased to sing, and all the barnyard fowls
Roosted; the cattle at the pasture bars
Lowed, and looked homeward; bats on leathern wings
Flitted abroad; the sounds of labor died;
Men prayed, and women wept; all ears grew sharp
To hear the doom blast of the trumpet shatter
The black sky."

The words of the poet are substantiated by the plain prose of the
dictionary maker. In the department explanatory of "Noted Names,"
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (edition 1883) says:

"_The Dark Day_, May 19, 1780--so called on account of a
remarkable darkness on that day extending over all New
England.... The obscuration began about ten o'clock in the
morning, and continued till the middle of the next night, but
with difference of degree and duration in different places....
The true cause of this remarkable phenomenon is not known."

Cause Unknown

At the time, some explained the darkness as being due to smoke from
forest fires, others to the exceptional rise of vapors and atmospheric
dust in the warm spring following the melting of unusually heavy winter
snows. But forest fires were not of extraordinary