At a time when trustworthy explanations for unexpected accidents and catastrophic natural events were not available to the people, the church took advantage of the opportunity to press home its message that God was punishing the people for their sins. Broadside publishers did not hesitate to assist in the spreading of the word. Whether it was a political riot, a deadly fire, the appearance of a comet, or a devastating hurricane, money could be made selling the clerical message of repentance.
The Boston Gazette for May 22, 1780, contains a preliminary account of the event highlighted in On the Dark Day, tucked into war and shipping notices:
The Printers acknowledge their Incapacity of describing the Phaenomenon [sic] which appeared in this Town on Friday last, and shall therefore leave it to Astronomers whose more particular Business it is. They however, would inform those who were not in the Contents of it, that on Friday last About Ten oclock, there came over this Town a dark Cloud, which continued increasing darker and darker ’till near One o’Clock, when it became so dark that the Inhabitants were obliged to quit their Business. The Darkness continued ’till near Three o’clock, when it gradually grew lighter and lighter ’till the Light became as usual. The Inhabitants were obliged to dine by the Light of the Candle. . . . Such a Phaenomenon was never before seen here by the oldest Person living. We have already heard of its extent as far as Greenwich, in the State of Rhode-Island, and as far as Portsmouth, in the state of New-Hampshire, which is about 120 miles.
The same day a more informed reporter explained that rain had brought down smoke from burning trees. But, he said, the smoke was the secondary cause. The primary cause must be imputed to God, as an “omen of some future destruction that may overwhelm this land like a deluge, unless a speedy repentance should immediately take place” (Boston Independent Chronicle, May 22, 1780). Several days later a more sanguine reporter simply stated the facts, describing the buildup of the smoke “from the woods which had been burning for many days” (Boston Continental Journal, May 25, 1780).
The dramatic event must have lain in public consciousness for a long time. A tornado in eastern Connecticut caused a darkness that “equalled, if not exceeded, that of the dark day in 1780” and recollections of the “dark day” caught public attention as late as the 1890s ([Worcester] Massachusetts Gazette, September 1, 1786; [Bennington] Vermont Gazette, May 25, 1830; Barre [MA] Patriot, February 4, 1853; Weekly [Prescott] Arizona Miner, August 2, 1878; Dallas Morning News, December 31, 1899). While one prose broadside amplifying the presaged doom did appear soon after the event, a spate of dire lyrics did not ensue, probably because it was so quickly explained (Kennedy; Chapman).
The text on this broadside is in ballad meter. It may have been written well after the event and appeared in at least five similar editions. At first it was entitled A Few Lines Composed on the Dark Day of May 19, 1780 but for this edition was shortened to the more dramatic On the Dark Day. It is an evangelical expression in which the explanation of what actually happened is conveniently left out. The text briefly mentions the sensational event but goes on at length playing on the superstitions of the reader. “The sun’s decline may be a sign / Some great event is nigh” (verse 3). The writer calls on people to forsake their sins, reassuring them that those “that doth to Jesus come” need not fear.
