A powerful earthquake shocked the Roosevelts awake at 2:15 in the morning.  It was intense enough to be felt on the East Coast, and they were only about 200 miles from the epicenter. Aftershocks continued through the night, and at 7:15 there was another almost as violent as the first.  A man on a boat near their location wrote of his group's "trembling anxiety, supposing all was over with us." When the sun finally rose, they could see the damage: riverbanks fallen in, trees knocked over or uprooted, and "the ground cracked and torn to pieces in such a way as made it truly alarming."

(The New Orleans' location on this day is extrapolated based on her average speed between recorded locations.)