It was an eerie summer morning in 1855. Before the sun had risen, it seemed like every man, woman, and child in Portsmouth was on the move.
Horses loaded with bags, porters laden with trunks, wheelbarrows, carts, suitcases, boxes, and entire families scurried together in amoeba-like blobs. Parents almost ran as they dragged their small children by their hands toward the wharf.
Cart wheels rattled over cobblestones, dogs barked, neighbors hollered as they bustled, creating a swirling cacophony of fright. A whole town, fleeing from something, unsure of what, their faces filled with fear…