the Peshtigo fire in 1871 is the worst in US history and happened the same day as the great Chicago fire, but nobody recalls this one. Six years after the end of the Civil War, my paternal great grandparents lived in Wisconsin, approx 150 miles south of Peshtigo & at the time, had 6 children. My grandfather wouldn't be born for another decade, they left WI soon after he was born. Imagine having all those kids, your husband getting drafted for the Civil war & then this hell storm of fires, seemingly everywhere. I would have got the hell out of Dodge also (Dodge Co, WI)