1864 Atlantic hurricane season
The decade of 1860 featured the 1860-1869 Atlantic hurricane seasons. While data for every storm that occurred is unavailable, some parts of the coastline were populated enough to give data of hurricane occurrences. Each season was an ongoing event in the annual cycle of tropical cyclone formation. They officially began on June 1 and ended on November 30.
1860 Atlantic Hurricane Season
In the northeastern Gulf of Mexico a tropical storm formed on August 8th. It strengthened to a hurricane the next day while moving westward. As it became a major hurricane on the 11th, it turned more northerly, striking the southeastern Louisiana coast on the 12th. It hit Mississippi the next day, and weakened to a tropical storm over Alabama. The storm continued eastward, reaching the Atlantic Ocean on the 14th. The storm restrengthened to a 60 mph tropical storm, and was last seen on the 16th. The hurricane caused 47 deaths in Louisiana.
A Category 2 hurricane moved west-northwestward across the Gulf of Mexico, first reported on September 11th. It turned northeastward, hitting southeastern Louisiana on the 15th, followed by a southern Mississippi landfall later that day. The storm dissipated over western Alabama, after drowning several people in Louisiana and causing $1 million in damage.
Louisiana wasn't done yet. A tropical storm first was seen on September 30th north of the Yucatan Peninsula. It moved generally northward, strengthening to a Category 2 hurricane before hitting the south central coast of Louisiana on October 2nd. It dissipated over northern Mississippi the next day.
1861 Atlantic Hurricane Season
A late season tropical storm first appeared in the southeast Gulf of Mexico on November 1st. It moved quickly northeastward, reaching hurricane strength on the 2nd. It crossed the Outer Banks that day, weakening to a tropical storm that night. It continued its direction, making landfall on Massachusetts on the 3rd. It dissipated that day, after causing 33 casualties. This is known as the Expedition Hurricane, named after the expedition by "the largest fleet of warships and transports ever assembled". This was a Union fleet trying to attack the Confederacy, occurring during the Civil War.
1862 Atlantic Hurricane Season
While there were 6 storms this season, only one affected any landmass as a tropical system; a tropical storm hitting the Lesser Antilles.
1863 Atlantic Hurricane Season
A hurricane was first seen on August 19th in the western Atlantic. It turned northwestward, causing heavy rains and damage to the Outer Banks but remaining offshore. It turned northeastward, hitting the south coast of Nova Scotia before losing its tropical characteristics on the 23rd. It caused 80 deaths.
In addition, a possible tropical system existed on May 26th, causing damage and 37 deaths in the northeast Gulf of Mexico.
1864 Atlantic Hurricane Season
While there were 5 storms this season, only one affected any landmass as a tropical system; a hurricane hitting Belize.
1865 Atlantic Hurricane Season
A hurricane was first observed east of the Lesser Antilles on September 6th. It moved across the islands, maintaining its 100 mph strength across the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. While in the Gulf, it turned more northward, hitting southwestern Louisiana. It caused 25 deaths.
1866 Atlantic Hurricane Season
A classical Cape Verde-type hurricane was first observed on September 24th off the coast of Africa. It headed west-northwestward, reaching major hurricane strength north of the Lesser Antilles on the 29th. As it neared the Bahamas it strengthened to a 140 mph Category 4 hurricane, causing widespread damage across the islands. It recurved out to sea without affecting any other landmasses. The last report on the system was on October 5th, after resulting in 387 casualties.
1867 Atlantic Hurricane Season
A hurricane was first detected in the western Gulf of Mexico on October 2nd. It followed a path similar to Racer's Storm; paralleling the Texas coast, remaining offshore, and hitting southern Louisiana. It continued eastward, hitting Florida as a Category 1, and moving out to sea on the 9th. It caused around a million dollars in damage, with "many lives lost".
On October 27th, a tropical storm was first detected east of the northern Lesser Antilles. It moved westward, becoming a hurricane on the 28th, and a major hurricane on the 29th. It reached its peak of 125 mph just before hitting St. Thomas. It weakened slightly prior to its Puerto Rico landfall on the 29th, decreasing its winds further over the island. It hit Hispanola on the 30th, and dissipated that day over the island's high mountains. The hurricane caused 811 deaths.
1868 Atlantic Hurricane Season
While there were 4 storms this season, only one affected any landmass; a tropical storm that caused structual damage in southeastern Louisiana in October.
1869 Atlantic Hurricane Season
A Category 2 hurricane moved across the Gulf of Mexico, hitting the lower Texas coast on August 17th. Most of the damage that occurred came from storm surge.
A hurricane was first observed northeast of the Bahamas on September 7th. It strengthened to a Category 3 on the 8th, and it retained that intensity until its Rhode Island landfall on the 9th. It dissipated over northern Maine that night. The hurricane caused a great deal of damage in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Maine, but only caused one reported death.
Saxby Gale
On October 4th, a hurricane was first observed east of South Carolina. It moved rapidly northeastward, hitting Cape Cod on the 5th and Maine later that day. It turned northeastward, dissipating over northern New Brunswick that night. The storm caused widespread damage, as well as 37 deaths.
The storm is known as the Saxby Gale because of a prediction by Stephen Martin Saxby on December 25, 1868.
"I now beg leave to the state, with regard to 1869, that at seven a.m., on October 5, the moon will be at that part of her orbit which is nearest to the earth. Her attraction will, therefore, be at its maximum force. At noon of the same day the moon will be on the earth's equator, a circumstance which never occurs without mark atmospheric disturbance, and at two p.m. of the same day lines drawn from the earth center would cut the sun and moon in the same arc of right ascension (the moon's attraction and the sun's attraction will therefore be acting in the same direction); in other words, the new moon will be on the earth's equator when in perigee, and nothing more threatening can, I say, occur without miracle. (The earth, it is true, will not be in perihelion and by some 16 or 17 seconds of semi-diameter.)"
However, he gave no mention of the location of the storm. Another person, Frederick Allison, gave detail of where and when it was going to hit. Nonetheless, when the storm actually happened, more remembered Saxby's prediction.