Major funding for backstory is provided by the Anonymous Donor, the National

Dowment for the Humanities, the University of Virginia, the Joseph and Robert

Cornell Memorial Foundation, and the Arthur Vining Davis foundations.

From the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, this is backstory.

Welcome to Backstory, the show that explains the history behind today's headlines.

I'm Brian Ballot. I'm Joanne Freeman. And I'm Ed Ayers.

We're going to start the show today on a very strange day in May of 1780.

In the middle of the morning, the sun just disappeared from the sky.

Here's an account from Boston. Those who had good eyesight could scarcely see to

read Common Print, and it was the judgment of many that at about 12 o'clock,

the daylight was not greater if so great as that of bright moonlight.

Across New England, people gazed up at the darkened sky with fear and wonder.

They gathered for their midday meal in a murky gloom,

night birds sang through the afternoon. Those who tried to read found they couldn't make out the print.

In Connecticut, the legislative assembly was in the middle of a session,

and as the light left the sky, plenty of lawmakers thought it was time to wrap up

the discussion of fishing regulations. The Senator Abraham Davenport

calmly called for candles. The day of judgment is either approaching

or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause of an adjournment. If it is,

I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish therefore that candles be brought.

Finally, in the late afternoon, the darkness began to lift, but the relief didn't last

very long. When the moon rose that night, it was blood red.

...