Ober the course of two October days in 1871, much of the city of Chicago was destroyed by one of the most devastating urban fires in history. Close to one-third of residents were left homeless and more were instantly unemployed, though the death toll was miraculously low. Chronicling the city's rapid growth and sudden destruction, Carl Smith's history of the fire—encompassing such figures as General Philip Sheridan and Robert Todd Lincoln—became one of equally remarkable renewal, as Chicago quickly rose from the ashes.