A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness.

Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide.

[1] The path of totality was visible from parts of modern-day eastern Russia, Alaska, western Canada, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

He told the Chilkat Indians that he was anxious to observe a total eclipse of the sun that was predicted to occur the following day, August 7.

[2] A photographic expedition was organized by Philadelphia's Henry Morton under the authority of John H. C. Coffin, U.S.N., Superintendent of the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac.

The expedition observed the eclipse in Iowa at three stations: Burlington, Mount Pleasant, and Ottumwa, under the respective supervisions of Alfred M. Mayer, Henry Morton, and Charles Francis Himes (1838–1918).

[3] Observations were also made by meteorology pioneers Cleveland Abbe and General Albert Myer, in Dakota Territory and Virginia, respectively.