The Sultana disaster remains an unresolved tragedy and the worst in American maritime history. Captain Frederic Speed, a Union officer who sent the 1,953 paroled prisoners into Vicksburg from the parole camp, was charged with grossly overcrowding Sultana and found guilty. The Sultana's captain and its chief engineer also allowed a mechanic to make a quick and inadequate repair to a damaged boiler, Potter says. Vicksburg was a cesspool of crooked, corrupt, Union officers in 1865, Potter said. Most of the victims were recently-released Union POWs returning north from the Civil War. "A few weeks earlier, he might have been attacking the Sultana if it had come in.". [4]:40, Although Hatch had suggested that Mason might get as many as 1,400 released Union prisoners, a mix-up with the parole camp books and suspicion of bribery from other steamboat captains caused the Union officer in charge of the loading, Captain George Augustus Williams, to place every man at the parole camp on board Sultana, believing the number to be less than 1,500. Jerry O. Potter, author of The Sultana Tragedy, tells the tragic story of the men of the 6th Kentucky Cavalry. No rescue efforts were really undertaken until two or three hours later when survivors started driftingto the riverfront in Memphis, Potter said. Notice how overcrowded the decks are. It began with a small guard unit known as the Saal-Schutz ("Hall Security") made up of party . The commercial paddle-wheel steamboat, SS Sultana, was first launched in 1863, its primary purpose to transport cotton between St. Louis and New Orleans. Further back, the collapsing decks formed a slope that led down into the exposed furnace boxes. The areas between the many flues clogged easily, especially since dirty river water carried much sediment, and were difficult to clean. The two smokestacks toppled down upon the now burning decks, crushing many. April 27, 1865 SS Sultana - Today in History The Sultana ' s captain know one of the four boilers was leaking and not safe, he says, yet officials ignored the danger . University of West Alabama Abstract This is one of the chapters from our Fall 2018 Kendall Hunt release of Disasters that Shaped Emergency Management. Already weakened by terms in captivity, they died by the hundreds of drowning, or hypothermia. The disaster was overshadowed in the press by events surrounding the end of the Civil War, including the killing of President Abraham Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth just the day before. I told myself Id publish 365. Already massively top heavy, the riverboat now lurched from side to side with every turn. Why? After the last survivor died in 1936, the children and grandchildren of survivors who had grown up listening to the incredible survival stories of their forefathers picked up the tradition. Without a pilot to steer the boat, Sultana became a drifting, burning hulk. During the end of Civil War in America many prisoners of war, held by Confederacy in prison camps were getting paroled and needed to be transferred back to North. It was he who sent 2,100 prisoners from their parole camp into Vicksburg, but his conviction was later overturned. Evidence like that may have led the government to downplay the Sultana tragedy, Potter says. "They had survived prison in one of the most hideous places the South had. Survivors panicked and raced for the safety of the water, but in their weakened condition, they soon ran out of strength and began to cling to each other. The SS Sultana. Thats what well never know, Potter said. Show your pride in battlefield preservation by shopping in our store. In the year 1865, following the culmination of the civil war, steamer vessels of the ilk of the Sultana were utilised to ferry the captured Northern army men to dock facilities in the Northern provinces. More than six times her legal limit of 376. Fire, drowning and exposure would kill many hundreds more. So on the 150th anniversary of the sinking, the city of Marion, Ark., is trying to make sure the Sultana will be remembered. A lot of them were young, never given an opportunity. Loaded with POWs, it carried close to 2,500 people on that give day. 2022 Mike Sirota | Designed by Media Fastlanes, Imagine that youre a Union soldier imprisoned by the Confederacy during the Civil War. Watch the full episode. Then, there was the improper handling of a damaged boiler. Stories, reports and tips on tourist attractions and odd sights in Tennessee. Before reaching Vicksburg, one of its four boilers began leaking. On April 24, 1865, the Sultana loaded for its trip north. No portion of this document may be reproduced, copied or revised without written permission of the authors. My father would have never been born. (LogOut/ It took two hours for help to arrive, and by then, most of the passengers who survived the explosion had drowned. The Mississippi River was experiencing high water levels as melting snow from up north flooded its banks. Both groups met as close to the April 27 anniversary date as possible, corresponded with each other, and shared the title National Sultana Survivors' Association. Sultana launched on January 3, 1863, the fifth steamboat to bear the name. The Unforgettable Maritime Accident of SS Sultana - Marine Insight "Built in Cincinnati, Ohio, in early 1863 for Captain Preston Lodwick, the 260-foot-long Sultana was reported to be 'one of the largest and best steamers ever constructed.' John Lowrey A lot of family trees have a fork connected in some way to the Civil War. The Sultana steamed north up the Mississippi, but the severe overcrowding and faster river current caused by the spring thaw put increased pressure on its newly patched boilers. He wrote further that the fortunate ones clung to debris in the river, or to horses and mules that had escaped the boat, hoping to make it to shore, which they could not see because it was dark and the flooded river was at that point almost five miles wide.. Captain Williams, the officer who actually put all those people onboard, was a West Point graduate and regular army officer. Each fire-tube boiler was 18 feet (5.5m) long and 46 inches (120cm) in diameter and contained 24 five-inch (13cm) flues which ran from the firebox to the chimney.[3]. Historian John Burke has estimated that 233 boiler explosions occurred on steamboats between 1816 and 1848. But amid the wreckage of the Sultana disaster, they were on each others sides. For instance, Mary Beth Mason, the granddaughter of Sultana survivor William Carter Warner, remembers his bravery today. John Covode,of the War Committee, furnishes the following information relative to the Sultana disaster: No troops of States east of Ohio were lost. The small wooden steamboat typically carried a crew of 85 and was intended for cotton transport before it was commissioned to transport troops instead. The captain was paid for each passenger he could pack on board (He did not survive). Throughout the 19th century, the Mississippi River was crowded with steamboats transporting both people and goods from one end to the other. "The boat had a legal carrying capacity of 376 passengers," he says, "and on its up-river trip it had over 2,500 aboard," in part because the government had agreed to pay $5 for each enlisted man and $10 for each officer who made the trip. An estimated 1,800 men were lost by the Sultana. Many bodies were never recovered. Stopping in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Mason was approached by the city's quartermaster, Reuben Hatch, with an interesting proposition. Instead, newspaper accounts say Franklin Barton saved several Union soldiers. To this day, Mason holds on to her late grandfathers official survivors certificate that he received in September 1888 from the Sultana Survivors Association. On April 27, 1865, the United States experiences its worst maritime disaster in history. She was a sidewheel Mississippi steamboat carrying nearly 2,000 released Union prisoners-of-war back north at the end of the Civil War. Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. No one was held accountable. The city has created a museum and is hosting events intended to bring attention to the tragedy. "The river is at flood stage," he says as we watch a barge struggle to move up river, "very similar to what it was on April 27, 1865." ", Discovery Gives New Ending To A Death At The Civil War's Close. I do this because I want to. Most of Sultana's officers, including Captain Mason, were among those who perished.[8]. Sign up to receive the latest information on the American Battlefield Trust's efforts to blaze The Liberty Trail in South Carolina. . Who Was John Wilkes Booth Before He Became Lincoln's Assassin. Remember the Sultana (2018) - IMDb Cast & crew User reviews Trivia IMDbPro All topics Remember the Sultana 2018 1h 36m IMDb RATING 7.3 /10 201 YOUR RATING Rate Documentary History The Sultana was a river boat that exploded in 1865 killing many passengers, mostly Union Soldiers. Near midnight, Sultana left Memphis, leaving behind about 200 men. On April 24, 1865, three steamboats stood ready in Vicksburg, Mississippi, to take on former POWs. Constructed of wood in 1863 by the John Litherbury Boatyard [1] in Cincinnati, Ohio, Sultana was intended for the lower Mississippi cotton trade. The United States Customs Service records an official count of 1,800 killed, though the true number will never be known. The force of the explosion hurled hundreds into the icy black water. Wartime transport was big business. The sidewheel steamboat Sultana left New Orleans with about 100 passengers and a few head of livestock, pulling into Vicksburg Mississippi on the 21st to repair a damaged boiler and pick up a promised load of passengers. The Federal government was paying $5 each to anyone bringing enlisted troops home, and $10 apiece for officers. Many of them instantly died from shrapnel, steam, and the boiling water released from the explosion. But these explanations have not stopped internet sleuths and their imaginations from running amok. Because your northward journey up the Mississippi River is aboard the ill-fated, Stopping in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Mason was approached by the citys quartermaster, Reuben Hatch, with an interesting proposition. An engraving of the Sultana explosion, published in Harpers Weekly, May 20, 1865. SS Sultana Accident. There were so many mistakes that could have been prevented by government oversight, it is possible that officials wanted to keep things quiet. Captain J. Cass Mason declined, for fear of losing his passengers. At the time of the explosion, the Mississippi would have been teeming with traffic. The Explosion of the SS Sultana - Audible.com Try My Sights, Roadside America app for iPhone, iPad. It stopped at Vicksburg, Mississippi, for repair of a leaky boiler. Library of Congress SS Sultana: The Greatest Maritime Disaster in U.S. History At the same time, dozens of people began to float past the Memphis waterfront, calling for help until they were noticed by the crews of docked steamboats and U.S. warships, who immediately set about rescuing the survivors. I'm not a "Historian". Captain Mason, lured by the promise of a handsome payday, seized the opportunity and accepted a bribe from an officer to transport as many paroled Union prisoners as he could fit onto the Sultana. Stanley Phillip Lord (13 September 1877 - 24 January 1962) was captain of the SS Californian, the nearest ship to the Titanic on the night it sank on 15 April 1912, and, depending on which sources are believed, likely the only ship to see the Titanic, or at least its rockets (also known as flares), during the sinking.. Lord, and the Californian more generally, have been criticised for the . by mike | Sep 20, 2021 | Death, Disasters, Uncategorized | 0 comments. Jul 23 22 # Qns 10 Difficulty Average Avg Score 7 / 10 Plays 401 Awards Top 35% Quiz Last 3 plays: dmaxst ( 9/10 ), Guest 47 ( 9/10 ), ncterp ( 10/10 ). By comparison, the Titanic was 882 feet long and 11 . "We feel like we're a part of this Civil War story, but we're the conclusion that no one heard," says Lisa O'Neal, a Marion resident and member of the Sultana Historic Preservation Society. When the tragedy struck, Warner managed to swim to the shore of the Mississippi River. [4]:12 On the morning of April 15, she was tied up at Cairo, Illinois, when word reached the city that U.S. President Abraham Lincoln had been shot in Washington, D.C. Trip Planning Caution: RoadsideAmerica.com offers maps, directions and attraction details as a convenience, providing all information as is. [4]:146147,168176, Passengers who survived the initial explosion had to risk their lives in the icy spring runoff of the Mississippi or burn with the boat. And many of them were saved by local residents, like John Fogelman an ancestor of the city of Marion's current mayor, Frank Fogelman. The Sultana traveled up river for two days, fighting one of the worst spring floods in the Mississippi's history. The Sultana was a 260-foot-long wooden steamboat, built in Cincinnati in 1863, which regularly transported passengers and freight between St. Louis and New Orleans on the Mississippi River. SS Sultana - Tragedy on the River Quiz - Fun Trivia By 1 a.m. the Sultana headed north again. A depiction of the devastating explosion. At 2:00 a.m. on April 27, 1865, when the boat was seven miles above Memphis, her boilers exploded. A further mixup with paper meant that the boat's capacity ballooned from the legal 376 to over 2300 passengers. In all, over 2,100 people were crammed onto the Sultana, way beyond capacity when it departed Vicksburg on the night of April 24. And it was very cold. Since there was no accurate record of all those aboard, identifying the number of dead proved difficult. Called the "Titanic of the Mississippi," the tragedy of the SS Sultana was the greatest maritime disaster in U.S. history. Ultimately, no one was charged for the deaths of those on board the Sultana, even after an investigation and military tribunal was held. The Sultanas captain knew one of the four boilers was leaking and not safe, he says, yet officials ignored the danger. Although the mechanic wanted to cut out and replace a ruptured seam, Mason knew such a job would take a few days and cost him his precious load of prisoners. [7] Many died of drowning or hypothermia. Change). These fellows felt history forgot about them Were following the wishes of the original survivors to keep the story alive.. He says the boat was overloaded, her registered capacity being 376 passengers. The Shipwreck That Led Confederate Veterans To Risk All For Union - NPR In April of 1865, shortly after the assassination of President Lincoln, the vessel, under the command of Captain James Mason, headed south, bound for New Orleans. When I came to my senses I found myself surrounded by wreckage, and in the midst of smoke and fire, wrote one Ohio soldier in a collection of survivor essays titled, Loss of the Sultana and Reminiscences of Survivors. He could have died on the Sultana, but he didntOf course, its important in my family. Steve Sabol, NFL Films. The Sultana made it only a few miles north of Memphis. Credit: Library of Congress Photo Collection, 1840-2000/Ancestry.com, April 27, 1865, Helena, Arkansas. The Sultana Ship Disaster - This is a real photograph of the overcrowded Sultana near Helena, Arkansas taken on April 26th 1865. Fallen trees and other debris mixed into the fast-moving waterways. Like they never even happened. On April 21, with 70 paying passengers and a crew of 85, The, Battling one of the worst floods in the history of the Mississippi River, the, The final death toll from the tragedy of the, Throwback Thursday: Guilty PleasuresTHE HURRICANE HEIST, My Planet Just ExplodedLets Get Married!, Throwback Thursday: Blowing Shit UpThe Fallen Films, Myths And Legends: The Point Lookout Lighthouse. The power of the boilers came with risk - the water levels in the fire tubes had to be carefully maintained at all times. And the boat was filled with enlisted men primarily men who really hadn't made a mark in history or a mark in life." Why Nobody Remembers America's Worst Maritime Disaster April | 27 Choose another date 1865 Union soldiers die in steamship explosion The steamboat Sultana explodes on the Mississippi River near Memphis, killing 1,700 passengers including many. The force of the explosion hurled hundreds into the icy black water. Such a terrible, awful disaster. On-route maps, 1,000s of photos, special research targets! Thousands of recently released Union prisoners now occupied a parole camp outside Vicksburg. Captain James Mason and many of his officers were among the dead. Subscribe to the American Battlefield Trust's quarterly email series of curated stories for the curious-minded sort! Wikimedia CommonsA plaque in Memphis remembers the victims aboard the Sultana. The men located around the twin openings quickly crawled under the wreckage and down the main stairs. [4]:79 First one boiler exploded, followed a split-second later by two more. This is a book of about 25 case studies that. Hatch could guarantee up to 1,400 men, and of course he would receive a kickback. Some theorize that the ship was deliberately blown up by vengeful Confederates, but most believe that a boiler exploded. The report blamed quartermaster Capt. I mean, the war was almost 10 days from being over when they were captured.. The boat was 260 feet long and had an authorized capacity of 376 passengers and crew. Thats crazy three months after the last survivor died, Pearl Harbor got bombed. After a few Union gunboats filled up their bunkers but refused to pay, the farmer supposedly hollowed out a log, filled it with gunpowder, and then left the lethal log on his woodpile. For two years, she ran a regular route between St. Louis and New Orleans and was frequently commissioned to carry troops during the American Civil War. An estimated 1,800 people died in the explosion and ensuing fire more than died in the sinking of the Titanic . A widowed history geek and sometimes curmudgeon, who still likes to learn new things. The name "Sultana" is derived from the original Arabic word for a wife, mother, or sister of a sultan. James Cass Mason, King's German Legion "Blues in the Water" tells a stylized version of the, This page was last edited on 29 April 2023, at 19:15. Although it was designed to only hold 376 persons, more than 2,000 Union troops were crowded onto the steamboat - more than five times its legal carrying capacity. "And the entire center of the boat erupted like a volcano.". On its up-river trip, it had over 2,500 aboard.. The letters reside in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. After the disaster, Reuben Benton Hatch refused three separate subpoenas to appear before Captain Speed's trial and give testimony. As the men were being loaded onto the vessel, a mechanic hired by Mason to repair the boiler reported that a seam had ruptured and needed to be replaced. The Sultana, a 250-foot-long steamboat built in Cincinnati in 1863, was designed to carry only 376 passengers. Directors Mark Marshall Mike Marshall Writers Brendan Hedges When the boat tipped the other way, water rushing back into the empty boiler would hit the hot spots and flash instantly to steam, creating a sudden surge in pressure. 3) The design of the boilers. The SS Sultana | WVTF It is also about a rescue effort that brought together people who had been at war just weeks earlier. There was a big competition among the boats to get a load of prisoners, Potter said. Hatch could guarantee up to 1,400 men, and of course he would receive a kickback. The American Battlefield Trust is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. [8], In 2015, on the 150th anniversary of the disaster, an interim Sultana Disaster Museum was opened in Marion, Arkansas, the closest town to the buried remains of the steamboat,[citation needed] across the Mississippi River from Memphis. A more extreme conspiracy posits that the whole incident had been a part of a master plan concocted by the Confederacy to sabotage Unionists on board. [32], In 1982, a local archaeological expedition, led by Memphis attorney Jerry O. Potter, uncovered what was believed to be the wreckage of Sultana. In April 1865, the Civil War was all but over. Federal Identification Number (EIN): 54-1426643. On April 21, Sultana left New Orleans with about seventy cabin and deck passengers and a small amount of livestock. Imagine that youre a Union soldier imprisoned by the Confederacy during the Civil War. Chugging up the muddy Mississippi River in the spring of 1865, the SS Sultana steamer was dangerously overcrowded, carrying 2,300 Union soldiers just released from prison camps in the South. Battling one of the worst floods in the history of the Mississippi River, the Sultana arrived in Memphis on the night of April 26. "They had survived war," O'Neal says. For the descendants of Sultana survivors like Mary Beth Mason, keeping the memory of what happened alive is an important way to honor their ancestors. This monument is located in Marion, Arkansas. Apparently, Captain Mason and his chief engineer ordered one of their mechanics to do a quick (and likely faulty) repair in order to resume their voyage on the river. An estimated 1,800 passengers died. But perhaps the best explanation is that after years of bloody conflict, the nation was simply tired of hearing about war and death. Others that survived the steam, the fire, and all else aboard the doomed paddle-boat either drowned or died of hypothermia in the icy waters of the river. [4]:50,5556 Although Sultana had a legal capacity of only 376, by the time she backed away from Vicksburg on the night of April 24, she was severely overcrowded with over 1,953 paroled prisoners, 22 guards from the 58th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, over 70 fare-paying cabin passengers, and 85 crew members, for a total of 2,130 people.

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