[22], In 1903, another person reported that Sultana had been sabotaged by a Tennessee farmer who lived along the river and cut wood for passing steamboats. The steamboat needed a lot of steam power to pull away from the shore. All 25 soldiers were rescued, historians say, and the Fogelman home became a refuge for Sultana survivors. As the crew made sure the cargo was packed tightly, the captain blew the whistle. Group, a Graham Holdings Company. Late in April of 1865, the Mississippi stood at flood stage. The Slate Group LLC. Explosion and Burning of the Steamboat Teche on the Mississippi River, May 5, 1825., Explosion of the Helen McGregor, At Memphis, Tennessee, February 24, 1830., Terrific Explosion of the Steamboat Ben Franklin, at Mobile, Alabama, March 13, 1836.. "It won't move!" Yet Captain Mason of the Sultana, and Captain Reuben Hatch, the chief quartermaster at Vicksburg, saw no problem in crowding as many men as possible on board the boat, hoping to reap the biggest profit possible. [13] The dead soldiers were interred at the Fort Pickering cemetery, located on the south shore of Memphis. Sign up to get updates about new releases and event invitations. Steamboats should not have been racing each other, but it happened all the time, and the public loved it! Library of Congress Today, Potter describes the scene from a park along the banks of the Mississippi, just north of Memphis. The train . On April 21, Sultana left New Orleans with about seventy cabin and deck passengers and a small amount of livestock. However, Courtenay's great-great-grandson, Joseph Thatcher, who wrote a book on Courtenay and the coal torpedo, denies that a coal torpedo was used in the Sultana disaster. In his book River of Dark Dreams, historian Walter Johnson writes that the table of contents of Lloyds bestseller was sort of a nightmare poem of alphabetized Americana: a catalog of 97 major and hundreds of minor boat disasters. Publisher James T. Lloyd's 1856 book Lloyd's Steamboat Directory, and Disasters on the Western Waters, is illustrated by 32 woodcuts of explosions, fires, and foundering ships, chronicling a. [5] About ten hours south of Vicksburg, one of Sultana's four boilers sprang a leak. At some places, the river overflowed the banks and spread out three miles wide. Recollections of a Rebel ReeferVol. . It seemed that profit was the driving factor for most steamboat owners and captains. All contents No one seemed to question the danger of a steamboat race until there was an accident or the boilers exploded. An estimated four hundred people were on board the Princess when it pulled out into the current of the river after 9 a.m. Because the boat was late, high boiler pressure had been maintained during the stop, and second engineer Peter Hersey was reported to have declared that he would make it to New Orleans on time if he had to blow her up. As a portent of the looming catastrophe, the Mississippi River was veiled in a dense fog. Flatboats and keelboats carried cargo down the river. Among other St. Louisans along for the ride was Capt. In the end, no one was ever held accountable for what remains the deadliest maritime disaster in United States history. ", 15th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company, Judge Advocate General of the United States Army, "Sultana: A Tragic Postscript to the Civil War", https://www.nationalboard.org/SiteDocuments/General%20Meeting/Jennings.pdf, "The Sultana Disaster (Coal Torpedo theory)", http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/investigation/civil-war-sabotage/, Sultana museum in Arkansas memorializes 1,169 people who died in river, "Surviving the Worst: The Wreck of the Sultana at the End of the American Civil War", "Blues in the Water, by King's German Legion", "Ardent Presents: Cory Branan "The Wreck of the Sultana", "Remember the Sultana | Film Threat - Part 2", Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1865, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sultana_(steamboat)&oldid=1152358259, Articles with incomplete citations from April 2022, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2018, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Initially Capt. A look back at today in history as seen through our archives. (Post-Dispatch). The May 9, 1989 the Des Moines Register newspaper listed 40 known sunken steamboats from the southwest corner of Iowa north just over 100 miles to Sioux City. Capt. William "Buck" Leyhe, who had sold Eagle Packet Co. the year before, waits for rescue on Grand Tower Island after the Golden Eagle sank. Author Q&ADestruction of the Steamboat Sultana, Fred Schultz has been in the publishing business since 1980 and was editor-in-chief of. The sediment tended to settle on the bottom of the boilers or clog between the flues and leave hotspots. The city of Marion is the closest city to the wreck site and is also the home to a number of descendants of people who aided in the rescue of the Sultana victims. No one seemed to question the danger of a steamboat race until there was an accident or . Introduced in 1848, they could generate twice as much steam per fuel load as conventional boilers. Soldiers from Kentucky and Tennessee were among the first to die, he says, "because they'd been packed in next to the boilers. "And the shrapnel, the steam and the boiling water killed hundreds.". Most of its 91 passengers and crew were asleep. The temporary museum it has created near City Hall includes pictures, personal items from soldiers, pieces of the Sultana, and a 14-foot replica of the boat. The Tricky Missouri River and the Steamboat Bertrand, The First Bridge Over the Mississippi and the Effie Afton, Majestic Riverboat Reigned on the Mississippi, Simulated travel guide describing travel conditions in Iowa from 1830 to 1879, Personal accounts from a steamboat captain describing life on the Mississippi transporting lumber, Article describes the history of steamboats in Iowa City in the 1800s, Transcribed official records, newspaper clippings, historical accounts and diary entries about life on the Mississippi River, Transcribed official records, newspaper clippings, historical accounts and diary entries about life on the Missouri River, Audio story about the last riverboat gambling cruise of the Mississippi Belle II in 2007, Ginalie Swaim Ed., Steaming Up the River,. In 1857, The Nebraska City Advertiser newspaper listed 46 steamboats traveling the Missouri, with 12 more being built. Most were Union soldiers, newly released from Confederate prison camps. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Dropping water levels could cause hot spots leading to metal fatigue, significantly increasing the risk of an explosion. "Lincoln had just been assassinated. The most terrible steamboat disaster in history was probably the loss of the Sultana in 1865. Privacy Policy. The ship, which archaeologists. FS: Given the mistrust of any reporting from the press in some parts of our society today, how reliable would you say the reporting on these disasters was back in its day? "All them boys . An interview with author Gene Eric Salecker. Using steam power, riverboats were developed during that time which could navigate in shallow waters as well as upriver against strong currents. However, Louden's claim is controversial, and most scholars support the official explanation. A crew member fished liquor bottles from the half-flooded bar. Preston Lodwick, then a consortium including Capt. The Montana was a Mississippi and Missouri River stern-wheel steamboat, one of three "mega-steamboats" built in 1879 during the steamboat era on the Missouri. On the Mississippi river, it was four to five years." "There were about 289 steamboats that sank or possibly more on the Missouri River in the mid-19th century," Rose said. [21], Two years earlier, in May 1886, came a claim that 2nd Lt. James Worthington Barrett, an ex-prisoner and passenger on the steamboat, had caused the explosion. Only six years before, it had foundered in the river near Chester, Ill., with one crew member lost. She then went a short distance upriver to take on a new load of coal from some coal barges and then, at about 1:00 AM, started north again. In support of Louden's claim, what appeared to be a piece of an artillery shell was said to be recovered from the sunken wreck. Example: Yes, I would like to receive emails from 64 Parishes. There is no apparent motive for him to have blown up the boat, especially while on board. {{start_at_rate}} {{format_dollars}} {{start_price}} {{format_cents}} {{term}}, {{promotional_format_dollars}}{{promotional_price}}{{promotional_format_cents}} {{term}}, Cardinals send prized prospect Jordan Walker to Class AAA in curious series of moves, Rudderless ship of chaos: St. Louis judge advances Kim Gardner contempt case, What Oliver Marmols gamble in ninth vs. LA reveals about managing to spark Cardinals, How sending Jordan Walker to Class AAA is a bet clarity can correct muddled outfield: Cardinals Extra, Messenger: Kim Gardner drives the judicial bus over her employees and into the ditch, A closer on ice. A potential reader should care about this story because it shows that greed and corruption in the government is not a new thing. Since then, he says, studying the Sultana has become an obsession. Without a pilot to steer the boat, Sultana became a drifting, burning hulk. Bad storms hit the river in the summer. The forward part of the upper deck collapsed onto the middle deck, killing and trapping many in the wreckage. The last Iowa steamboat to carry goods was the coal fired sternwheeler the Loan Star in 1967. Then the captain did his best to steer around the dead trees, but sometimes they were hidden underwater. There were 10 passengers on board. 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. Hersey and many others died instantly in a blast of scalding steam. Since the US government was paying steamboat captains a dividend to carry the prisoners back north, Captain Hatch and the captain of the Sultana worked out a deal whereby Hatch would guarantee a large load of ex-prisoners for the Sultana in exchange for a kickback of the government funds from Captain Mason. [4]:2728, Upon reaching Vicksburg, Mississippi, Mason was approached by Captain Reuben Hatch, the chief quartermaster at Vicksburg, with a proposal. Long before Kanesville or Council Bluffs were settlements on the Missouri river, the steamboat the Western Engineer arrived in the area in 1819. I copied everything I could find, even though I may never use the material. Everyone escaped to the muddy, isolated safety of Grand Tower Island. Irregular river depth, sandbars and snags made steamboat travel on the Missouri slow and dangerous. More and more government documents are coming online every day, so it is now quick and easy to make a search for needed information. SS Sultana:The steamboat was bound for St. Louis in April 1865 when the boilers failed right above Memphis, 13 days after President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. They tended to report what others thought these findings meant, but they very rarely added their own input, one way or another. William "Buck" Lehye, who sold the Golden Eagle one year before, and Mrs. Frank Lind, a lifelong fancier of steamboat travel. BNSF Railway says two of three locomotives and "an unknown number of cars carrying freights of all kinds" derailed onto the banks of the Mississippi River around 12:15 p.m. Crews are now working . Because of a trick of fate, the story of the Sultana is virtually unknown. GES: I think the reporting of the Sultana disaster in April and May 1865 was pretty accurate. Burning of the Orline St. John, near Montgomery, Alabama, March 2, 1850. The steamboat has been submerged in the water of the Missouri river ever since. Morgan, James Morris. Although designed with a capacity of only 376 passengers, she was carrying 2,130 when three of the boat's four boilers exploded and caused it to sink near Memphis, Tennessee. Sometimes terrible accidents happened on the Mississippi too. [33] The museum is only temporary until enough funds can be raised to build a permanent museum. It was her 82nd birthday. However, the Upper Rapids and Lower Rapids were serious obstacles to navigate. The boilers exploded off Cairo, killing at least 1443 men, a loss of life never exceeded on the rivers, and rarely at sea. Being so closely packed within the 48-inch (120cm) diameter boilers tended to cause the muddy sediment to form hot pockets and were extremely difficult to clean. Mrs. Lind's birthday cake was lost, but fellow evacuees serenaded her as morning sun warmed their island refuge. He was injured on Sultana and was honorably discharged in May 1865. Constructed of wood in 1863 by the John Litherbury Boatyard [1] in Cincinnati, Ohio, Sultana was intended for the lower Mississippi cotton trade. A year later, when the U.S. government established the Memphis National Cemetery[4]:206 on the northeast side of the city, the bodies were moved there. . Newspaper accounts suggest John Fogelman and his sons spotted the burning Sultana as the remains of the paddle-wheeler drifted downriver. While researching those numbers, I ran across other myths and legends that were incorrect or misleading, while at the same time verifying many of the stories. Contains photos of War Eagle and steamer Reindeer. The Sultana story is one of greed and corruption, as well as pathos and sadness. MADISON, Wis. (AP) A freight train derailed along the Mississippi River in southwestern Wisconsin Thursday, possibly injuring one crew member and sending two cars into the water, officials said. The number of people killed instantly or who drowned or died as a result of their injuries was variously estimated from seventy to two hundred; the actual number was likely closer to the smaller figure. The city of Vicksburg was ravaged by the American Civil War, and so were the men who were about to board the steamboat Sultana. Although they knew that the water above Cairo was cleaner, the only problem they thought they faced by the dirtier lower Mississippi water was that they had to clean their boilers more often. 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. Last chance! GES: The Sultana Disaster Museum is located in Marion because that is the closest city to the remains of the vessel. The sternwheel paddleboat that would later be named the Eclipse was built in 1901 at St. Joseph, Missouri, for Captain A. Stewart for service on the Missouri River, and was christened the City of St. Joseph . [15][full citation needed], The official cause of the Sultana disaster was determined to be the mismanagement of water levels in the boilers, exacerbated by the fact that the vessel was severely overloaded and top-heavy. But what the museum really has to offer is a powerful story of soldiers who died just days away from seeing their families and loved ones.

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