Today in 1865 the Steamboat Sultana exploded due to a faulty boiler which powers the vessel. It’s the deadliest maritime disaster in U.S. history. It also has a special connection to the Battle of Franklin.
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Soldiers in the 175 & 183 Ohio were among the greenest troops on the battlefield on November 30, 1864. Historian Eric Jacobson has referred to the Tennessee Campaign as their “baptism of fire.” Captured during the campaign, many of these men ended up in Confederate prisons
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The horrors and mistreatment of Union soldiers at Andersonville spared no one. Disease, starvation, and unbridled brutality were a mainstay of the camp. Finally, as prisoners were released at the end of the war, the shattered bodies of once tough soldiers limped to freedom.
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From Cahaba and Andersonville these “living skeletons,” who were “covered with filth and lice,” arrived at Camp Fisk in Vicksburg, MS. From there, transportation arrangements could be made for their journey home and to hospitals.
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On April 14, 1,100 sick soldiers arrived at Camp Fisk. 400 of them were sent to St. Louis for care but the remaining men were to remain in Vicksburg. “The men who remained at Camp Fisk were doomed” for one of the steamers designated to carry them north was the Sultana.
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The Sultana’s captain, J.C. Mason docked his vessel in Vicksburg on April 23. For two days he had seen similar crafts loaded to the gills with former prisoners heading up the Mississippi River and knew there was a pretty penny to be made.
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Despite the fact that the Sultana was docked for boiler repairs, Mason insisted on piloting his river boat and turning a profit. Men that had seen arguably the worst combat of the war and survived the atrocities of Confederate prison camps, now had their fate decided.
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The boiler repairs were undertaken with great haste and soon the soldiers began to settle in on board. By 9:00 PM on April 24th, there were more than 2,146 people crammed into every corner of the ship. After a near capsizing in Helena, Arkansas, the Sultana arrived in Memphis.
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It was around 6:30 PM when the steam boat docked in Memphis. Four hours later, it crossed the River to take on coal in Hopefield, AR. Just after 1:00 AM Sultana departed the coal filling station and restarted her northern trek. An hour later, tragedy struck.
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Three of Sultana’s four boilers exploded. The woodclad vessel was reduced to splinters. Bodies and mangled ship parts scattered into the water. Hot steam scalded those on board and fire consumed whole levels of the ship. People were trapped, others died instantly.
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Of the 1,168 dead, twenty-eight men in the 175th and 183rd Ohio were among them. Eight men from the regiments survived by chancing their odds in the churning river. Despite the immense loss, no one was ever held responsible for the Sultana tragedy. For more:
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