View source for Sultana (steamboat)

{{Short description|American Mississippi steamboat, sank 1865}}
{{Other ships|Sultana (ship)}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin|infobox caption=''Sultana''}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=Ill-fated Sultana, Helena, Arkansas, April 27, 1865.jpg
|Ship image size=300px
|Ship caption=''Sultana'' at [[Helena, Arkansas]], on April 26, 1865, the day before her destruction. A crowd of paroled prisoners covers her decks.}}
{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship name=''Sultana''
|Ship owner=Initially Capt. Preston Lodwick, then a consortium including Capt. James Cass Mason
|Ship operator=
|Ship registry={{flag|United States|1863}}
|Ship namesake=
|Ship route=[[St. Louis, Missouri]], to [[New Orleans, Louisiana]]
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=John Litherbury Boatyard, [[Cincinnati, Ohio]]
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|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=January 3, 1863
|Ship completed=
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|Ship in service=1863
|Ship out of service=
|Ship identification=
|Ship fate=Exploded and sank, April 27, 1865, on [[Mississippi River]] seven miles north of [[Memphis, Tennessee]]. 
{{Coord|35|11|26|N|90|6|52|W|display=title,inline|region:US-TN_type:event}}
|Ship notes=
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Ship tonnage=1,719 GRT
|Ship displacement=
|Ship length= 260 feet
|Ship beam= 42 feet
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|Ship decks= Four decks (including pilothouse)
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|Ship propulsion={{convert|34|ft|abbr=on}} diameter paddlewheels
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|Ship capacity=376 passengers and cargo
|Ship crew=85
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
'''''Sultana''''' was a commercial [[paddlewheeler|side-wheel]] [[steamboat]] which exploded and sank on the [[Mississippi River]] on April 27, 1865, killing 1,164 people in what remains the worst [[List of maritime disasters|maritime disaster]] in United States history.

Constructed of wood in 1863 by the John Litherbury Boatyard<ref>Given as the "John Lithoberry Shipyard" on Ohio Historical Marker 18–31 (1999) on the Ohio River at Sawyer Point.</ref> in [[Cincinnati, Ohio]], ''Sultana'' was intended for the lower Mississippi [[cotton]] trade. The steamer registered 1,719 [[ton (volume)|tons]]<ref>Berry (1892), p. 7</ref> and normally carried a crew of 85. 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]]. Although designed with a capacity of only 376 passengers, she was carrying 2,127 when three of the boat's four boilers exploded and caused it to sink near [[Memphis, Tennessee]]. 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. No one was ever held accountable for the disaster.

==Construction==
Sultana was launched on January 3, 1863, the fifth [[steamboat]] to bear the name. The vessel measured {{convert|260|ft|m|sp=us}} long, with a  {{convert|42|ft|m|sp=us}} width at the [[beam (nautical)|beam]], [[displacement (ship)|displaced]] {{convert|1719|ST|t}}, and had a {{convert|7|ft|m|sp=us|adj=on}} [[draft (hull)|draft]]. Her two side-mounted [[paddle wheel]]s were driven by four [[fire-tube boiler | fire-tube]] [[steam boiler|boilers]]. Introduced in 1848, they could generate twice as much steam per fuel load as conventional boilers. Each fire-tube boiler was {{convert|18|ft|m|sp=us}} long and {{convert|46|in|cm|sp=us}} in diameter and contained 24 {{convert|5|in|cm|sp=us|spell=in|adj=on}} flues which ran from the firebox to the chimney.<ref name="civilwarstlouis2">{{cite web|title=Death on the River|url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2009/august/death-river|access-date=2020-08-02|website=U.S. Naval Institute|date=August 2009}}</ref>

The power of the boilers came with risk - the water levels in the fire tubes had to be carefully maintained at all times. The areas between the many flues clogged easily, especially since dirty river water carried much sediment, and were difficult to clean. Low water levels  could cause hot spots leading to [[Fatigue (material)|metal fatigue]], significantly increasing the risk of an explosion. Since most steamboats of the time were constructed of light-weight wood covered with oil-based paint and varnish, fires were a significant concern.

==Disaster==
[[File:The Last exchange. Camp Fisk, Four Mile Bridge (Vicksburg), April, 1865 LCCN90709414.jpg|375px|thumb|right|POW Camp Fisk, Four Mile Bridge, Vicksburg, Mississippi April 1865.]]
[[File:Sultana Disaster.jpg|right|thumb|375px|''Sultana'' on fire, from ''[[Harper's Weekly]]''.]]

===Background===
Under the command of Captain James Cass Mason of St. Louis, ''Sultana'' left St. Louis on April 13, 1865, bound for New Orleans.<ref name="sal">{{cite book|last1=Salecker|first1=Gene Eric|title=Disaster on the Mississippi : the Sultana explosion, April 27, 1865|date=1996|publisher=Naval Inst. Press|location=Annapolis, Md.|isbn=1-55750-739-2|url=https://archive.org/details/disasteronmissis00sale}}</ref>{{rp|12}} On the morning of April 15, she was tied up at [[Cairo, Illinois|Cairo]], [[Illinois]], when word reached the city that [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[Abraham Lincoln]] [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|had been shot]] in [[Washington, D.C.]] Immediately, Captain Mason grabbed an armload of Cairo newspapers and headed south to spread the news, knowing that [[telegraph]]ic communication with the southern states had been almost totally cut off because of the recently-ended [[American Civil War]].<ref name=sal/>{{rp|27–28}}

Upon reaching [[Vicksburg, Mississippi]], Mason was approached by Captain Reuben Hatch, the chief [[quartermaster]] at Vicksburg, with a proposal. Thousands of recently released [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] who had been held in the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] prison camps at [[Cahaba Prison|Cahaba]] near Selma, Alabama and [[Andersonville Prison|Andersonville]] below Atlanta, Georgia, had been brought to a small [[parole camp]] outside of Vicksburg to await release to the northern states. The U.S. government would pay [[United States dollar|US$]]2.75 per enlisted man and US$8 per officer to any steamboat captain who would take a group north. Knowing that Mason needed money, Hatch suggested that he could guarantee Mason a full load of about 1,000 prisoners if Mason would agree to give him a [[kickback (bribery)|kickback]]. Mason quickly agreed to Hatch's offer, hoping to gain much money through this deal.<ref name=sal/>{{rp|29–31}}

Leaving Vicksburg, ''Sultana'' traveled downriver to New Orleans, continuing to spread the news of Lincoln's assassination. On April 21, ''Sultana'' left New Orleans with about seventy cabin and deck passengers and a small amount of livestock. She also carried a crew of 85.<ref>The St. Louis Daily Missouri Democrat, April 29, 1865, states that the "steamer Sultana left New Orleans on Friday evening the 21st, with about seventy cabin passengers, and about eighty five employees on the boat."</ref> About ten hours south of Vicksburg, one of ''Sultana''{{'s}} four boilers sprang a leak. Under reduced pressure, the steamboat limped into Vicksburg to get the boiler repaired and to pick up her promised load of prisoners.<ref name=sal/>{{rp|33,34–35,38,40–41}}

===Faulty boiler repair===
While the paroled prisoners, primarily from the states of Ohio, [[Michigan]], [[Indiana]], [[Kentucky]], [[Tennessee]] and [[West Virginia]],<ref name=sal/>{{rp|226–290}} were brought from the parole camp to ''Sultana'', a mechanic was brought down to work on the leaky boiler. 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. By the time the repairs would have been completed, the prisoners would have been sent home on other boats. Instead, Mason and his chief engineer, Nathan Wintringer, convinced the mechanic to make temporary repairs, hammering back the bulged boiler plate and riveting a patch of lesser thickness over the seam. Instead of taking two or three days, the temporary repair took only one. During her time in port, and while the repairs were being made, ''Sultana'' took on the paroled prisoners.<ref name=sal/>{{rp|40}}

===Overloaded===
Although Hatch had suggested that Mason might get as many as 1,000 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.<ref name=sal/>{{rp|50,55–56}} Although ''Sultana'' had a legal capacity of only 376 passengers, by the time she backed away from Vicksburg on the night of April 24, she was severely overcrowded with 1,950 paroled prisoners, 22 guards from the 58th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 70 fare-paying cabin passengers, and 85 crew members, for a total of 2,127 people. Many of the paroled prisoners had been weakened by their incarceration and associated illnesses but had managed to gain some strength while waiting at the parole camp to be officially released. The men were packed into every available space as all cabin spaces were already filled with civilian passengers; the overflow was so severe that in some places, the decks began to creak and sag and had to be supported with heavy wooden beams.<ref name=sal/>{{rp|62}}

''Sultana'' spent two days traveling upriver, fighting against one of the worst spring floods in the river's history. At some places, the river overflowed the banks and spread out three miles wide. Trees along the river bank were almost completely covered until only the very tops of the trees were visible above the swirling, powerful water.<ref name=sal/>{{rp|24}} On April 26, ''Sultana'' stopped at [[Helena, Arkansas]], where photographer Thomas W. Bankes took a picture of the grossly overcrowded vessel.<ref name=sal/>{{rp|72}} ''Sultana'' subsequently arrived at [[Memphis, Tennessee]], around 7:00 PM, and the crew began unloading 120 tons (109 tonnes) of sugar from the hold. Near midnight, ''Sultana'' left Memphis, leaving behind about 200 men. 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.<ref name=sal/>{{rp|74–79}}

===Explosion===
At around 2 a.m. on April 27, 1865, when ''Sultana'' was about {{convert|7|mi|km|spell=in}} north of Memphis, its boilers suddenly and violently exploded, killing many people instantly.<ref name=sal/>{{rp|79}} First one boiler exploded, followed a split-second later by two more.

The massive steam explosion came from the top rear of the boilers. It went upward at a 45-degree angle, tearing through the crowded decks above and completely destroying the [[pilothouse]]. Without a pilot to steer the boat, ''Sultana'' became a drifting, burning hulk. The violent explosion flung some deck passengers into the water and blew a gaping 25–30 foot hole in the steamer. With the boilers blown to pieces, the twin smokestacks fell; the [[port and starboard|starboard]] smokestack fell backward into the blasted hole, and the port smokestack fell forward onto the crowded forward section of the upper deck, hitting the steamboat's bell as it fell. The forward part of the upper deck collapsed onto the middle deck, killing and trapping many in the wreckage. Fortunately, the sturdy railings around the twin openings of the main stairway prevented the upper deck from crushing down completely onto the middle deck. The men located around the twin openings quickly crawled under the wreckage and down the main stairs. Further back, the collapsing decks formed a slope that led down into the exposed furnace boxes. The broken wood caught fire and turned the remaining superstructure into a raging inferno. 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. Whole groups went down together.<ref name=sal/>{{rp|79–85}}

[[File:Johan-windh-sultana-fire-3500.jpg|thumb|An artist's impression of the fire (2015)]]

===Rescue attempts===
While the ''Sultana'' burned, and the men on the steamboat were either already dead or fighting for their lives, the southbound steamer ''Bostona'' (No. 2), built in 1860 but coming downriver on her maiden voyage after being refurbished,<ref name="Potter, Amer. Hist.">{{cite journal |url=http://www.historynet.com/magazines/american_history/3032116.html?page=4&c=y |first=Jerry O. |last=Potter |title=Sultana: A Tragic Postscript to the Civil War |journal=American History Magazine |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080128150746/http://www.historynet.com/magazines/american_history/3032116.html?page=4&c=y |archive-date=2008-01-28 }}</ref> arrived at about 2:30 AM, a half hour after the explosion, and rescued scores of survivors. At the same time, dozens of people had floated seven miles down river and 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.<ref name=sal/>{{rp|129}} Eventually, the hulk of ''Sultana'' drifted about {{convert|6|mi|km|spell=in|sigfig=1}} to the west bank of the river and sank at around 7:00 AM near [[Mound City, Arkansas|Mound City]] and present-day [[Marion, Arkansas]], about five hours after the explosion.<ref name=sal/>{{rp|164}} Other vessels joined the rescue, including the steamers ''Silver Spray'', ''Jenny Lind'', and ''Pocahontas'', the [[ironclad warship|navy ironclad]] [[USS Essex (1856)|USS ''Essex'']] and the sidewheel gunboat {{USS|Tyler|1857|6}}.<ref name=sal/>{{rp|146–147,168–176}}

Passengers who survived the initial explosion had to risk their lives in the icy spring runoff of the Mississippi or burn with the boat.<ref name="Bennett, 1976">{{cite journal |last=Bennett |first=Robert Frank, CDR USCG |title=A Case of Calculated Mischief |journal=[[Proceedings (magazine)|Proceedings]] |date=March 1976 |pages=77–83 |ref=Bennett, 1976}}</ref> Many died of drowning or [[hypothermia]]. Some survivors were plucked from the tops of semi-submerged trees along the Arkansas shore. Bodies of victims continued to be found downriver for months, some as far as Vicksburg. Many bodies were never recovered. Most of ''Sultana''{{'}}s officers, including Captain Mason, were among those who perished.<ref name="Harvey, Hank 1996, Pages 3,6">{{cite news |last = Harvey|first = Hank|date = October 27, 1996|title = The Sinking of the Sultana|url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rTQxAAAAIBAJ&pg=5892%2C8438988|newspaper = [[The Blade (Toledo)|The Blade]]|location = Toledo, Ohio |at=Section C, pp. 6,3|access-date = April 27, 2015}}</ref>

===Casualties===
[[File:Sultana disaster historic marker.jpg|thumb|Historic marker in Memphis]]
The exact death toll is unknown, although the most recent{{when|date=December 2023}} evidence indicates that 1,164 died.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} On May 19, 1865, less than a month after the disaster, [[William Hoffman (United States Army)|Brigadier general William Hoffman]], Commissary General of Prisoners who investigated the disaster, reported an overall loss of soldiers, passengers, and crew of 1,238.<ref>Fold3.com website, The Civil War, ''Sultana'' Disaster, April 1865, Quartermaster vessel file relating to the ''Sultana'', page 68.</ref> In February 1867, the Bureau of Military Justice placed the death toll at 1,100.<ref>Fold3.com website, The Civil War, ''Sultana'' Disaster, April 1865, Quartermaster vessel file relating to the ''Sultana'', pages 68-9.</ref> In 1880, the [[United States Congress]], in conjunction with the [[United States Department of War|War Department]], reported the loss of life as 1,259.<ref>Fold3.com website, The Civil War, ''Sultana'' Disaster, April 1865, Enlisted Branch file (HAAQ 981 EB 1865, page 80</ref> The official count by the [[United States Customs Service]] was 1,547.<ref>{{cite book|title=It Happened on the Mississippi River|first=James|last=Crutchfield|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|page=109|year=2008|isbn=978-0-762-75236-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O9C1NkkPWJUC&q=1547}}</ref> In 1880, the War Department placed the number of survivors at 931, but the most recent research{{when|date=December 2023}} places the number at 961.<ref>Fold3.com website, The Civil War, ''Sultana'' Disaster, April 1865, Enlisted Branch file (HAAQ  981 EB 1865, page 80.</ref> The dead soldiers were interred at the [[Fort Pickering (Memphis, Tennessee)|Fort Pickering]] cemetery, located on the south shore of Memphis. A year later, when the U.S. government established the [[Memphis National Cemetery]] on the northeast side of the city,<ref name=sal/>{{rp|206}} the bodies were moved there. Three civilian victims of the wreck of ''Sultana'' are interred at [[Elmwood Cemetery (Memphis, Tennessee)|Elmwood Cemetery]] in Memphis.

===Survivors===
Because Union forces had captured Memphis in 1862 and turned it into a supply and recuperation city, numerous local hospitals treated the roughly 760 survivors with the latest medical equipment and trained personnel. Of this group, there were only 31 deaths between April 28 and June 28. Newspaper accounts indicate that the residents of Memphis had sympathy for the victims despite the ongoing Union occupation. The Chicago Opera Troupe, a [[minstrel show|minstrel]] group that had traveled upriver on ''Sultana'' before getting off at Memphis, staged a benefit performance, while the crew of the gunboat ''Essex'' raised US$1,000 ({{Inflation|US|1000|1865|fmt=eq}}) <ref>''Memphis Daily Bulletin'', and ''Memphis Daily Appeal'', various dates, April 1865</ref>

In December 1885, the survivors living in the northern states of Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio began attending annual reunions, forming the National Sultana Survivors' Association. Eventually, the group settled on meeting in the [[Toledo, Ohio]] area. Perhaps inspired by their northern comrades, a southern group of survivors, men from Tennessee and Kentucky, began meeting in 1889 around [[Knoxville, Tennessee]]. 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.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

By the mid-1920s, only a handful of survivors could attend the reunions. In 1929, only two men attended the southern reunion.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}} The next year, only one man showed up. The last northern survivor, Private Jordan Barr of the [[15th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment]], died on May 16, 1938, at age 93. The last of the southern survivors, and last overall survivor, was Private Charles M. Eldridge of the [[3rd Tennessee Cavalry Regiment (Union)|3rd Tennessee Cavalry Regiment]], who died at his home at age 96 on September 8, 1941, more than 76 years after the disaster.<ref>Ancestry.com, Texas Death Certificates, 1903–1980{{full citation needed|date=April 2022}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=April 2022}}
[[File:The Sultana Disaster.jpg|thumb|Memorial plaque for those who perished on the ''Sultana'' on April 27, 1865.  Located in South Park, Mansfield, Ohio.]]

===Causes===
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 overcrowded and top-heavy. As the steamboat made her way north following the twists and turns of the river, she listed severely from side to side. Her four boilers were interconnected and mounted side-by-side so that if the boat tipped sideways, water would tend to run out of the highest boiler. The fires still going against the empty boiler created hot spots. 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. This effect of [[careening]] could have been minimized by maintaining high water levels in the boilers. The official inquiry found that the boilers exploded because of the combined effects of careening, low water levels, and the faulty repair made a few days earlier.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Sultana: Surviving Civil War, Prison, and the Worst Maritime Disaster in American History|url=https://archive.org/details/sultanasurviving00huff|url-access=limited|last=Huffman|first=Alan|publisher=Collins|year=2009|isbn=9780061470547|pages=[https://archive.org/details/sultanasurviving00huff/page/n251 242]–243}}</ref>

A 2015 investigation into the cause of the disaster by Pat Jennings, principal engineer of [[Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company]], which came into existence in 1866 because of the ''Sultana'' explosion, determined that three main factors led to the disaster:

*The type of metal used in the construction of the boilers – Charcoal Hammered No. 1, which tends to become brittle with prolonged heating and cooling. Charcoal Hammered No. 1 was no longer used to manufacture boilers after 1879.

*The use of the sediment-laden Mississippi River water to feed the boilers. The sediment tended to settle on the bottom of the boilers or clog between the flues and leave hotspots.

*The design of the boilers. ''Sultana'' had tubular boilers filled with 24 horizontal five-inch flues. Being so closely packed within the {{convert|48|in|cm|adj=on}} diameter boilers tended to cause the muddy sediment to form hot pockets and were extremely difficult to clean. Tubular boilers were discontinued from use on steamboats plying the Lower Mississippi after two more steamboats with tubular boilers exploded shortly after the ''Sultana'' explosion.<ref>Jennings, Pat "What Happened to the Sultana?" https://www.nationalboard.org/SiteDocuments/General%20Meeting/Jennings.pdf</ref>

====Traditional alternative theories====
In 1888, a St. Louis resident named William Streetor claimed that his former business partner, [[Robert Louden]], made a confession of having [[sabotage]]d ''Sultana'' by the use of a [[coal torpedo]] while they were drinking in a saloon.<ref name="civilwarstlouis">{{cite web |url=http://www.civilwarstlouis.com/boatburners/index.htm |title=The Sultana Disaster (Coal Torpedo theory) |website=Civil War St Louis |access-date=2013-09-08}}</ref> Louden, a former Confederate agent and saboteur who operated in and around St. Louis, had been responsible for the burning of the steamboat ''Ruth''. 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. However, Louden's claim is controversial, and most scholars support the official explanation. The location of the explosion, from the top rear of the boilers and far away from the fireboxes, tends to indicate that Louden's claim of sabotage of an exploding coal torpedo in the firebox, below the front part of the boilers, was pure bravado.<ref name="Tidwell">{{Cite book |last=Tidwell |first=William A. |year=1995 |title=April '65: Confederate Covert Action in the American Civil War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jMK-y-_61sEC |location=Kent, Ohio |publisher=The Kent State University Press |isbn=9780873385152 |oclc=906647559 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=jMK-y-_61sEC&pg=PA52 52] |ref=Tidwell, 1995}}</ref><ref name="Rule, 2001">{{cite journal |first1=G.E. |last1=Rule |first2=Deb |last2=Rule |title=The Sultana: A case for sabotage |journal=North and South Magazine |volume=5 |issue=1 |date=December 2001}}</ref> [[Thomas Edgeworth Courtenay]], the inventor of the coal torpedo, was a former resident of St. Louis and was involved in similar acts of sabotage against Union shipping interests. 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.<ref>History Detective Episode on Sultana, http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/investigation/civil-war-sabotage/</ref>

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. Barrett was a veteran of the [[Mexican–American War]] and had been captured at the [[Battle of Franklin (1864)|Battle of Franklin]]. He was injured on ''Sultana'' and was honorably discharged in May 1865. There is no apparent motive for him to have blown up the boat, especially while on board.<ref>''National Tribune'' (Washington DC), May 20, 1886, p. 3.</ref>

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. 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. As stated in the 1903 newspaper article, the log was mistakenly taken by ''Sultana''. However, ''Sultana'' was a coal-burning boat and not a wood-burner.<ref>''Portsmouth'' [NH] ''Herald'', June 13, 1903, p. 7</ref>

An episode of the [[PBS]] series ''[[History Detectives]]'' that aired on July 2, 2014, reviewed the known evidence, thoroughly disputed a theory of sabotage, and then focused on the question of why ''Sultana'' was allowed to be crowded to several times its normal capacity before departure. The report blamed quartermaster Capt. Reuben Benton Hatch, an individual with a long history of corruption and incompetence, who kept his job through political connections: he was the younger brother of Illinois politician [[Ozias M. Hatch]], an advisor and close friend of President Lincoln. Throughout the war, Captain Hatch had shown incompetence as a quartermaster and competence as a thief, bilking the government out of thousands of dollars. Although brought up on [[court-martial|courts-martial]] charges, Hatch managed to get letters of recommendation from no less reputable personages than President Lincoln and [[General (United States)|General]] [[Ulysses S. Grant]]. The letters reside in the [[United States National Archives|National Archives]] in Washington, D.C. After the disaster, Reuben Benton Hatch refused three separate [[subpoena]]s to appear before Captain Speed's trial and give testimony. He died in 1871, having escaped justice because of his numerous highly placed patrons—including two presidents.<ref name="sal2">{{cite book|last1=Salecker|first1=Gene Eric|url=https://archive.org/details/disasteronmissis00sale|title=Disaster on the Mississippi : the Sultana explosion, April 27, 1865|date=1996|publisher=Naval Inst. Press|isbn=1-55750-739-2|location=Annapolis, Md.}}</ref>{{rp|193–197}}

===Lack of accountability===
Despite the magnitude of the disaster, no one was ever formally held accountable. Captain Frederic Speed, a Union officer who sent the 1,950 paroled prisoners into Vicksburg from the parole camp, was charged with grossly overcrowding ''Sultana'' and found guilty. However, the [[Judge Advocate General of the United States Army]] overturned the guilty verdict because Speed had been at the parole camp all day and had not personally placed a single soldier on board ''Sultana''.<ref name=sal/>{{rp|197–202}} Captain George Augustus Williams, who had placed the men on board, was a regular Army officer, and the military refused to go after one of their own.<ref name=sal/>{{rp|202}} Captain Hatch, who had concocted a bribe with Captain Mason to crowd as many men onto ''Sultana'' as possible, had quickly quit the service to avoid a court-martial and then had gone into hiding. Captain Mason of ''Sultana'', who was ultimately responsible for dangerously overloading his vessel and ordering the faulty repairs to her leaky boiler, had died in the disaster. In the end, no one was ever held accountable for what remains the deadliest maritime disaster in United States history.<ref name=sal/>{{rp|198,200,202}}

==Legacy==
[[File:Памятник жертвам катастрофы Султанши 27 апреля 1865 году на Маунт Олив, близ баптистской церкви в Ноксвилле (Теннесси).jpg|thumb|right|''Sultana'' Memorial at the Mount Olive Baptist Church Cemetery in Knoxville, Tennessee in 2010]]

Monuments and historical markers to ''Sultana'' and her victims have been erected at Memphis, Tennessee;<ref>{{cite web|title=Historic Memphis Elmwood Cemetery|url=http://historic-memphis.com/memphis-historic/elmwood/elmwood.html|access-date=24 September 2015}}</ref> [[Muncie, Indiana]];<ref>[http://www.tribtown.com/2019/07/18/the_ss_sultana_a_civil_war_tragedy_lost_to_history/ ''The Tribune'']</ref> Marion, Arkansas;<ref>{{cite web|title=Sultana Historic Marker|url=http://www.arkansas.com/attractions/detail/sultana-historic-marker/95445/|website=Arkansas: The Natural State|publisher=Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism|access-date=24 September 2015}}</ref> Vicksburg, Mississippi;<ref>{{cite web|title=Disaster Multiplied|url=http://histchron.kbacon.com/disaster-multiplied|website=Historical Chronicles Press|access-date=2 February 2017}}</ref> [[Cincinnati, Ohio]];<ref>{{cite web|title=The Sultana|url=http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=24614|website=Historical Marker Database|access-date=24 September 2015}}</ref> Knoxville, Tennessee;<ref>{{cite web|title=Sultana Monument – Civil War|url=http://www.tennesseerivervalleygeotourism.org/content/sultana-monument-civil-war/ten20C9C07524035BE0F|website=East Tennessee River Valley GeoTourism Guide|publisher=National Geographic|access-date=24 September 2015}}</ref> [[Hillsdale, Michigan]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Sultana Memorial|url=http://www.austinblaircamp7.com/sulmemor.htm|access-date=24 September 2015}}</ref> and [[Mansfield, Ohio]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Sultana Tragedy|url=http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=20888|website=Historical Marker Database|access-date=24 September 2015}}</ref>

===Remnants found===
In 1982, a local archaeological expedition, led by Memphis attorney Jerry O. Potter, uncovered what was believed to be the wreckage of ''Sultana''. Blackened wooden deck planks and timbers were found about {{convert|32|ft|m|0}} under a soybean field on the Arkansas side, about {{convert|4|mi|0}} from Memphis. The Mississippi River has changed course several times since the disaster, leaving the wreck under dry land and far from today's river. The main channel now flows about {{convert|2|mi|0}} east of its 1865 position.<ref name="Harvey, Hank 1996, Pages 3,6"/>

===Museum===
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|reason=Need sources on the existence of the museum and its current status |date=July 2018}} across the Mississippi River from Memphis.<ref>{{cite news  | author1 = Jack Schnedler| title = Sultana museum in Arkansas memorializes 1,800 people who died in river| url = https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2018/jul/03/sultana-museum-memorializes-1-800-who-d/
 | work = [[Arkansas Democrat-Gazette]] | date = 2018-07-03 | access-date = 2023-12-07}}</ref> The museum is only a temporary  museum featuring a number of relics from ''Sultana'' such as shaker plates from the boat's furnace, furnace bricks, a few pieces of wood, and some small metal pieces. The museum also features many artifacts from the ''Sultana'' Survivors' Association, as well as a fourteen-foot model replica of the boat. One wall is decorated with the names of every soldier, crewmember, and passenger on the boat on April 27, 1865.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}} A new state-of-the-art permanent museum, which will be housed in a renovated auditorium/gymnasium is expected to open is September/October 2025.

==In popular culture==
===Artwork===
* The J. Mack Gamble Fund of the [[Sons and Daughters of Pioneer Rivermen]] and the Association of ''Sultana'' Descendants and Friends sponsored a mural by Louisiana artist [[Robert Dafford]] and his crew, entitled ''The Sultana Departs from Vicksburg'', as one of the [[Vicksburg, Mississippi#Contemporary Vicksburg|Vicksburg Riverfront Murals]]. It was dedicated on April 9, 2005.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.riverfrontmurals.com/sultana.htm |title=The Sultana Departs from Vicksburg |website=Vicksburg Riverfront Murals |access-date=2013-09-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://mshistory.k12.ms.us/articles/319/surviving-the-worst-the-wreck-of-the-sultana |first=Alan |last=Huffman |title=Surviving the Worst: The Wreck of the Sultana at the End of the American Civil War |date=October 2009 |website=Mississippi Historical Society |access-date=2011-02-07}}</ref>

===Novels===
* {{cite book | title = Terrible Swift Sword: Long Road to the Sultana | last = Hendricks | first = Nancy | year = 2015 | publisher = CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform| isbn = 978-1507764688 }}
* {{cite book | title = Fire in the Water | last = Thom | first = James Alexander | year = 2015 | publisher = Blue River Press| isbn =  978-1935628569 }}
* Smith, Joe W. (2010) ''Sultana''! J & M Printing. {{ISBN|978-1-931916-64-6}}. Illustrations by Linda L. Smith.

===Music===
*[[Jay Farrar]] of the band [[Son Volt]] wrote a song called "Sultana", paying tribute to "the worst American disaster of the maritime". Farrar calls the boat "the ''Titanic'' of the Mississippi" in the song, which was released on the ''[[American Central Dust]]'' album (2009)<ref name="pitchfork">{{cite web |last=Deusner |first=Stephen |title=American Central Dust |url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13214-american-central-dust/ |website=[[Pitchfork Media]] |type=Review |access-date=31 January 2013}}</ref>
*King's German Legion – "Blues in the Water" tells a stylized version of the ''Sultana'' disaster on their EP release ''Marching Orders.''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://kingsgermanlegion.bandcamp.com/track/blues-in-the-water|title=Blues in the Water, by King's German Legion|website=King's German Legion|access-date=2017-03-10}}</ref>
*[[Cory Branan]]'s song "The Wreck of the Sultana" tells the story of the disaster, though the song gets a few details wrong, calling it "deadlier than the Titanic's legendary fall."<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/sfCe0B77i3w Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20160807133425/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfCe0B77i3w Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfCe0B77i3w|title= Ardent Presents: Cory Branan – "The Wreck of the Sultana"|website=YouTube|date= June 2009|access-date=2019-01-12}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

===Film===
*In 2018, a movie called ''[[Remember the Sultana]]'' was released detailing the maritime disaster, directed by Mark and Mike Marshall and starring Ray Appleton, Mackenzie Astin, and Sean Astin.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-17 |title=Remember the Sultana {{!}} Film Threat - Part 2 |url=https://filmthreat.com/reviews/remember-the-sultana/2/ |access-date=2022-09-25 |language=en-US}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of maritime disasters]]
*{{anl|Arisan Maru}}
*{{anl|Sea Wing disaster}}
*{{anl|Eclipse (steamboat)}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |first=Margie Riddle |last=Bearss |title=Messenger of Lincoln Death Herself Doomed |journal=The Lincoln Herald |date=Spring 1978 |pages=49–51}}
* {{cite book |first=Chester D. |last=Berry |title=Loss of the Sultana and Reminiscences of Survivors |publisher=University of Tennessee Press |year=2005 |isbn=1-57233-372-3 |orig-year=1892 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CEh3AAAAMAAJ&q=Loss+of+the+Sultana&pg=PA12 |ref=Berry, 1892}}
* {{cite book |first=William O. |last=Bryant |title=Cahaba Prison and the "Sultana" Disaster |publisher=University of Alabama Press |year=1990 |isbn=0-8173-0468-1}}
* Elliott, Joseph Taylor (1913). ''[http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000132231808 The Sultana Disaster]''. E.J. Hecker. Indiana Historical Society Publications, v. 5, no. 3. 
* Hendricks, Nancy (2015). ''Terrible Swift Sword: Long Road to the Sultana.'' {{ISBN|978-1-5077-6468-8}}.
* {{cite book |first=Alan |last=Huffman |title=Sultana: Surviving the Civil War, Prison, and the Worst Maritime Disaster in American History |url=https://archive.org/details/sultanasurviving00alan |url-access=registration |publisher=Collins |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-06-147054-7}}
* {{cite book |first=Jerry O. |last=Potter |title=The Sultana Tragedy: America's Greatest Maritime Disaster |url=https://archive.org/details/sultanatragedyam00unse |url-access=registration |publisher=Pelican Publishing |year=1992 |isbn=0-88289-861-2 |ref=Potter, Sultana Tragedy}}
* {{cite journal |first1=G. E. |last1=Rule |first2=Deb |last2=Rule |title=The ''Sultana'': A Case for Sabotage |journal=North and South Magazine |volume=5 |issue=1}}
* {{cite book |first=Gene Eric |last=Salecker |title=Disaster on the Mississippi: the Sultana Explosion, April 27, 1865 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |year=1996 |isbn=1-55750-739-2 |ref=Salecker, Disaster on the Mississippi |url=https://archive.org/details/disasteronmissis00sale }}
* {{cite journal |first=Gene Eric |last=Salecker |title=A Tremendous Tumult and Uproar |journal=America's Civil War |date=May 2002 |volume= 15 |issue=26 |issn=1046-2899}}
* {{cite book |first=Sally M. |last=Walker |title=Sinking the Sultana: A Civil War Story of Imprisonment, Greed, and a Doomed Journey Home |publisher=Candlewick |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-7636-7755-8}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{cite web | url=http://www.unexplainedfiles.com/2009/10/sultana-titanic-of-mississippi.html  | title=''Sultana: Titanic of the Mississippi'' – Investigation with several videos| date=27 April 2001}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150728235609/http://sultana.cdi.astateweb.org/home Raising The Sultana]
* [http://www.fold3.com/title_797/sultana_disaster_april_1865/ ''Sultana'' Disaster Records] – Records relating to the explosion of the steamer ''Sultana'', including lists of those aboard the boat.
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzPrDZxPzVY History Guy presents the Sultana's loss and explains why it was unnoticed]

{{Ohio in the Civil War}}
{{1865 shipwrecks}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sultana}}
[[Category:Steamships]]
[[Category:Maritime boiler explosions]]
[[Category:Ship fires]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the Mississippi River]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Tennessee in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Ohio in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in April 1865]]
[[Category:Disasters in Tennessee]]
[[Category:History of Cincinnati]]
[[Category:Paddle steamers]]
[[Category:Crittenden County, Arkansas]]
[[Category:Shelby County, Tennessee]]
[[Category:1863 ships]]
[[Category:Explosions in the United States]]
[[Category:1865 disasters in the United States]]
[[Category:Explosions in 1865]]
[[Category:American Civil War shipwrecks in the Mississippi River]]