Thursday, 27 April 1865
The steamship Sultana suffers a boiler explosion tonight, eight miles north of Memphis on the Mississippi River, killing more than 1,800 of her estimated 2,427 souls aboard. The explosion collapsed the superstructure and almost immediately engulfed the boat in flames. Most passengers were discharged Union soldiers and repatriated POW's returning from Confederate prison camps. The boat’s capacity was 376. This was the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history.
The Sultana was launched from Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1863. The boat was 260 feet long and had an authorized capacity of 376 passengers and crew. It was soon employed to carry troops and supplies along the lower Mississippi River.
On April 21, starting what looked like a regular run, the Sultana had left New Orleans with from 75 to 100 cabin passengers, and a cargo which included a hundred hogsheads of sugar and a hundred head of assorted livestock. It stopped at Vicksburg, Mississippi, for repair of a leaky boiler. R. G. Taylor, the boilermaker on the ship, advised Captain J. Cass Mason that two sheets on the boiler had to be replaced, but Mason ordered Taylor to simply patch the plates until the ship reached St. Louis. Mason was part owner of the riverboat, and he and the other owners were anxious to pick up discharged Union prisoners at Vicksburg. The federal government promised to pay $5 for each enlisted man and $10 for each officer delivered to the North. Such a contract could pay huge dividends, and Mason convinced local military authorities to pick up the entire contingent despite the presence of two other steamboats at Vicksburg.
When the Sultana left Vicksburg, it carried over 2,100 troops and 200 civilians plus crew, more than six times its capacity. Last evening, the ship stopped at Memphis before cruising across the river to pick up coal in Arkansas. As it steamed up the river above Memphis, a thunderous explosion tore through the boat. Metal and steam from the boilers killed hundreds, and hundreds more were thrown from the boat into the chilly waters of the river. The Mississippi was already at flood stage, and the Sultana had only one lifeboat and a few life preservers. Only 600 people survived the explosion. A board of inquiry later determined the cause to be insufficient water in the boiler--overcrowding was not listed as a cause. The Sultana accident is still the greatest maritime disaster in United States history.
Naval report: The river steamer Sultana blew up in the Mississippi River above Memphis, Tennessee, killing 1,450 out of 2,000 passengers--all but 50 of whom were former prisoners of war. She was en route to Cairo, Illinois, when a violent explosion ripped her apart and turned her into a sheet of flame. The cause of the explosion was never determined, but one of the theories advanced was that a coal torpedo--such as the one that was suspected of having destroyed Army steamer Greyhound had been slipped into the steamer's coal bin.
Brigadier General James C. Veatch, USA, is assigned to command the Post and the District of Mobile, Alabama.
Colonel William H. Dickey, commander of the 65th, 67th, 84th and 92nd US Colored Troops, as well as the 14th New York Cavalry (six companies) and 1st Indiana Heavy Artillery, assumes the command of the District of Morganza, Louisiana.
A brief affair occurs near James Creek, in the vicinity of Mount Vernon, Missouri, as two partisan guerrillas are confronted by Yankees, killed immediately and laid to rest.
President Abraham Lincoln's funeral train passes through Rochester and pauses at Buffalo, New York. Former President Millard Fillmore and future President Grover Cleveland attend the funeral service in Buffalo.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his party reached South Carolina. Treasury Secretary George A. Trenholm had resigned, too ill to continue. Postmaster General John Reagan replaced Trenholm.
The body of John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assassin, and David E. Herold, who had accompanied Booth in the escape from Washington and was with the actor when he was shot, were delivered on board USS Montauk, anchored in the Anacostia River off the Washington Navy Yard. Booth had been slain and Herold captured at John M. Garrett's farm three miles outside Port Royal, Virginia, in the early morning hours of the previous day. While the body was on board the monitor, an autopsy was performed and an inquiry conducted to establish identity. Booth's corpse was then taken by boat to the Washington Arsenal (now Fort McNair) where it was buried in a gun box the following day. Herold was incarcerated in the hold of Montauk which, along with USS Saugus, was being utilized for the maximum security imprisonment of eight of the suspected assassination conspirators.
Union Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles informed Commander F. A. Parker of the Potomac Flotilla that the "...special restrictions relative to retaining vessels are removed." He advised the Flotilla commander that "...Booth was killed and captured with Herold yesterday, 3 miles southwest of Port Royal, Va." With the search for President Lincoln's assassin ended, further south the Navy focused its attention to another end. This date, Rear Admiral John A. B. Dahlgren ordered nine ships of his South Atlantic Blockading Squadron to patrol along the Southern coast to prevent the escape of President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet.
Commodore William Radford, commanding the James River Flotilla, stationed the USS Tristram Shandy, under Acting Lieutenant Francis M. Green, at Cape Henry to watch for the CSS Stonewall. The next day Union Secretary Welles warned Radford that the Stonewall had sailed from Teneriffe, in the Canary Islands, on 1 April and had steamed rapidly to the south. "...Every precaution should be taken to guard against surprise and to prevent her inflicting serious injury should she make her appearance anywhere within the limits of your command..." Welles sent the same directive to Commander F. A. Parker of the Potomac Flotilla.
The steamship Sultana suffers a boiler explosion tonight, eight miles north of Memphis on the Mississippi River, killing more than 1,800 of her estimated 2,427 souls aboard. The explosion collapsed the superstructure and almost immediately engulfed the boat in flames. Most passengers were discharged Union soldiers and repatriated POW's returning from Confederate prison camps. The boat’s capacity was 376. This was the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history.
The Sultana was launched from Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1863. The boat was 260 feet long and had an authorized capacity of 376 passengers and crew. It was soon employed to carry troops and supplies along the lower Mississippi River.
On April 21, starting what looked like a regular run, the Sultana had left New Orleans with from 75 to 100 cabin passengers, and a cargo which included a hundred hogsheads of sugar and a hundred head of assorted livestock. It stopped at Vicksburg, Mississippi, for repair of a leaky boiler. R. G. Taylor, the boilermaker on the ship, advised Captain J. Cass Mason that two sheets on the boiler had to be replaced, but Mason ordered Taylor to simply patch the plates until the ship reached St. Louis. Mason was part owner of the riverboat, and he and the other owners were anxious to pick up discharged Union prisoners at Vicksburg. The federal government promised to pay $5 for each enlisted man and $10 for each officer delivered to the North. Such a contract could pay huge dividends, and Mason convinced local military authorities to pick up the entire contingent despite the presence of two other steamboats at Vicksburg.
When the Sultana left Vicksburg, it carried over 2,100 troops and 200 civilians plus crew, more than six times its capacity. Last evening, the ship stopped at Memphis before cruising across the river to pick up coal in Arkansas. As it steamed up the river above Memphis, a thunderous explosion tore through the boat. Metal and steam from the boilers killed hundreds, and hundreds more were thrown from the boat into the chilly waters of the river. The Mississippi was already at flood stage, and the Sultana had only one lifeboat and a few life preservers. Only 600 people survived the explosion. A board of inquiry later determined the cause to be insufficient water in the boiler--overcrowding was not listed as a cause. The Sultana accident is still the greatest maritime disaster in United States history.
Naval report: The river steamer Sultana blew up in the Mississippi River above Memphis, Tennessee, killing 1,450 out of 2,000 passengers--all but 50 of whom were former prisoners of war. She was en route to Cairo, Illinois, when a violent explosion ripped her apart and turned her into a sheet of flame. The cause of the explosion was never determined, but one of the theories advanced was that a coal torpedo--such as the one that was suspected of having destroyed Army steamer Greyhound had been slipped into the steamer's coal bin.
Brigadier General James C. Veatch, USA, is assigned to command the Post and the District of Mobile, Alabama.
Colonel William H. Dickey, commander of the 65th, 67th, 84th and 92nd US Colored Troops, as well as the 14th New York Cavalry (six companies) and 1st Indiana Heavy Artillery, assumes the command of the District of Morganza, Louisiana.
A brief affair occurs near James Creek, in the vicinity of Mount Vernon, Missouri, as two partisan guerrillas are confronted by Yankees, killed immediately and laid to rest.
President Abraham Lincoln's funeral train passes through Rochester and pauses at Buffalo, New York. Former President Millard Fillmore and future President Grover Cleveland attend the funeral service in Buffalo.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his party reached South Carolina. Treasury Secretary George A. Trenholm had resigned, too ill to continue. Postmaster General John Reagan replaced Trenholm.
The body of John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assassin, and David E. Herold, who had accompanied Booth in the escape from Washington and was with the actor when he was shot, were delivered on board USS Montauk, anchored in the Anacostia River off the Washington Navy Yard. Booth had been slain and Herold captured at John M. Garrett's farm three miles outside Port Royal, Virginia, in the early morning hours of the previous day. While the body was on board the monitor, an autopsy was performed and an inquiry conducted to establish identity. Booth's corpse was then taken by boat to the Washington Arsenal (now Fort McNair) where it was buried in a gun box the following day. Herold was incarcerated in the hold of Montauk which, along with USS Saugus, was being utilized for the maximum security imprisonment of eight of the suspected assassination conspirators.
Union Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles informed Commander F. A. Parker of the Potomac Flotilla that the "...special restrictions relative to retaining vessels are removed." He advised the Flotilla commander that "...Booth was killed and captured with Herold yesterday, 3 miles southwest of Port Royal, Va." With the search for President Lincoln's assassin ended, further south the Navy focused its attention to another end. This date, Rear Admiral John A. B. Dahlgren ordered nine ships of his South Atlantic Blockading Squadron to patrol along the Southern coast to prevent the escape of President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet.
Commodore William Radford, commanding the James River Flotilla, stationed the USS Tristram Shandy, under Acting Lieutenant Francis M. Green, at Cape Henry to watch for the CSS Stonewall. The next day Union Secretary Welles warned Radford that the Stonewall had sailed from Teneriffe, in the Canary Islands, on 1 April and had steamed rapidly to the south. "...Every precaution should be taken to guard against surprise and to prevent her inflicting serious injury should she make her appearance anywhere within the limits of your command..." Welles sent the same directive to Commander F. A. Parker of the Potomac Flotilla.
