No single event during the war so startled and shocked the North as that
which has since been known as the "Sultana Disaster."
On the 23d day of April, 1865, the steamer Sultana left Vicksburg with a
total of passengers and crew of 2,141 persons. Of this number
thirty-five were Federal officers and 1,996 Federal soldiers, recently
having been released from Catawba, Enterprise and Andersonville prisons.
The remaining 110 were made up of the crew and passengers taken on board
at points between New Orleans and Vicksburg.
The physical condition of these officers and soldiers is well known to
those familiar with the treatment received by Federals in Southern
prisons,--long confinement in stockades, without protection from heat or
cold, or rain, without adequate food or clothing, deprived in sickness
of medical aid and the commonest comforts. All were weak and many were
absolutely helpless in the presence of danger.
The estimated capacity of the boat was 376 persons, besides the crew.
The overloading of the boat made it necessary to make any disposition of
the men practicable. They occupied all available room. They were stowed
away wherever space was found to place them. The trip up the river to
the place of the tragedy was made without the occurrence of any unusual
incident. The last stop was at Memphis, at which place the boat took on
coal. At about 3 o'clock on the morning of the 27th of April, 1865, when
opposite Fogleman's Landing, some eight miles above Memphis, the
steamer's boiler exploded. The vessel took fire immediately and was soon
burned to the water's edge.
It were idle to attempt a description of the scene that followed that
explosion. It was 3 o'clock in the morning. The water was very cold.
Many passed from the sleep of life to the sleep of death without
awakening. Others without warning found themselves rudely awakened by
contact with the icy water of the Mississippi. They saw the fierce river
lit up by the burning steamer; saw their comrades struggling with the
waves, heard their appeals for help, without the power to respond. They
fought bravely with the darkness and cold and flood for life, sometimes
even to death for the possession of a log, or boat, or other float, that
could bear but one, often cruelly, but naturally asserting Nature's
first law, when its assertion meant death to a weaker brother. Yet such
sad pictures were relieved by others of devotion and gallantry and
sacrifice not surpassed in earthly trials. Some who were able to swim,
notwithstanding the shock and chill of the waters, kept afloat for a
time, and were successful in getting hold of floating planks and rails,
and thus maintaining themselves until rescued. Many floated thus as far
as Memphis before they were picked up, and though rescued from the
water, died soon after from the scalding and burns received on the
vessel, and from long exposure to the cold and from exhaustion. An
instance is related of a mother, who clasping her babe in her arms,
floated from the wreck to Memphis, where she was taken from the water.
She lived, but the little one was dead.
The light from the burning vessel was seen, and the explosion heard for
many miles. At a later hour these evidences of disaster would have
brought greater numbers to the rescue. The time of the accident was
unfavorable to prompt assistance. As it was, vessels of all
descriptions, chiefly skiffs, put out promptly and rendered much
assistance.
A soldier passenger on the boat relates that while in the water he saw a
horse swim by him with a dozen men clinging to him; he says he saw a
soldier attempting, with the aid of a plank, to save two little girls. A
rope was thrown him, and in attempting to catch it, the children escaped
from his exhausted arms. He seemed to lose all thought of the rope; he
beat about wildly to regain his helpless charge, which were borne from
him in darkness, but he was finally rescued nearly dead from exhaustion.
Of those who were rescued, 200 died in the hospital of Memphis alone.
Near fourteen hundred were killed by the explosion or drowned. Those
able to be removed were sent North to Cincinnati, Ohio, but those
belonging to the Indiana regiments were stopped at Indianapolis, where
they received such attention as thoughtful consideration could bestow.
* * * * *
We give the following extracts from Memphis papers appearing within a
day or two of the disaster: