1820 1830 April 21, 1838 - Oronoko Most of the passengers were asleep at the time Killed almost everyone either instantly or later from wounds it caused 109 people died 1840 Was traveling to St. Louis when it hit a snag and had several planks torn from the bottom of the boat "It's pretty exciting. The exact death toll is unknown, although the most recent evidence indicates that 1,169 died. [23], 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. Look for details such as clothing, technologies or buildings in old photographs to learn more about the past. In 1859 the Princess was a four-year-old state-of-the-art side-wheel paddleboat. The preliminary crest of 19.61 . Eventually, the group settled on meeting in the Toledo, Ohio area. Train derails into Mississippi River near Wisconsin community Under the command of Captain James Cass Mason of St. Louis, Sultana left St. Louis on April 13, 1865, bound for New Orleans. All rights reserved. The sediment tended to settle on the bottom of the boilers or clog between the flues and leave hotspots. Explosion of the Moselle, Near Cincinnati, Ohio, April 25, 1838.. Almost all were Union soldiers who had survived the . It seemed that profit was the driving factor for most steamboat owners and captains. On April 27, 1865, a steamboat named the Sultana exploded and sank while transporting Union soldiers up the Mississippi. FS: Tell us why the Sultana Disaster Museum is located in Marion, Arkansas. THIS DAY IN HISTORY - Union soldiers die in steamship explosion - 1865 2), built in 1860 but coming downriver on her maiden voyage after being refurbished,[6] arrived at about 2:30 AM, a half hour after the explosion, and rescued scores of survivors. Many Sultana survivors ended up on the Arkansas side of the river, which was under Confederate control during the war. Steamboat explosions were dramatic, deadly, and common. Highlights of the Mississippi River Cruise: Round-trip from New Orleans Length: Five days Price: Starts at $2,405 per person Enjoy a complimentary overnight in New Orleans before embarking on. [4]:146147,168176, Passengers who survived the initial explosion had to risk their lives in the icy spring runoff of the Mississippi or burn with the boat. When it got to Grand Tower Ill. catastrophe struck. [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. Bridges, shipwrecks, islands, and secret spots on the Mississippi River The Chicago Opera Troupe, a 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 (equivalent to $17,702 in 2021) [14], 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. It didn't run for several years during World War II because wartime supply restrictions blocked needed upgrades to the boilers. [4]:129 Eventually, the hulk of Sultana drifted about six miles (10km) to the west bank of the river and sank at around 7:00 AM near Mound City and present-day Marion, Arkansas, about five hours after the explosion. No one seemed to question the danger of a steamboat race until there was an accident or . No one seemed to question the danger of a steamboat race until there was an accident or the boilers exploded. The power of the boilers came with risk - the water levels in the fire tubes had to be carefully maintained at all times. Steamboats and flatboats brought thousands of early settlers to the new land of Iowa. Nashville: Land Yacht Press, 2000. Buried treasure: Long lost Steamboat Malta found under Missouri - KMBC 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. 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. The massive steam explosion came from the top rear of the boilers. Lead was a very important export from the Dubuque area. In his book, he builds a strong case against the boat's captain and co-owner, J. Cass Mason. [4]:62, Sultana spent two days traveling upriver, fighting against one of the worst spring floods in the river's history. Steamboats on the River | Iowa PBS [5] About ten hours south of Vicksburg, one of Sultana's four boilers sprang a leak. 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. During her time in port, and while the repairs were being made, Sultana took on the paroled prisoners. He was injured on Sultana and was honorably discharged in May 1865. A couple billed as "a genuine giant and giantess" arrive in St. Louis for a visit. 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.[16]. And it was very cold. ", Jerry Potter, lawyer and author of The Sultana Tragedy. Barrett was a veteran of the MexicanAmerican War and had been captured at the Battle of Franklin. 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. Although sediment settled in the bottom of even the flue boilers, it was never thought to be much of a hazard. How do you feel about that? Capt. {{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. Preston Lodwick, then a consortium including Capt. Surviving the Worst: The Wreck of the Sultana at the End of the - MS Since then, he says, studying the Sultana has become an obsession. 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. As stated in the 1903 newspaper article, the log was mistakenly taken by Sultana. Recollections of a Rebel ReeferVol. Is it a good thing? And many of them were saved by local residents, like John Fogelman an ancestor of the city of Marion's current mayor, Frank Fogelman. You have permission to edit this article. The violent explosion flung some deck passengers into the water and blew a gaping 2530 foot hole in the steamer. [7] Many died of drowning or hypothermia. Mississippi River. [8], 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] across the Mississippi River from Memphis. A Look Back The day the Golden Eagle steamboat sank in 1947. The Sultana sank in the Mississippi River near Marion, and over the years, the wreck was eventually covered with silt. The men located around the twin openings quickly crawled under the wreckage and down the main stairs. Cost $8 for poster plus $3.50 postage (U.S.). To the left are the smokestacks of the Union Electric Co. plant at Cahokia. by Kelby Ouchley Courtesy of The Historic New Orleans Collection Steamboat Princess. The collision startled Marga Sachse, a passenger from St. Louis, who said she "felt a jar, and the ship lurched.". Steamboats ultimately carried more men and freight in the Civil War than the faster and more expensive railroads. Steamboats carried plows and seed to new farmers settling in Nebraska in the 1850s and 1860s. Freight and cargo were much more profitablealthough the movement of animals could be a backbreaking, smelly proposition! And finally, at the end of the war, the Sultana would have played a significant role in transporting former Union prisoners-of-war back to the North. [4]: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. Evidence like that may have led the government to downplay the Sultana tragedy, Potter says. An engraving of the Sultana explosion, published in Harpers Weekly, May 20, 1865. That is a sunken ship almost every 3 miles! Cape Girardeau:Later renamed the River Queen, the vessel sank in 1968. At some places, the river overflowed the banks and spread out three miles wide. The museum also features many artifacts from the Sultana Survivor's Association, as well as a fourteen-foot model replica of the boat. "They had survived war," O'Neal says. Dead trees fell into the river and got stuck on the bottom. She also carried a crew of 85. GRAND TOWER, ILL. It was the first trip of the season for the Golden Eagle, an antique steamboat with twin stacks, gingerbread woodwork and a splashing sternwheel. Trees along the river bank were almost completely covered until only the very tops of the trees were visible above the swirling, powerful water. Explosion and Burning of the Steamboat Teche on the Mississippi River, May 5, 1825. Leyhe's father and uncle established the Eagle Packet Co., and Leyhe began working on the Mississippi River when he was 18. It was her 82nd birthday. On March 26, 1915, while the Alice Miller was laid up at Vicksburg, fire broke out in the kitchen, and the boat was destroyed. 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. Through the corruption of Captain Reuben Hatch, a Union officer at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and the captain of the Sultana, James Cass Mason, those 2,000 ex-prisoners were crowded onto a boat with a legal carrying capacity of only 376 passengers. A look back at today in history as seen through our archives. That meant another expensive trip and more time. More passengers boarded at Baton Rouge including a number of politicians fresh from the state legislative session that had just ended early for the holiday. Bates, both eight-footers, arrive a, On April 18, 1949, at Verhagen Hall at St. Louis University a priest just back from a year of study at Harvard completed an exorcism after hea. Burning of the Orline St. John, near Montgomery, Alabama, March 2, 1850. Train derails near Wisconsin-Iowa border; 2 cars float down Mississippi The crew threw more wood on the fire. In the end, no one was ever held accountable for what remains the deadliest maritime disaster in United States history. In the 1820s, steamboats on the Mississippi carried lead from Julien Dubuque's lead mines near Dubuque. Shipwreck found in Mississippi River near Grand Tower, Ill. - KFVS12 It happened near Memphis, Tennessee, almost in the very heart of the United States, and yet very few people have ever heard about it. In 1857, The Nebraska City Advertiser newspaper listed 46 steamboats traveling the Missouri, with 12 more being built. (Post-Dispatch), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers crews dismantle the wreck of the Golden Eagle on May 28, 1947, to eliminate its hazard to river navigation. 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. "It won't move!" Captain Frederic Speed, a Union officer who sent the 1,953 paroled prisoners into Vicksburg from the parole camp, was charged with grossly overcrowding Sultana and found guilty. (Lloyd Spainhower/Post-Dispatch), Capt. Potter, the lawyer and author, grew up around Memphis, but didn't learn about the tragedy until the late 1970s, when he saw a painting of the ship in flames. [10] In 1880, the United States Congress, in conjunction with the War Department, reported the loss of life as 1,259. A USS Abeona Andy Gibson (steamboat) USS Antelope (1861) USS Arizona (1858) B USC&GS Baton Rouge (1875) USS Black Hawk (1848) C USS Cincinnati (1861) City-class ironclad CSS Colonel Lovell "It was like a tremendous bomb going off in the middle of where these men were," Potter says. It's estimated between 300 and 400 boats have sunk along the Missouri River. Explosion of the Oronoko, April 21, 1838, near Princeton, Mississippi. 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,. Her two side-mounted paddle wheels were driven by four fire-tube boilers. Sultana launched on January 3, 1863, the fifth steamboat to bear the name. Investigation Tip: The U.S. government would pay US$2.75 per enlisted man and US$8 per officer to any steamboat captain who would take a group north. Steamboat Princess Disaster - 64 Parishes The coal-burning steamboat was on a trip to Nasvhille, Tenn., via the Ohio and Cumberland rivers, when it sank at Grand Tower Island 80 miles below St. Louis on May 18, 1947. BNSF said in a statement that two of . The Capt. Fogelman's ancestors didn't have any boats to reach the trapped soldiers, so they improvised. As the steamboat made her way north following the twists and turns of the river, she listed severely from side to side. 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. On May 19, 1947, the Golden Eagle left St. Louis on the Mississippi River and headed for Nashville. The steamboat needed a lot of steam power to pull away from the shore. The Sultana should be remembered because what happened to her need not have happened. Despite even less reliable water depth than the border rivers, interior Iowa rivers (those rivers that do not border the state) also saw considerable steamboat travel. yet the tragedy got very few headlines. What the reader needs to know is that Captain Hatch, who had been corrupt throughout the war, would not have been there if not for some influential friends and relatives in the government, including President Abraham Lincoln. 2012 was additionally when the river was low sufficient to expose five steamboat wrecks along the Missouri River between St. Charles and Bridgeton. 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. Maintaining a posted schedule was important in the competitive business of steamboat commerce. "The wind blew the fire to the rear, burned that out," Frank Fogelman says. 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. FERRYVILLE - A train derailed along the Mississippi River Thursday afternoon in southwest Wisconsin, leaving several cars overturned and jumbled along the bluff and two cars floating . BHYHA on Instagram: "On this day in 1865The steamboat Sultana The ill-fated Sultana in Helena, Ark., just before it exploded on April 27, 1865, with about 2,500 people aboard. Slate is published by The Slate [9] In February 1867, the Bureau of Military Justice placed the death toll at 1,100. April 27, 2023. 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. [4]:50,5556 Although Sultana had a legal capacity of only 376, by the time she backed away from Vicksburg on the night of April 24, she was severely overcrowded with over 1,953 paroled prisoners, 22 guards from the 58th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, over 70 fare-paying cabin passengers, and 85 crew members, for a total of 2,130 people. [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. Mississippi River waters keep rising in Iowa and Illinois | KTLA 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. Knowing that Mason needed money, Hatch suggested that he could guarantee Mason a full load of about 1,400 prisoners if Mason would agree to give him a kickback. Sultana was a commercial side-wheel steamboat which exploded and sank on the Mississippi River on April 27, 1865, killing 1,169 people in what remains the worst maritime disaster in United States history. The cost for a stateroom fare was marginal when compared to the amount that could be gained by carrying freight and goods. 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. Terrific Explosion of the Steamboat Ben Franklin, at Mobile, Alabama, March 13, 1836. 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. Effie Afton Hits the Bridge. Traveling by steamboat on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers was common in the 1800s. Whenever possible, I tried to dispel that myth. 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.. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing, 1992. On the three-hundred-mile upriver leg, it made stops at Donaldsonville, Plaquemine, Baton Rouge, Port Hudson, Bayou Sara, Red River Landing, Fort Adams, Natchez, Waterproof, Rodney, St. Joseph, Grand Gulf, and Warrenton, before arriving at Vicksburg. On April 21, Sultana left New Orleans with about seventy cabin and deck passengers and a small amount of livestock. Immediately, Captain Mason grabbed an armload of Cairo newspapers and headed south to spread the news, knowing that telegraphic communication with the southern states had been almost totally cut off because of the recently-ended American Civil War. Subscribe now and never hit a limit. In 1929, only two men attended the southern reunion. What effect did steamboats and travel on the river have on the development of Iowa? (Post-Dispatch). One wall is decorated with the names of every soldier, crewmember, and passenger on the boat on April 27, 1865. The Sultana's captain and its chief engineer also allowed a mechanic to make a quick and inadequate repair to a damaged boiler, Potter says. Tucson: Fireship Press, 2009. Plowing upriver from New Orleans, the Natchez was the first steamboat to arrive on the scene. 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. The fires still going against the empty boiler created hot spots. "They had survived prison in one of the most hideous places the South had. 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. (Post-Dispatch), Retired Capt. Sultana had tubular boilers filled with 24 horizontal five-inch flues. The Wreck of the Sultana. "All the boilers, four in number, burst simultaneously . The story of the Sultana isn't well-known even among people who live along the Mississippi. from 1993-2005. On May 19, 1865, less than a month after the disaster, Brigadier General William Hoffman, Commissary General of Prisoners who investigated the disaster, reported an overall loss of soldiers, passengers, and crew of 1,238. Barges still carry some goods on the river, but trains and trucks carry most of the freight in America. Steamboat companies often made huge profits by carrying tons of cargo to rapidly growing communities. He has conducted interviews with some 75 high-profile people, including historians, government officials, combat veterans, journalists, explorers, and Hollywood stars. On a landscape lacking roads but braided with bayous and rivers, travel via water was the only efficient means of transportation. FS: In the course of your story, you declare that It is now possible to write a work of historical nonfiction without ever leaving home. How do you actually feel about that? The Sultana Tragedy: Americas Greatest Maritime Disaster. The boat was loaded with passengers, mostly from Mississippi and Louisiana, headed to New Orleans to celebrate Mardi Gras. The ill-fated Sultana in Helena, Ark., just before it exploded on April 27, 1865, with about 2,500 people aboard. However, as I said, a person still needs to go to a resource location such as a museum archive to get the basic facts. The Golden Eagle's new St. Louis-based owners left it to the river's mercy. Steamboats traveled into Iowa border waters even before Iowa was legally open for settlement. [4]:7985, While the Sultana burned, and the men on the steamboat were either already dead or fighting for their lives, the southbound steamer Bostona (No. The giant paddle wheel started turning faster. The current on the Missouri was fast, and the channelthe deepest part of the rivershifted from place to place. And the shrapnel, the steam and the boiling water killed hundreds. The West Memphis Boatwrecks Project - Arkansas Archeological Survey 3) The design of the boilers. 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.
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