The Sultana Tragedy: America's Greatest Maritime Disaster - Hardcover

Potter, Jerry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0882898612 ISBN 13: 9780882898612

Publisher: Pelican Publishing, 1992

Synopsis

On April 27, 1865, the Sultana, a 260-foot, wooden-hulled steamboat, exploded on the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tennessee. More than 1,800 men died.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"Lee Surrenders!" "President Murdered!" "Booth Killed!" screamed the headlines of American newspapers in April 1865, leaving little room for mention of a maritime disaster that to this day stands as America's worst. On April 27, 1865, the Sultana, a 260-foot, wooden-hulled steamboat-smaller than the Titanic but carrying more passengers-exploded on the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tennessee.

More than 1,800 men, mostly Union soldiers on their way home from Confederate prison camps, died. On board were over 2,400 passengers-six times the ship's legal capacity. Although jubilant about the war's end, most of the men were weakened by malnutrition and disease from their imprisonment at Andersonville and Cahaba. Hundreds who were not killed in the explosion drowned in the cold, swift waters of the muddy Mississippi River.

Because of the timing of the sinking, coverage of the Sultana's demise was scant, and the tragedy has passed almost unnoticed in the pages of American history. A bitter survivor would write:

"The men who had endured the torments of a hell on earth, starved, famished from thirst, eaten with vermin, having endured all the indignities, insults and abuses possible for an armed bully to bestow upon them, to be so soon forgotten does not speak well for our government or the American people."

In this highly documented book, author Jerry O. Potter focuses on how greed, indifference, gross stupidity, and criminal misconduct reaching as far as the White House led to the overloading of the Sultana at Vicksburg. Such irresponsible conduct characterized the actions of an entire chain of army command, President Lincoln, and several profit-hungry civilians. This authoritative work contains abundant photographs and illustrations, as well as the most complete list of the ship's passengers available.

From the Inside Flap:

On the night of April 27, 1865, a wooden-hulled steamer overloaded with war-weary Union soldiers exploded and sank on the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tennessee. More than 1,800 soldiers, veterans of some of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War and survivors of the Andersonville and Cahaba prison camps, died en route to their homes and families in the North.

The magnitude of the catastrophe was overshadowed by the turbulent events that shook our nation and filled the newspaper headlines in April of 1865-namely the end of the Civil War, the assassination of President Lincoln, and the capture of John Wilkes Booth. As a result, the explosion of the Sultana has been all but passed over in the pages of history.

In this first ever comprehensive study of the disaster, author Jerry O. Potter brings to light the cause of the explosion, and the investigation and cover-up which followed. Emphasizing the needlessness of the tragedy, Potter reveals the greed, indifference, criminal misconduct, and gross stupidity which led to the loading at Vicksburg of 2,300 men onto a boat designed for 376.

This authoritative work contains abundant photographs and illustrations, as well as the most complete list of the ship's passengers available.

Potter, a Memphis lawyer, first became interested in the Sultana over a decade ago when he saw a painting of the burning ship. Determined that the Sultana should not be forgotten, Potter researched newspaper accounts, the three existing books on the subject, and previously unused original military and government documents.

Through these sources, he has created the truly definitive study of this great tragedy which even today stands as the worst maritime disaster in American history.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pelican Publishing
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0882898612
• ISBN 13: 9780882898612
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 312