Steamboats should not have been racing each other, but it happened all the time, and the public loved it! You've read 1 out of 5 free articles of Naval History this month. 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,. Constructed of wood in 1863 by the John Litherbury Boatyard[1] in Cincinnati, Ohio, Sultana was intended for the lower Mississippi cotton trade. Under the command of Captain James Cass Mason of St. Louis, Sultana left St. Louis on April 13, 1865, bound for New Orleans. On the Mississippi river, it was four to five years." "There were about 289 steamboats that sank or possibly more on the Missouri River in the mid-19th century," Rose said. On March 26, 1915, while the Alice Miller was laid up at Vicksburg, fire broke out in the kitchen, and the boat was destroyed. A Brief History of Steamboat Racing in the U.S. | History| Smithsonian Even amid the horrendous chaos, rescue efforts began immediately. By the time the repairs would have been completed, the prisoners would have been sent home on other boats. An estimated four hundred people were on board the Princess when it pulled out into the current of the river after 9 a.m. Because the boat was late, high boiler pressure had been maintained during the stop, and second engineer Peter Hersey was reported to have declared that he would make it to New Orleans on time if he had to blow her up. As a portent of the looming catastrophe, the Mississippi River was veiled in a dense fog. One wall is decorated with the names of every soldier, crewmember, and passenger on the boat on April 27, 1865. Given as the "John Lithoberry Shipyard" on Ohio Historical Marker 1831 (1999) on the Ohio River at Sawyer Point. On April 21, Sultana left New Orleans with about seventy cabin and deck passengers and a small amount of livestock. Constructed of wood in 1863 by the John Litherbury Boatyard [1] in Cincinnati, Ohio, Sultana was intended for the lower Mississippi cotton trade. by Kelby Ouchley Courtesy of The Historic New Orleans Collection Steamboat Princess. A potential reader should care about this story because it shows that greed and corruption in the government is not a new thing. In 2012 and 2015, the river was low sufficient to additionally expose the USS Inaugural. The Sultanas tubular boilers, however, were harder to clean and could form pockets of sediment that could insulate a section of the tubes from the surrounding water and lead to overheating of the tubes. The Sultana was a 260-foot-long wooden steamboat, built in Cincinnati in 1863, which regularly transported passengers and freight between St. Louis and New Orleans on the Mississippi River.. On April 23, 1865, the vessel docked in Vicksburg to address . Author Q&ADestruction of the Steamboat Sultana Capt. The current on the Missouri was fast, and the channelthe deepest part of the rivershifted from place to place. [12] In 1880, the War Department placed the number of survivors at 931, but the most recent research places the number at 961. April 27, 2023. Most of Sultana's officers, including Captain Mason, were among those who perished.[8]. And it was very cold. On April 27, 1865, the steamboat Sultana exploded and sank while traveling up the Mississippi River, killing an estimated 1,800 people. Steamboat - Wikipedia Mississippi woman dies in boat crash on the Jourdan River | Biloxi Sun From 1817 to 1871, about 5,600 people died on Mississippi River wrecks of all sorts, including burst boilers, collisions and fires. In his book recently published by the Naval Institute Press, Destruction of the Steamboat Sultana: The Worst Maritime Disaster in American History, author Gene Eric Salecker sheds new light on the Sultanas tragic fate. Cape Girardeau:Later renamed the River Queen, the vessel sank in 1968. An estimated 1,800 people died, but few today have heard of this disaster. MALTA BEND, Mo. An outfield in flux. Some 1,700 returning Union Veterans died. GES: I think the reporting of the Sultana disaster in April and May 1865 was pretty accurate. He was company president for many years and sold the company in 1946. Among other St. Louisans along for the ride was Capt. Barrett was a veteran of the MexicanAmerican War and had been captured at the Battle of Franklin. What is the connection? 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. Even after the Sultana disaster, steamboat captains continued to accept profit over safety, as shown by boats that exploded when crammed full of recent immigrants moving westward. "The war had just ended a few weeks before," he says. The May 9, 1989 the Des Moines Register newspaper listed 40 known sunken steamboats from the southwest corner of Iowa north just over 100 miles to Sioux City. 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. Although brought up on courts-martial charges, Hatch managed to get letters of recommendation from no less reputable personages than President Lincoln and General Ulysses S. Grant. When steamboats went out to investigate the wreck, they reported on what was found. By that standard, the loss of the Golden Eagle was a minor event. Potter says he went to the library to learn more and wondered, "Why haven't I ever heard of this?" But perhaps the best explanation is that after years of bloody conflict, the nation was simply tired of hearing about war and death. It was just weeks after the Civil War ended, Potter explains, and the vessel was packed with Union soldiers who'd been released from Confederate prison camps. Passengers were blown apart or scalded by the hot water. "We feel like we're a part of this Civil War story, but we're the conclusion that no one heard," says Lisa O'Neal, a Marion resident and member of the Sultana Historic Preservation Society. They wanted the railroad companies to pay for damages to the Effie Afton and its cargo. Train derails into Mississippi River near Wisconsin community The West Memphis Boatwrecks Project - Arkansas Archeological Survey 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. Mississippi River's low water level reveals shipwreck, apparently a He was a passenger on its trip to Nashville, Tenn. (Post-Dispatch), Passengers pass time on Grand Tower Island until they were picked up by a passing towboat. 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. (The whole book is digitally available via the Library of Congress, on the Internet Archive.). The power of the boilers came with risk - the water levels in the fire tubes had to be carefully maintained at all times. Barrels of flour were emptied on the ground, and the terribly burned victims were rolled in it and placed in the shade. 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. [citation needed] The next year, only one man showed up. Everyone escaped to the muddy, isolated safety of Grand Tower Island. By that standard, the loss of the Golden Eagle was a minor event. 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 Mississippi River has changed course several times since the disaster, leaving the wreck under dry land and far from today's river. As the steamboat made her way north following the twists and turns of the river, she listed severely from side to side. After the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, Louisiana, in July 1863 and the opening of the Mississippi, the Sultana was used to bring cotton from parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas that were now under Union control up north so that it could be sent to Eastern manufacturers that had been starving for the raw material. River of History - Chapter 4 - Mississippi National River & Recreation The name stuck. GES: I began to dispel the myths and untruths surrounding the Sultana shortly after the Naval Institute Press published my first book in 1996. So on the 150th anniversary of the sinking, the city of Marion, Ark., is trying to make sure the Sultana will be remembered. 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. hide caption. [15][full citation needed], 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 overloaded and top-heavy. Click on links in the titles below to reach Lloyds descriptions of the accidents pictured. 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. A look back at today in history as seen through our archives. [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. FS: Your handling of how the owners and crews of these vessels seemed to have not factored in the reality that dirty river water was not suitable for being used to create steam, and thus propulsion. The last of the southern survivors, and last overall survivor, was Private Charles M. Eldridge of the 3rd Tennessee Cavalry Regiment, who died at his home at age 96 on September 8, 1941, more than 76 years after the disaster. [4]:79 First one boiler exploded, followed a split-second later by two more. Now, 129 years later, kayakers like Edinger are getting an up-close look at the vessel. "At 2 a.m., one of the boilers exploded, resulting in two other boilers exploding," Potter says. Explosion of the Steamboat Constitution, May 4, 1817, Point Coupee, Louisiana. Jan. 3, 1844 Steamboat wreck kills as many as 70 on the Mississippi Men in skiffs from both riverbanks rescued people clinging to debris. hide caption. 0:04. Via History.com The steamboat Sultana explodes on the Mississippi River near Memphis, killing 1,700 passengers including many discharged Union soldiers. Students tour the pilot house of the Golden Eagle on display at the U.S. Army Engineers base at the foot of Arsenal Street on Jan. 4, 1948. [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. He has conducted interviews with some 75 high-profile people, including historians, government officials, combat veterans, journalists, explorers, and Hollywood stars. An epilogue to Tennessee steamboating came in the 1970s with the return of the pleasure sternwheeler to the Mississippi, Cumberland, and Tennessee Rivers. In his book, he builds a strong case against the boat's captain and co-owner, J. Cass Mason. It was reported that the steamer was insured for $8,000. [4]:197202 Captain George Williams, who had placed the men on board, was a regular Army officer, and the military refused to go after one of their own. 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. Mrs. Lind's birthday cake was lost, but fellow evacuees serenaded her as morning sun warmed their island refuge. 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 . Morgan, James Morris. 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. GES: Sultana (No. "The wind blew the fire to the rear, burned that out," Frank Fogelman says. The current was calmer and the channel was deeper. Is it a good thing? 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. Steamboats and flatboats brought thousands of early settlers to the new land of Iowa. Today, though, the city of Marion, Ark., thinks people are ready to learn about the Sultana. By August 1872 the count of steamboats under the Burlington Railroad Bridge was 147, while the 1,108 engines and trains crossed over that bridge during the same month. (Post-Dispatch), The Golden Eagle heads downstream at St. Louis on May 14, 1940. A sunken casino boat has been uncovered in the Mississippi as severe drought pushes water levels in the Memphis section of the river to record lows. After days in flood stage, the Mississippi River appeared to be at crest in Lansing, Iowa Friday evening as the river has spent hours below the max daily crest. Yet, shortly after my 1996 book came out, a cabal of people sprang up touting the sabotage theory once again. While the Titanic caused more deaths, the great ocean liner was a British vessel and carried people from several different countries. Explosion of the Oronoko, April 21, 1838, near Princeton, Mississippi. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing, 1992. The cost for a stateroom fare was marginal when compared to the amount that could be gained by carrying freight and goods. (Post-Dispatch). Catchers once in a lifetime lunge saves Cardinals, The world watches (and makes donations) as St. Louis bald eagle raises eaglet from a rock, Governor threatens to keep Missouri lawmakers in session over transgender rules, Barat Academy in Chesterfield to close after years of financial troubles, Four young people die in Old Monroe head-on crash, Court records online include private information for thousands of Missouri residents, Archdiocese releases third draft of proposed changes to St. Louis parishes. In the end, no one was ever held accountable for what remains the deadliest maritime disaster in United States history. ", Ancestry.com, Texas Death Certificates, 19031980, Jennings, Pat "What Happened to the Sultana? Newspaper accounts indicate that the residents of Memphis had sympathy for the victims despite the ongoing Union occupation. He died in 1871, having escaped justice because of his numerous highly placed patronsincluding two presidents. Its dining room was graced with chandeliers and red carpet. [18] Louden, a former Confederate agent and saboteur who operated in and around St. Louis, had been responsible for the burning of the steamboat Ruth. 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. The forward part of the upper deck collapsed onto the middle deck, killing and trapping many in the wreckage. (Lloyd Spainhower/Post-Dispatch), Capt. 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. [4]:24 On April 26, Sultana stopped at Helena, Arkansas, where photographer Thomas W. Bankes took a picture of the grossly overcrowded vessel. Most were Union soldiers, newly released from Confederate prison camps. Sometimes terrible accidents happened on the Mississippi too. Early western river navigation was always dangerous, but it was a necessity in order to ship supplies to U.S. Army frontier posts and civilian settlements. [33] The museum is only temporary until enough funds can be raised to build a permanent museum. "He served in the 23rd Arkansas Cavalry, and he was tasked with, among other things, raiding ships going up and down the river," Frank Barton says. Whole groups went down together. At least a hundred people survived their injuries. "It's pretty exciting. tragically sunk during the civil war the sultana accident took as many lives as the titanic but has garnered far . Now, through the use of the internet, people can search hundred, perhaps thousands, of newspapers, from the United States as well as from around the world. The Princess was about six miles below Baton Rouge at Conrads Point when a teenage boy watching the boat glide along from a distance noted, A great column of white smoke suddenly went up from her and she burst into flames. The explosion was cataclysmic as all four huge boilers burst at once. On May 19, 1947, the Golden Eagle left St. Louis on the Mississippi River and headed for Nashville. They'd stay in a motel at night, but she loved to cook for the crew and the men from the Coast Guard. Also, many people chose to pay for only deck passage, which restricted the traveler to the lowest (main) deck. 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. Although sediment settled in the bottom of even the flue boilers, it was never thought to be much of a hazard. Steamboats on the River | Iowa PBS The Directorypadded out the bloody prose of the disaster descriptions and the repetitive awfulness of the illustrations with current business and travel information about the Mississippi Valley. On a landscape lacking roads but braided with bayous and rivers, travel via water was the only efficient means of transportation. Contains photos of War Eagle and steamer Reindeer. [9] In February 1867, the Bureau of Military Justice placed the death toll at 1,100. Group, a Graham Holdings Company. 5) was built in February 1863, but she was used extensively throughout the last two years of the Civil War to carry Union troops and supplies on the Cumberland and the Mississippi Rivers to aid in the collapse of the Confederacy. However, the Upper Rapids and Lower Rapids were serious obstacles to navigate. Long before Kanesville or Council Bluffs were settlements on the Missouri river, the steamboat the Western Engineer arrived in the area in 1819. [4]:12 On the morning of April 15, she was tied up at Cairo, Illinois, when word reached the city that U.S. President Abraham Lincoln had been shot in Washington, D.C. "The paddle wheel fell off of one side, caused the boat to turn sideways; the other paddle wheel fell off.". Leyhe's father and uncle established the Eagle Packet Co., and Leyhe began working on the Mississippi River when he was 18. The Sultana tragedies seem to be classic examples of putting profit over safety. Mississippi River. Near midnight, Sultana left Memphis, leaving behind about 200 men. This effect of careening could have been minimized by maintaining high water levels in the boilers. The rest can be gotten through the internet, which can be a positive thingif done correctly. (Post-Dispatch). In a seeming paradox of frontier boosterism, Lloyds book sold this terrible recent history of the Mississippi as a romantic feature of the area. [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. 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. No one was ever held accountable for the tragedy. The vessel was heading from St . 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. On April 27, 1865, a steamboat named the Sultana exploded and sank while transporting Union soldiers up the Mississippi. Without a pilot to steer the boat, Sultana became a drifting, burning hulk. 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. Jan. 3, 1844 Steamboat wreck kills as many as 70 on the Mississippi at St. Louis By Tim O'Neil St. Louis Post-Dispatch Jan 3, 2023 0 1 of 2 Steamboats and freight wagons crowd the St. Louis. Barges still carry some goods on the river, but trains and trucks carry most of the freight in America. Under reduced pressure, the steamboat limped into Vicksburg to get the boiler repaired and to pick up her promised load of prisoners. In 1857, The Nebraska City Advertiser newspaper listed 46 steamboats traveling the Missouri, with 12 more being built. Blackened wooden deck planks and timbers were found about 32 feet (10m) under a soybean field on the Arkansas side, about 4 miles (6km) from Memphis. Frank Barton is the descendant of one of those Confederate soldiers, a man named Franklin Hardin Barton.
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