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THE SULTANA TRAGEDY THE WORST MARITIME DISASTER IN U.S. HISTORY
On April 27th, 1865, the steamboat Sultana, carrying over 2000 passengers, including over 1900 recently released Union soldiers, many of them weak and haggard from imprisonment at Andersonville and other camps, blew three boilers and caught fire, causing those aboard to die instantly or jump overboard. Also aboard were paid passengers, confederate soldiers, and a team of Christian nurses tending to the weakest and sickest prisoners. Less than half of the passengers survived. Corruption, mismanagement, greed, and very likely sabotage were responsible for this tragic incident. This is the…
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