Sultana Steamboat Disaster: Deadliest Maritime Tragedy in US History

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:00:05</time>
I want you to walk back in time with me and imagine we are deckhand on a

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:00:09</time>
Mississippi Steamboat in the 1860s.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:00:14</time>
April, 1865.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:00:16</time>
The Mississippi Air was thick, not just with humidity, but with the thousands of

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:00:20</time>
union soldiers crammed onto the Sultana.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:00:24</time>
As a deckhand, I'd seen our steamer full, but this was different.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:00:28</time>
They were fresh from Confederate prisons, eager for home, their hope.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:00:32</time>
Palpable.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:00:35</time>
I was in the engine room feeling the boiler's familiar thrombin when it hit,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:00:39</time>
not a shutter, but a sudden deafening roar, a blinding flash, scalding steam,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:00:44</time>
and debris tore through the deck.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:00:46</time>
Above the sound was a metallic shriek, followed by the screams.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:00:52</time>
The ship lurched violently.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:00:53</time>
I scrambled out, choking on smoke eyes stinging.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:00:57</time>
A ship was tearing apart her wooden hole, no match for the blast.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:01:00</time>
Orange flames raced across the decks where men had just been singing panic erupted.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:01:06</time>
Soldiers many two weak to swim, lept, or were thrown into the frigid water.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:01:11</time>
Screams for help for God, for mothers were everywhere.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:01:14</time>
Men disappeared into the churning water swallowed by debris and flames.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:01:19</time>
The Mississippi usually so gentle, became a hungry monster.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:01:23</time>
That night, I grabbed a floating crate, my lungs, burning muscles

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:01:27</time>
screaming from the cold water.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:01:29</time>
The strong current pulled us downstream away from the burning wreck.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:01:34</time>
Looking back, the sultana was a fiery inferno, a jagged burning

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:01:38</time>
skeleton against the now orange sky.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:01:41</time>
The noise faded, replaced by the chilling cries of survivors in the water.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:01:46</time>
We drifted, numb and shivering watching our world burn as we drifted away.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:01:51</time>
The sun rose later painting the sky with bright colors that felt

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:01:55</time>
so at odds with the darkness below.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:02:05</time>
Welcome to talk with History.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:02:07</time>
I'm your host Scott here with my wife and historian Jen.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:02:09</time>
Hello.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:02:10</time>
On this podcast, we give you insights to our history inspired, bold travels

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:02:14</time>
YouTube channel journey, and examine history through deeper conversations

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:02:17</time>
with the curious, the explorers, and the history lovers out there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:02:21</time>
Now before we jump in, I do wanna say thank you to a couple folks who've

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:02:25</time>
left stuff some five star reviews.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:02:28</time>
Thank you to the folks who are leaving us top reviews.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:02:30</time>
So on Spotify and, and on an Apple podcast.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:02:33</time>
If you haven't and you're listening and you enjoy these, these podcasts please

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:02:37</time>
leave, leave us those, those star reviews.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:02:39</time>
You don't even have to write anything, you just drop us five stars.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:02:42</time>
And that's it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:02:42</time>
If you do wanna write us something, we will read that on the next show

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:02:47</time>
when we, when we record that show.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:02:48</time>
So thank you.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:02:49</time>
Those who've been doing that, and we encourage you guys to,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:02:52</time>
to leave us some more of those.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:02:53</time>
'cause we do have to try and catch the history channel.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:02:57</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:02:57</time>
We're working on it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:02:58</time>
We're only a few million followers and audience members behind.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:03:01</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:03:01</time>
So,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:03:02</time>
but dream big or don't dream at all.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:03:04</time>
That's right.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:03:04</time>
Right.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:03:07</time>
Alright Jen, so the Sultana disaster, this is something that some people,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:03:13</time>
a lot of people, especially, you know here in America right,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:03:15</time>
have probably may have heard of.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:03:18</time>
But I would say most folks don't know about, but this is the largest

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:03:25</time>
American maritime disaster ever, period.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:03:30</time>
Yeah, I would say most people don't know about it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:03:32</time>
I would say when I bring up the Sultana with most people, it's

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:03:36</time>
really history buffs who might know it, but most your average everyday

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:03:40</time>
person have no idea where the average everyday person knows the Titanic.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:03:45</time>
Or they know about the USS Arizona.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:03:47</time>
But they do not know about the Sultana.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:03:49</time>
And so yes, this is the greatest maritime disaster in American history

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:03:54</time>
happened during the Civil War.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:03:55</time>
And and most people don't know about it 'cause it was overshadowed

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:03:58</time>
by another major historical event.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:04:01</time>
Yep.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:04:01</time>
And that historical event is probably something everybody knows about as well.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:04:05</time>
So it's understandable why people don't know about this, but it's sad because.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:04:12</time>
These victims have been forgotten then because of that and because they, they're

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:04:16</time>
like literally forgotten because the most unknown Civil War soldiers the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:04:22</time>
second most is in Memphis, Tennessee.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:04:24</time>
And it's because of this disaster.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:04:26</time>
And so it's one of those things that it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:04:31</time>
Could benefit from more research, it could benefit from people digging in

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:04:35</time>
and learning more about these men.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:04:36</time>
But unfortunately it's just so unknown that it just needs more

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:04:41</time>
awareness to the average everyday person and history in general.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:04:45</time>
Now, when you say it happened during the Civil War, it, I think it

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:04:49</time>
technically happened like right after the Civil War was technically over,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:04:54</time>
like literally the war had just ended.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:04:56</time>
Yes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:04:57</time>
And we're, I know we're gonna get into the details.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:04:58</time>
The war had just ended a couple thousand prisoners ish.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:04</time>
Are released from prisons down down south and are getting brought back north.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:08</time>
So tell us Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:08</time>
The surrounding events around this.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:10</time>
Yeah, so like you said, it happens in April, 1865, so it's this

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:15</time>
big month of history, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:17</time>
So yes, the surrender happens in April of 1865.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:21</time>
Lincoln is assassinated.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:23</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:23</time>
April, 1865.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:25</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:25</time>
Appomattox was like April 9th or something like that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:26</time>
April 9th.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:27</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:27</time>
Then Lincoln then.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:29</time>
This happens April 27th, 1865.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:31</time>
So it's like this whole month is filled with these big historic

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:35</time>
events, and the first two are so huge it overshadows this third one.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:40</time>
But yes, technically you're right, Scott.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:42</time>
It's, it's, I would say civil war timeframe.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:46</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:46</time>
But not during this.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:47</time>
It's, it's the aftermath of the Civil War.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:50</time>
So like you talked about, it was a. The Sultana was a side wheel steamboat

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:05:57</time>
on the Mississippi River, and when we talk about the Mississippi River,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:06:00</time>
it really is like the main highway of this, of the country at the time.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:06:07</time>
railroads are really starting to find themselves being very important

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:06:10</time>
during this time, but the Mississippi has held its its importance.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:06:13</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:06:14</time>
Before the Civil War.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:06:15</time>
After the Civil War, and because that is so important when Vicksburg falls,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:06:19</time>
it really is like the end of the Civil War because now the union controls

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:06:23</time>
the Mississippi and that is this vital vein through the entire of America.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:06:28</time>
Yeah, and actually when I had originally written my intro with

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:06:31</time>
this kind of story there, I had written it that the characters.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:06:34</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:06:35</time>
Us were actually kind of didn't, didn't know what side they were on.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:06:38</time>
They just knew that business was busy.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:06:40</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:06:40</time>
Because the Mississippi was important, whether you were in the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:06:43</time>
south, whether you're in the north.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:06:45</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:06:45</time>
And most likely, I would guess a lot of these Steamboats were

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:06:48</time>
probably operating within, I wouldn't say with impunity 'cause it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:06:52</time>
'cause it sounds like, they don't care what side they're on, but I would

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:06:55</time>
imagine they were busy regardless of who was controlling what port.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:06:59</time>
So commerce, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:07:00</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:07:00</time>
It's so important to trade and so it's vital to the north and the south.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:07:05</time>
It's vital to the economics of the north and south.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:07:07</time>
That's why when the North finally controls it, they can control how much.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:07:11</time>
Supplies are getting to the south.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:07:13</time>
And so they're not letting that happen.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:07:15</time>
And the north is taking all the supplies.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:07:18</time>
So the people who are operating on the Mississippi, yes, they're still

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:07:20</time>
holding allegiances to one side or the other, but they're still, overall,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:07:25</time>
their motivation is the dollar money.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:07:28</time>
And so much so the Sultana is known as the fastest ship on the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:07:33</time>
Mississippi, and we talk about.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:07:35</time>
In the video why that is, it's, it just has made the fastest voyage

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:07:40</time>
from Cairo to new Orleans, and that's how they measured that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:07:44</time>
And so it gets to have the antlers between, its two smokestacks and that is

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:07:49</time>
a symbol for everybody on the Mississippi, that if you wanna trade your goods or get

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:07:53</time>
your goods to the major ports, new Orleans this ship will get it there the fastest.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:07:58</time>
And it was really neat because.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:00</time>
We'll talk about the museum that we went to in Marion, Arkansas.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:03</time>
That is the Sultana Disaster Museum.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:04</time>
That's actually getting a new location, new, new, improved location.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:07</time>
One of the docents there, she taught us about the antlers, which

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:10</time>
I, we thought was really neat.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:11</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:11</time>
And I believe like they even would race, and I don't know if they were like

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:14</time>
actually sitting side by side racing, but they were just like, who can make

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:17</time>
the fastest trip up, up, and down?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:19</time>
And then, then they would get these antlers because if you didn't know

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:23</time>
that factor, you'd be like, why are there these random antlers

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:25</time>
strung between the smokestacks?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:27</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:27</time>
So they're actually strung between the smokestacks.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:29</time>
And if you look, and for those watching the video, I'll put

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:32</time>
up a picture of the Sultana.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:34</time>
You can actually see a pair of antlers strung between the two smokestacks of

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:39</time>
the Sultana indicating that they had.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:42</time>
That they were currently, they had won the recent fastest time

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:45</time>
or whatever that was Right.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:46</time>
They're the Millennium Falcon of them.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:48</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:49</time>
So it's a side wheel Steamboat and like I talked to before on the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:52</time>
video and side, so Steamboats come in like three different variations.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:56</time>
You got the paddle wheel in the back, which is a lot what people think of when

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:59</time>
they think of paddle wheels or, or, or.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:02</time>
It's wheel driven ships on the Mississippi, but a side wheel, the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:07</time>
Sultana has a side wheel on each side of the ship and not as big as a, as a

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:12</time>
stern wheel would be split the side.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:14</time>
But the neat thing about a side wheel is one wheel can move forward.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:18</time>
One wheel can move in reverse, and it can really maneuvered the ship a lot more.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:23</time>
Easily to get it close to the sides of the riverbank, which is what the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:28</time>
Mississippi is doing because it's pulling into these ports right on the side.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:31</time>
And so it can really get close in to get loaded on and off.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:35</time>
And so the versatility of how you can maneuver that ship

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:39</time>
made a side wheel so much more

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:41</time>
advantageous for Mississippi Travel.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:44</time>
And then you have an internal wheel.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:45</time>
So those are the three different kinds.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:47</time>
You have a stern wheel, you have side wheels, internal wheel.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:49</time>
Internal wheel is inside the ship.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:51</time>
You don't really see it from the outside.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:54</time>
That one is not as used as much because it's dangerous.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:58</time>
If you ever have traveled on the Mississippi, we, I have extensively

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:02</time>
you get a lot of trees that will.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:04</time>
Wash off and tro down the Mississippi.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:06</time>
If it's pulled into a internal wheel, it really does damage inside the ship.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:12</time>
And so they really didn't use those as much.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:14</time>
But those are the three types of wheeled boats, ships you

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:18</time>
would see along the Mississippi.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:19</time>
But Sultana a side wheel now it's built in 1863, so it's not a very old ship.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:24</time>
Oh, I didn't realize that when you think about this, didn't realize that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:26</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:26</time>
And it's really intended for this lower Mississippi trade,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:30</time>
so it really has made its name.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:32</time>
Doing a regular route between St. Louis and New Orleans, and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:36</time>
it has a crew capacity of 376.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:40</time>
Remember that because this is gonna be its downfall.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:44</time>
Now it's first launched in January of 1863 and like I said,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:48</time>
it's, it's about 260 feet long.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:50</time>
It's 42 feet wide, and two side mounted paddle wheels driven by four.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:56</time>
Fire tube boilers.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:58</time>
So those boilers make a difference too.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:00</time>
So think tube boiler per wheel, per side.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:03</time>
And when we talk about the boilers, they're 18 feet long and they

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:08</time>
contain 25 24 or five inch flutes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:10</time>
They're kind of like, hold the water and boil it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:14</time>
And that's where you're getting the steam and that's how you're driving these ships.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:17</time>
So, think about.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:19</time>
How this is all working together.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:21</time>
'cause this is all gonna be the downfall of this ship.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:24</time>
So what happens this, these events, like you said, the Civil War,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:29</time>
the surrender happens April 9th.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:32</time>
The Sultana finds itself in.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:34</time>
St. Louis.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:35</time>
On April 15th, right after the president's been assassinated.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:38</time>
That's right.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:39</time>
And it gets, and the captain, and we have Captain James Ka.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:43</time>
Cass Mason is just informed of the assassination of the president.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:48</time>
So he runs out and gets as many newspapers as he can to get the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:52</time>
information down to New Orleans.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:54</time>
'cause he knows he's the fastest ship on the Mississippi.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:57</time>
They drape the ship in morning cloth, which they buy.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:00</time>
Lots of black cloth and they drape the ship in morning cloth.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:03</time>
'cause that's also like a symbol and a message they can send as

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:07</time>
they go down the Mississippi.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:08</time>
Think a lot of people still aren't literate at this time.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:11</time>
That's why the antlers are such a symbol for everyone to

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:14</time>
understand what that means.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:15</time>
Draping a ship in morning cloth is also a great symbol for the nation to see along

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:19</time>
this massive highway of America that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:23</time>
Our president has been assassinated.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:26</time>
That's,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:26</time>
I mean, that's how they got the news out, that that's, that's also part

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:28</time>
of the reason, after Lincoln was assassinated, that they, I think.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:32</time>
Probably a small part of the reason why they took the long train route Yep.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:35</time>
To get him back, to Illinois where he was eventually interred was to

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:39</time>
let the nation see and get the news that way, to believe that this is

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:43</time>
something that actually happened.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:44</time>
Sure.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:45</time>
Because there's no television.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:46</time>
And the people wanna mourn as a nation.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:49</time>
And so the train route is so significant and so is this Mississippi?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:53</time>
Yep.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:53</time>
Water route.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:54</time>
So Captain Mason does his job.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:57</time>
I would say as a, as a, a leader on the Mississippi, he is taking the news

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:04</time>
from St. Louis down to New Orleans.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:07</time>
He leaves St. Louis, April 13th, 1865, bound for.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:11</time>
New Orleans on the morning of April 15th, he's tied up in Cairo when the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:15</time>
word reaches that Lincoln has been shot.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:18</time>
So it's the 15th when he hears the information in Cairo even though

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:22</time>
he leaves from St. Louis on the 13th, and that's when he gets an r

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:26</time>
load of the newspapers from Cairo and Heads South to spend the news.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:29</time>
Now he hits Vicksburg first and in Vicksburg, he talks to a Captain

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:35</time>
Reuben Hatch, the chief quartermaster at Vicksburg with a proposal.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:39</time>
So they know union prisoners of war are gonna be released,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:43</time>
people are gonna be pardoned.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:45</time>
They're coming from Cahaba that is a confederate prisoner of war camp in Selma.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:50</time>
And they're coming from Andersonville that's a very famous Confederate

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:53</time>
prisoner of war camp in Atlanta, Georgia.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:55</time>
And they know that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:57</time>
Those paroled soldiers are gonna be hit in Vicksburg and they're gonna

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:01</time>
wanna be going back home, back north.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:03</time>
And the US government would pay $2 and 75 cents per enlisted man and $8 per officer.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:10</time>
So they come to an understanding.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:13</time>
Knowing Mason needs money, hatch suggested that he could give him a

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:16</time>
load of about a thousand prisoners.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:19</time>
Now, bear in mind it's gonna be loaded with almost double of that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:22</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:23</time>
And and and they're only supposed to have like 360 ish.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:25</time>
Yes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:26</time>
And only if Mason would agree to give Hatch a kickback.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:29</time>
So he agrees to Hatch's off where he's like, yes, let's do this.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:32</time>
And then he leaves Burg.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:34</time>
Heading down to New Orleans.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:35</time>
So they have this plan in place, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:38</time>
Because Hatch knows the prisoners are gonna be coming to Vicksburg.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:41</time>
He'll hold them there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:43</time>
He'll wait until the Sultana makes its way back up north after hitting

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:47</time>
New Orleans with all the news.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:49</time>
And then they have this plan already worked out, so they don't even have

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:52</time>
to talk about it when they come back.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:53</time>
So this is already understood.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:57</time>
Before they even load on the prisoners and before they even hit

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:00</time>
Vicksburg to get the prisoners.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:02</time>
So it's an understood agreement.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:04</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:04</time>
I don't think I realized that it had been that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:06</time>
That's set up by, by the, the, the players, the ship's

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:09</time>
captain and some other folks.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:11</time>
Yes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:11</time>
So they leave Vicksburg, they're they're down in New Orleans.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:14</time>
They disperse all the newspapers.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:16</time>
They disperse the news, and they leave New Orleans on April 21st,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:20</time>
and they have about 70 cabin and deck passengers and some livestock.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:25</time>
So there's about.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:27</time>
70 paying passengers on board too.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:30</time>
So again, legal capacity, 376 85, crew 70 paid passengers, and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:37</time>
so they have about 150 people.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:42</time>
As they hit Vicksburg to get loaded up.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:45</time>
Wow.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:45</time>
So, but what happens is about 10 hours south of Vicksburg, before

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:49</time>
they even hit Vicksburg, one of their four boilers springs a leak.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:54</time>
Oh.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:54</time>
So they already have a boiler.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:56</time>
Issue.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:57</time>
Okay.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:57</time>
Before they even get to Vicksburg.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:58</time>
So that's before later on when things start getting outta

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:02</time>
outta whack as far as balance.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:03</time>
'cause there's too many people.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:04</time>
Yes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:05</time>
So these say, think of these boilers are already handicapped.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:09</time>
So it's when they get to Vicksburg that they.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:11</time>
Get a boiler repair, and it's just like a quick fix.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:15</time>
It's not a new boiler to replace everything they're taking and a boiler

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:19</time>
is under mass amount of pressure and heat, and they're just repairing

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:24</time>
this boiler, which they're gonna put a lot of stress on this boiler.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:29</time>
So this is, this is the whole issue by why, why this happens.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:32</time>
It wasn't like they had four great working boilers as they're leaving Vicksburg.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:37</time>
They have three great working boilers and one that's severely.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:40</time>
Incapacitated.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:41</time>
Well, and if you think about it and, and we call this a Sultana disaster, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:45</time>
And we know from the intro that, that the, one of the, one of the boilers, if not

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:49</time>
a couple explode, but they're putting, think, if you think about just total load

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:54</time>
that this, the boilers are designed to handle, which is less than 400 people.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:59</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:59</time>
And they end up with what, like over 2000 on board?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:02</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:02</time>
At, at the end of the day when everyone's loaded on board, it's 21, 27.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:06</time>
So they're putting like.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:07</time>
700% more

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:10</time>
mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:11</time>
Than, stress and effort and all the stuff on these boilers.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:15</time>
So that's interesting about the leak and like the repair.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:17</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:18</time>
So when you think about four boilers, and they're supposed to have 376 people, each

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:22</time>
boiler handles less than a hundred people.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:24</time>
When they load on 2,127, each boiler's gonna handle over 500 people, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:32</time>
So, like you said, yeah, like they're taxing these boilers

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:34</time>
way outside of their capacity.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:36</time>
Plus you have one that's just been repaired.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:39</time>
So this is where the whole issue starts.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:40</time>
So they reach Vicksburg on the 23rd.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:43</time>
Yep.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:43</time>
And and they start to load people on.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:46</time>
And like I said, they get, they had just gotten all those release prisoners

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:51</time>
from those two Confederate of prisoner of war camps, and they load on.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:56</time>
They believe that they're loading on less than 1500.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:00</time>
In actuality, they load on 1,950 paroled prisoners.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:05</time>
So like they had made the deal for a thousand, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:08</time>
They double that 'cause they're just not paying attention.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:11</time>
They're not checking.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:12</time>
And then 22 guards from the 58th Ohio volunteer.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:16</time>
You got the 70 paying passengers from New Orleans and you have the 85 crew members.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:20</time>
That's a total of 2,127 when it can only hold.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:25</time>
Three hundred and seventy six, that's 1800 people over the capacity of the ship and.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:34</time>
I show you this picture that they take on April 26th.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:37</time>
So they leave the night of April 24th.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:40</time>
They make their way up the Mississippi.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:42</time>
And on April 26th, they stop in Helena, Arkansas, where a photographer took

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:47</time>
a picture of the overcrowded vessel.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:49</time>
And I show that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:50</time>
On the video.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:51</time>
That's kind, that's like the famous one.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:53</time>
They have it like all blown up.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:54</time>
So if you go to the Sultana Disaster Museum in Marion, Arkansas, which is

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:58</time>
only like, what, 20 minutes from Memphis?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:00</time>
Oh yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:00</time>
It's just across the bridge.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:01</time>
It's might might be 15 minutes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:02</time>
So if you're in the Memphis area, definitely go visit.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:05</time>
But they, they have it blown up.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:06</time>
And what they point out is what you're gonna talk about is like

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:09</time>
how the smoke stacks look different and, and that's indicated by all the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:12</time>
people being on one side of the ship.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:14</time>
For this picture.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:15</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:15</time>
So everyone comes over to the landside 'cause the photographer is setting

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:19</time>
up there to take this photograph.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:21</time>
Well, you have 1800 people over capacity all going to one side of a ship.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:26</time>
And if you know anything about ships like Scott and I do, balance is everything.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:30</time>
. And so it's gonna list

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:32</time>
and, and, and these and these river borne.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:34</time>
Ships and boats and stuff like that, they don't have a deep draft.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:38</time>
So it's, it's the center of gravity, which is what's really important on

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:41</time>
a ship, is much higher for these, these boats that are on the river.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:45</time>
And so when you have all of these and you, I'll show the picture for

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:48</time>
the, for those watching the video, when you have all these, these men

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:52</time>
going to one side of the ship, that center of gravity is gonna start.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:55</time>
Rocking the ship over towards where the picture is on the landside.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:58</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:58</time>
And like Scott said, riverboats not gonna have a high draft because it's shallower.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:02</time>
The Mississippi gets very shallow in certain places, especially closer in

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:06</time>
towards land, towards different ports.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:07</time>
And so it doesn't, it can't have a high draft, so center gravity is higher.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:12</time>
The more decks you put on a steamship, the higher it gets.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:15</time>
And when you bring people over, it starts to list so much so that the captain

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:20</time>
was worried it was going to to flip.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:22</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:22</time>
Capsize.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:23</time>
And so.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:24</time>
You can tell in the picture I show you one smoke stack is letting off

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:28</time>
smoke and the other is letting off.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:30</time>
Nothing that lets you know that the boilers are unbalanced.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:33</time>
There's water in one and there's not water in another, and so you're not

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:37</time>
having anything to burn, essentially.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:40</time>
So no steam is coming out and you can, it's so evident in the picture.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:43</time>
You can also see the listing.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:45</time>
You can see where it's leaning into the water more and.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:49</time>
They just get the picture as quick as they can and they get the men

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:51</time>
to move over to the other side.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:53</time>
Now the ship is also like bowing in certain areas, and bowing is like the,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:58</time>
the floors are bending down and so they're taking wooden planks and pushing

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:02</time>
up the floors of the, like the third, second deck, third dead fork, death

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:06</time>
to hold the people up so they know.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:09</time>
They have more people than they should have.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:11</time>
They should

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:11</time>
dump like half of 'em at Memphis.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:13</time>
I know.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:14</time>
So this happens on the 26th, this photograph is taken and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:17</time>
Scott will show the photograph.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:18</time>
You can even still see the antlers in the picture of the photograph.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:20</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:20</time>
It's super cool to see.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:22</time>
And that's taken in Helena, Arkansas and that they're gonna

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:25</time>
arrive in Memphis at 7:00 PM.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:27</time>
On the 26th and they're gonna unload 120 tons of sugar, which is gonna

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:33</time>
help, and then 200 men get off.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:35</time>
So, whew.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:36</time>
Those men really do help.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:38</time>
And then she, then she's just gonna go a short distance up the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:42</time>
river and take on some coal about 1:00 AM and then it's 2:00 AM.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:47</time>
On April 27th, 1865, about seven miles north of Memphis,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:53</time>
the boilers suddenly explode.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:56</time>
It kills people instantly, and then all everyone else goes into the water.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:02</time>
Yeah, and, and one of the things, and.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:04</time>
I know a smidge about steam stuff because my first ship in the Navy

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:10</time>
was still a steam ship, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:12</time>
The Navy has used Steam works well.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:13</time>
Steam Power works very, very well.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:15</time>
And so the Navy still has some steam ships out there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:18</time>
In my first, as the tarawa where actually where you and I met.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:21</time>
And that was a steam ship.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:22</time>
Now, I was not an engineer on that ship, so I didn't learn as much as others.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:26</time>
But one of the things that you're looking for is balance across the boilers.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:30</time>
You don't want to put a sudden drastic change on one

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:33</time>
boiler because think about it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:35</time>
All of a sudden you put a bunch of water in there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:37</time>
If there's all these men that are making the ship rock back and forth and making

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:41</time>
things out of balance, well, if one boiler is taking a heavy load, the other

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:46</time>
one is getting super hot, but it's not burning anything, and then all of a sudden

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:49</time>
if the water shifts over, that's gonna cause a sudden amount of water, heat, and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:55</time>
steam that will all of a sudden expand.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:58</time>
Think about heat, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:59</time>
Heat expands and that can cause an already weakened or already.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:04</time>
Recently fixed, quote unquote boiler to potentially explode.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:09</time>
And that is most likely what happened with this because

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:13</time>
things were so out of balance.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:14</time>
They were so heavy, the boilers just couldn't handle the load.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:18</time>
They were so overstressed, and that is most likely one of the things that caused.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:24</time>
The explosion.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:25</time>
And so you have people who die instantly, but you have all of these weakened

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:29</time>
prisoners of war going into the water and all the wood is catching on fire.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:35</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:35</time>
And, and you gotta think about it too.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:37</time>
It's still, it's April and the Mississippi will still get pretty cold.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:40</time>
Yes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:41</time>
So it's still spring.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:42</time>
And so it's not like they're falling into this warm, lukewarm water

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:46</time>
where they can just float to shore.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:48</time>
I mean, it's, I don't, if it's not icy, it probably feels like that to these

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:52</time>
men who were already very, very sickly.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:54</time>
If you've ever seen pictures of prisoners of war that left was it

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:58</time>
cahaba and what was the other one?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:00</time>
Andersonville.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:00</time>
Andersonville.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:01</time>
I mean, they are emaciated beyond belief.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:05</time>
It's, it's disturbing some of the, the pictures that are out there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:07</time>
So men like that falling into the water.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:11</time>
Just literally don't have the strength to try and fight and swim their way to shore.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:15</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:15</time>
They were so weakened.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:17</time>
They ran outta strength.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:18</time>
They cling, they, they would clinging to each other, but

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:20</time>
whole groups went down together.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:22</time>
Yep.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:22</time>
And so the, the Sultana is burning and they realized, people in the area start to

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:31</time>
realize that this is happening about two 30, about half hour after the explosion.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:34</time>
Boats go out to try to rescue the survivors.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:36</time>
So at the same time, dozens people have floated down river and they're

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:40</time>
beginning to float past Memphis.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:42</time>
They're calling for help.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:43</time>
And so you have ships going into the water to save people.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:46</time>
But in the end, the casualties are about 1200.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:51</time>
So 1200 people will die.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:53</time>
And and then you're gonna have, it was like 2100, 1200 dies.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:58</time>
And

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:59</time>
I, I wanna say like there's like another couple hundred that actually

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:01</time>
die, like after they get out mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:03</time>
Of the river.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:04</time>
Because the total initial reported deaths for this was around 1600.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:08</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:09</time>
So I think there's like 1200 that they never, like, probably never

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:12</time>
identified or just went down.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:14</time>
And then there's more that even died after they even got to shore Again.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:17</time>
Think about it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:18</time>
All these men that are just sick can barely, barely walk and move, let alone

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:22</time>
try to swim out of an icy cold river.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:25</time>
And so that 1600 number is what puts it above the Titanic and above.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:30</time>
The USS Arizona.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:31</time>
And then I think the 1200, if I remember correctly is what actually the book

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:36</time>
author, and we'll mention him here in just a little bit that we met at the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:39</time>
museum mentioned, died, kind of that, that night going down with the ship.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:43</time>
Yes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:44</time>
And so, like Scott said about this 1200 who went down with

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:47</time>
the ship, almost all of them.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:50</time>
Were unidentified.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:51</time>
Yep.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:51</time>
Because they would strip themselves of their clothes because they're wearing

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:55</time>
these wool uniforms and it's pulling on water and they strip themselves of their

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:00</time>
clothes, and then they just don't have the strength to swim and they're freezing.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:04</time>
And so when their bodies are found, there's nothing to identify them.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:07</time>
Yep.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:08</time>
And even if they did have their uniforms on them, very few put tags and things.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:13</time>
So a lot of the men who were identified.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:16</time>
Or like Scott said, they survived the initial explosion.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:19</time>
They survived being pulled outta the water, yet they died subsequently in

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:23</time>
Memphis or other places later, but they were able to give their name.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:27</time>
And so that's how a lot of the men who are identified, which is a

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:31</time>
small percentage were identified.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:33</time>
We have a few men who wash ashore, and Ely is one of them.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:37</time>
And that's the person we talk about with the author.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:40</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:40</time>
Lieutenant John Ely.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:41</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:42</time>
From the Ohio.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:43</time>
He had.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:44</time>
A personal diary on him and his personal diary is what kind of gives you some

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:50</time>
insight to the life of a soldier?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:53</time>
A life of a prisoner of war.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:55</time>
And they identified him by his name and, and who he was.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:59</time>
And so other soldiers sometimes had name tags of their uniforms

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:04</time>
sewn into their uniforms.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:05</time>
That was another way, but again.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:08</time>
Ely was pulled out of the water like a week later.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:11</time>
So you can imagine the body is very hard to identify a week after

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:16</time>
it's been in the water for so long.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:18</time>
So those other distinguishing factors like a diary or a tag would be

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:24</time>
what they used at at the Civil War.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:26</time>
There's no dog tags at this time.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:28</time>
There was no dog tags right during the Civil War.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:30</time>
So.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:32</time>
They don't have anything like that

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:33</time>
to use.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:33</time>
Now this happened on the evening of April 26th, 1865.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:37</time>
So

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:38</time>
it's the early morning of the 27th, 2:00 AM early, early

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:40</time>
morning of the 27th.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:41</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:41</time>
And then later that day or the next day, what kind of world famous

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:47</time>
event happened that overshadowed what would've made headlines here?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:51</time>
So John Wilkes Booth is killed.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:54</time>
He's caught, and he's killed

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:56</time>
he's, he's shot and he on the Garrett Farm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:58</time>
On the Garrett Farm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:59</time>
And so that headline makes April

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:01</time>
26th.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:01</time>
April 26th.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:02</time>
So the day before.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:03</time>
So it actually happened the day before.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:04</time>
So when the news finally got out, it was, he was already the headline of

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:07</time>
the news and that dominated everything.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:10</time>
And so this kind of got buried.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:13</time>
Well below the death of John Wilkes Booth.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:15</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:15</time>
'cause that if you can, we talked about John Wilkes booth four and the manhunt.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:19</time>
So the two week manhunt that's going on to catch him, it's

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:22</time>
not quite two weeks, but yeah,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:22</time>
there's a huge reward out on him.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:24</time>
And so they caught him, they killed him, and now they're doing like the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:29</time>
autopsy and, and everything surrounding how they caught him in trial.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:32</time>
That's kitten.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:33</time>
That's getting all the headlines.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:34</time>
So the Sultana gets so buried and.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:37</time>
Because all of these men were, again, unidentified.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:42</time>
Their families didn't even know if they had survived.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:44</time>
Their families didn't even know to look for them.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:46</time>
So it was one of those things that it just gets so lost in history.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:52</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:52</time>
That that's why.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:53</time>
Memphis has the second most unidentified civil war graves of any other place in

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:00</time>
the United States because of the Sultana.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:03</time>
And these men still haven't been identified.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:06</time>
These families never knew what happened to their sons, and they

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:11</time>
thought maybe they died in battle.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:13</time>
They had no idea they were on this Sultana, no idea they were making it home.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:16</time>
No idea.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:16</time>
They almost got home.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:18</time>
And Ely is a great example of that because even writes in his diary,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:21</time>
will Next Christmas, find me at home?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:24</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:24</time>
With my friends and family, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:25</time>
And no, like all of these men who survived a prisoner of war camp couldn't

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:31</time>
survive sailing up the Mississippi.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:32</time>
Now obviously you, for those who listen to the to the podcast

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:35</time>
regularly, know that we like to go and visit these historic locations.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:38</time>
That's typically the primary driver for what we do.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:41</time>
Here.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:42</time>
Basically everything that we cover on the show outside of interviews and movies

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:46</time>
and stuff like that, we've gone to a location, that historic location, so

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:51</time>
it's you can't really go to where the Sultana sank because the Mississippi

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:55</time>
has shifted its course over the years.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:58</time>
But you can go to the Sultana Disaster Museum again.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:01</time>
We, as we mentioned earlier, in Marion, Arkansas, and that

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:03</time>
they're actually just got a, a. A bunch of money donated to them.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:07</time>
They're, they're moving to a much better, much nicer location.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:10</time>
And I think it wasn't it as like Sean Aston the actor.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:14</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:14</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:14</time>
So, so he, I think he's either involved or helped donate some

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:18</time>
money or something like that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:19</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:19</time>
So he's big involved in the charity for the museum, so.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:22</time>
So think Rudy, Rudy, think Lord of the Rings.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:25</time>
He loves the story, he loves the His story.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:27</time>
He, he likes the story of it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:28</time>
So think he was in Stranger Things.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:30</time>
Yes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:30</time>
For, for our younger audience.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:31</time>
He was the, he was the, not the stepdad, but like the boyfriend.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:34</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:35</time>
Who like sacrificed himself in season one or two.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:37</time>
Spoiler alert.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:38</time>
But so he actually I think helped invest mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:41</time>
Or has been helping the Sultana Disaster Museum.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:43</time>
And I think we're gonna try to go to their new opening.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:46</time>
In April of 26.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:48</time>
March, April of 26 is what they said?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:49</time>
Yeah, I think it might be.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:51</time>
They had pushed it back.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:52</time>
It was supposed to be September, October 25, but they pushed it back to 26.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:56</time>
But just so you know, the museum opened in . 2015, and it's because in 1982, they found

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:05</time>
remnants of the Sultana in a soybean farm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:09</time>
So I always stress this on the Mississippi and Mississippi has

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:12</time>
changed course and has changed course significantly since the Civil War.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:17</time>
So much so that the area where the Sultana sank is now.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:21</time>
All land and a farm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:23</time>
A soybean farm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:24</time>
So in this soybean farm, they found wood burn, wood remnants.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:28</time>
And they found the boilers.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:30</time>
They found remnants of the boilers.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:31</time>
Oh.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:31</time>
They

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:32</time>
actually, they, they found some of the boilers

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:33</time>
and they've dug.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:34</time>
That's so cool.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:34</time>
They dug, they dug it up.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:35</time>
And so the.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:36</time>
Museum opened in 2015 and it's a great little museum, but it can't house all of

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:42</time>
these bigger artifacts that they've found.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:44</time>
They have a really great depiction of the ship.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:47</time>
Yeah, like a model, so you can really see what the sultana looked like.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:50</time>
They tell great stories.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:51</time>
They have lists of men that perished.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:53</time>
They have a lot of artifacts from those men including an

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:56</time>
alligator that was on board.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:57</time>
It's actually, it's one of those things like, I think.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:01</time>
It deserves the location, the new location that it's moving to, because

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:06</time>
it, they have so many artifacts there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:08</time>
And there were some survivors and there were people identified.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:11</time>
So they have pictures of people who are on the Sultana because they did

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:14</time>
identify some, some who made it out.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:16</time>
But it deserves this new location.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:18</time>
'cause right now it's a, in a, in a pretty small little building, tucked around.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:21</time>
But when we went there, there were still people coming and visiting.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:24</time>
We met people, mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:26</time>
A two gals that were.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:27</time>
Driving up up to Michigan, stuff like that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:29</time>
And there, there's a fair amount of people that are still seeking this spot out.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:33</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:33</time>
And it's gonna be in a new state of the art permanent museum.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:37</time>
They took the old gymnasium of the Marion high school and they

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:41</time>
re renovated it into the museum.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:43</time>
So it's gonna have a great space.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:45</time>
And again, it's only like maybe 15 minutes from Memphis.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:49</time>
So if you want to drive that iconic.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:51</time>
Memphis Bridge, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:53</time>
If you're, if you're visiting the Memphis area and you wanna drive

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:55</time>
across the Mississippi, you can drive across that iconic Memphis Bridge

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:58</time>
and go and visit Marion Arkansas.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:00</time>
This is a great little spot to go, do an afternoon visit.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:03</time>
Absolutely.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:03</time>
And if you wanna like learn more about the greatest maritime

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:07</time>
disaster in American history.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:09</time>
This is waiting for you.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:10</time>
It's, there's a lot of like historical markers to the Sultana.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:14</time>
There's one in Memphis, of course, there's one in Vicksburg.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:17</time>
We saw the one in Vicksburg.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:18</time>
There's one in Ohio because a lot of the men were from the 115th Ohio.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:22</time>
There's one in Knoxville, there's one in Michigan.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:25</time>
So it's just honoring the men.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:28</time>
A lot of these regiments represented, but in the aftermath there was

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:33</time>
a lot of lack of accountability.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:36</time>
They tried, so you have to realize the captain of the Sultana died.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:40</time>
He was last seen helping people to get off the ship.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:44</time>
He was last seen trying to save as many survivors as he could so he

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:47</time>
could never be held accountable.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:48</time>
He's.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:49</time>
Killed in the disaster.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:51</time>
When you talk about hatch, who worked up the scheme, he to avoid a court martial he

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:58</time>
acquits the military as quick as possible.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:00</time>
He quits service, avoids course martial and goes into hiding.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:03</time>
They tried to make a Captain Frederick speed.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:06</time>
He was a union officer who sent the 1900 parole visitors to Vicksburg

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:11</time>
and that they tried to charge him.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:13</time>
And then the judge advocate general overturned it because speed

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:16</time>
was at the parole camp all day.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:17</time>
He was not personally involved.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:18</time>
He was just sending the prisoners out saying, here, go on the ship.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:21</time>
Go on the ship.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:21</time>
And then they have a Captain, George Augustus Williams, he had

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:25</time>
placed men on board and was a Army officer, but the military refused

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:29</time>
to go after one of their own.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:30</time>
So he was never held accountable either.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:32</time>
And then you got Captain Mason of the Sultana.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:35</time>
Like I said, he ultimately died.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:36</time>
So in the end, no one was ever held responsible for this greatest

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:40</time>
deadliest maritime disaster in the United States history.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:43</time>
And I think that also.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:46</time>
Goes in line.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:47</time>
'cause there was no public outcry to hold someone responsible because the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:50</time>
public really didn't know about it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:53</time>
And so it's the end of the Civil War people who.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:58</time>
To have no idea that their family members are even in a confederate prisoner of war

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:02</time>
camp, just figured that they had died, had no idea to even fight for justice

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:08</time>
for their, for their family member.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:10</time>
So that's what makes this all the more sad.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:12</time>
And then as a historian and people who love to tell history,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:15</time>
their story was lost to history.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:17</time>
And so that's what we find.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:20</time>
So important to have to get out and tell this story.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:22</time>
'cause it's so fascinating.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:23</time>
It's so interesting.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:25</time>
It's how this perfect storm comes together to create the greatest

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:29</time>
disaster that no one knows about.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:31</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:31</time>
And so we just want you guys to know about it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:33</time>
Find out more, visit the museum.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:35</time>
And if you have any questions for us and you wanna know more about this, please

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:39</time>
leave a comment or something like that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:41</time>
Let us know if you knew about this.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:43</time>
And, and what we can do today to honor the men of the Sultana and their lives

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:48</time>
and what they gave to this country.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:55</time>
The Sultana disaster is still the largest maritime disaster in American history that

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:59</time>
almost no one knows about no one but you.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:05</time>
You know that in April of 1865, this Steamboat left New Orleans

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:09</time>
and traveled north, picking up thousands of soldiers hoping to

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:12</time>
get home after the end of the war.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:15</time>
You also know that not long after the Sultana left Memphis, the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:18</time>
rocking of the ship overloaded the boilers causing them to explode.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:23</time>
Sinking one of the fastest Steamboats on the river and claiming

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:26</time>
more lives than the Titanic.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:29</time>
And our history lovers out there now have that dinnertime.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:32</time>
Trivia question, if the Civil War era topic ever comes up,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:36</time>
why isn't the Sultana disaster?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:38</time>
Better known?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:39</time>
It was overshadowed by the news of the death of John Wilkes Booth.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:44</time>
News that swept the globe and buried this Sultana disaster in the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:48</time>
murky depths of the Mississippi.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:51</time>
If you wanna experience this history firsthand and see artifacts from the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:54</time>
Sultana, get to the Memphis area, drive that iconic Memphis Bridge

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:58</time>
across the Mississippi, and stop by the new and improved Sultana

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:02</time>
Disaster Museum in Marion, Arkansas.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:05</time>
We'll talk to you next time.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:06</time>
Thank you.

The Story