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The Sinking of the SS Sultana
The Sinking of the SS Sultana: The Forgotten Civil War Catastrophe
April 27, 1865. Mississippi River. SS Sultana carries 2,300 freed Union POWs home from Confederate camps.
Legally allowed: 376 passengers. Greed overloads the boat.
2AM. Faulty boiler explodes 7 miles north of Memphis. Smokestacks collapse. Decks crushed.
Superheated steam scalds hundreds instantly. 1,169 dead—worst U.S. maritime disaster ever.
Survivors cling to wreckage. Bodies float past Memphis docks. Rescue boats save 963.
Civil War's final tragedy overshadowed by Lincoln's assassination days earlier.
HistMuse reveals America's deadliest shipwreck—forgotten by history.
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By HistMuseThe Sinking of the SS Sultana: The Forgotten Civil War Catastrophe
April 27, 1865. Mississippi River. SS Sultana carries 2,300 freed Union POWs home from Confederate camps.
Legally allowed: 376 passengers. Greed overloads the boat.
2AM. Faulty boiler explodes 7 miles north of Memphis. Smokestacks collapse. Decks crushed.
Superheated steam scalds hundreds instantly. 1,169 dead—worst U.S. maritime disaster ever.
Survivors cling to wreckage. Bodies float past Memphis docks. Rescue boats save 963.
Civil War's final tragedy overshadowed by Lincoln's assassination days earlier.
HistMuse reveals America's deadliest shipwreck—forgotten by history.