The Sunday globe., 1901-06-30
LOSS OF SULTANA
The Tragedy of the Wreck of a
Government Transport.
HUNDREDS OF SOLDIERS LIVES
Sacrificed After Being All Through The War
and Surviving the Hardshlps Of Prison
and Long Marches Meet Death In Tho
MlssSsppl-AnnIVersa Of The Sad Affair
BY the Survivors.

Say, Globe, do you recall the JraS-
edy of the Sultana after the close OF
the war?"
"The-S-u-l-ta-n.a-oh, yes, you
mean the boat Of that name which
blew up with so many discharged SOL
diers?"
Precisely. Well, thought it might
interest the Sunday Globe readers to
tell you that at Island Home, one Of
the ideal farms in my State of Tennes-
see, there was recently held a reunion
or Seth anniversary of the wreck Of the
Sultana by five or six hundred Of the
survivors"
How many passengers were on the
boat when she blew up?"
About twenty-five hundred, and but
seven or eight hundred escaped 1t
happened on April 27, 1865, on the Mis-
sissippi River, near the Hen and Chick
ems island.
"The Sultana was built in Cincinnati
in 1868, and was, therefore, new boat.
She was being used at the time of the
disaster as a Government transport.
"On the fatal trip referred to, it left
New Orleans April 21, 1865, and ar.
rived at Vicksburg April oath, where it
remained about thirty hours. At this
point 1865 Federal soldiers and 35 Of
ficers, who had been paroled, and who
had been in Confederate prisons at An.
dersonville, Macon, Cahaba, Ala, and
other points--also two companies of
infantry under arms-were taken on,
making a total of over 1000 on board,
including the passengers. These sol
diers' homes were in Indiana, Michi-
gan, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia.
Tennessee, Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois,
and Wisconsin.
"On the evening Of April 9th, one OF
the four boilers burst, and the flying
pieces ascended and almost cut the
vessel in twain. The fire Immediately
spread, and the cabins burned like TIN
der, and it was but a short time until
the entire craft was enveloped in
flames and burned to the waters edge.
Hundreds were forced to leap into the
water and were drowned III squads,
while others who could swim or who
had secured pieces of drift were un-
able to save themselves on account of
being grabbed by others, and conse-
Quently perished. Hundreds swan for
miles, in the hope of reaching some
point of safety, and finally sank from
exhaustion. others were caught on
protruding limbs of trees, where they
remained until the rescue boats appear
ed the day following Still others chung
to RATS made of fragments from me
boat. Seven boats came up the river
the next day and picked up all the un-
fortunates who could be found. A sig
nifcant fact was that out Of only tif-
teen women on board none was saved.
They were members Of the Christian
commission-some akin to the
present Red Cross movement.
zone of these women, with more
than ordinary courage when the
flames had driven the men from the
boat, seeing them fighting like demons
in the water and destroying each other
in their mad endeavors to save their
lives, urged them to be calm, and final
ly succeeded in quteting them down,
and they were saved on pieces of tim
Der that were available. This good
woman did not heed the flames that
were tapping about her, and when urg-
ed by the men to jump into the water
and save herself on the floating tim
bers, she refused, saying: 1 might lose
my presence Of mind and be the means
of the death of some of you" And so,
rather than run the risk of becoming
the cause of the death of a single per
son, she folded her arms deliberately
and burned, a voluntary martyr to the
men she had so lately calmed.
"a court Of inquiry was ordered by
Major General c. c. Washburne, COM
manding the district of West Tenes-
see, and on April 30, 1865, the Secre-
tary of War instructed Brevet Briga-
dier General Hoffman, commissary gen
eral of prisoners, to inquire into the
circumstances of the destruction of the
steamer But nothing came of it ex-
cept a reprimand or something like It..
Among the survivors still living |
know of are William ID. Bracken, Put
nam, III S. d. Chef, Lebanon, Kan;
w. A. Conk, Lowe, Kan. George Daw-
son, Whitehall, ILL.,; r. e. Day. Ray
mond City, H.; c. w. Duesler, Dono.
van, Ill; Samuel p. Dunlap, Farming
ton, Ark; w. A. Fast, Sedalia, Mo-;
stephen II. Gaston Sherman, Texas;
John Foyle, Hays City, Kan; G. j..
Lahue. Great Bend, Kan; Wesley Lee,
Winston, Mo-; John B. Lewis, Gallatin
Mo-; Daniel McLeon, st. Louis, Mo-;
A. Nihart, Bolivar, Mo-; A. j. Niles,
Spring Creek Kas.; Thomas Prangle,
New Madrid, Mo; j. r. Prangle, New
Madrid, Mo-; j. w. Rush, Larned,
Kan: Adam Russell, Homestead, Kan:
w. T. Shummard, Brazilton, Kan; G..
W. Stewart, Wellington, Kan; j. w.
Van Scayce, Luray, Kan; w. G. War
ner, Wellington, Kan; r, S. Wilson,
Winfield, Kan. j. Zimmerman, Alta
mont ILL.,, and myself"