The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-04-19
THE SULTANA DISASTER.


edies of the Civil War.
New Orleans Times-Democrat.
lone of the most terrible catastrophes of
the civil war has never had its proper place
in history" said w. F. Dixon, now in the
treasury at Washington, to reporter re-
Gently.
What was THAR" the reporter asked.
1.-The explosion of transport on the Mis-
sissippi river at o'clock in the morning,
twelve miles above Memphis. with 1900
soldiers, nineteen women and one child on
board. 1 was one of the number, and /
have a perpetual reminder Of the occur
renee in wounds received at the time and
rheumatics from remaining five hours in
the water. OF the 200, 100 were lost. Oh,
it TERRIBLE! And somehow a strange
fatality seemed to follow that body Of men.
Let me relate the incidents in their or
der:
ION the 18th Of December, 1864, / was
captured by the Confederates at Nashville.
Tenn, and, with others, sent to Anderson
Vile. Early in April arrangements were
made for an exchange of prisoners, and, &C
companied by a Confederate guard and
officers, the Ande-sonville contingent set
out for Vicksburg, Miss, where the ex-
change was to take place. Before reaching
vicksburg-shortly after leaving Anderson
vile, in fact-we had a frightful wreck,
with the train going at the rate of forty
five miles an hour. We got together again,
and-would you believe it?-there was an
other terrible wreck, worse than the first,
and with the train going at full speed.
What the casualties were in those wrecks
/ never knew, but they must have been
numerous.
1--WE reached vicksburg at last and were
waiting for an equal number of Confeder-
ate prisoners to arrive in order to effect
the exchange, when news came Of the fall
of Richmond and Of the assassination of
Lincoln, when our guards and officers left
without waiting for the exchange. and we
-22O0 of us-were ready to take the trans
port to be distributed to various des-
tinations. We had been in Vicksburk long
their people of their coming and to receive
answers to their letters; so all was joy
when the time was announced for US to
wheel steamer, and 1900 soldiers, nineteen
women and one child left Vicksburg for
their homes-with only 500 to reach them
and but one of the nineteen women. As 1t
happened it looked like offering premium
sacrifice to load that boat with over
1900 souls. They were huddled on all the
decks so thick that there was no passage
Nothing occurred, however, before reach
ing Memphis. We landed there about mid
night for supplies, and then proceeded up
the river, when, about o'clock in the
morning and about twelve miles above
Memphis. something did happen. and all
at once. Oh. it was terrible. terrible! The
explosion, the shock, the CULVER; boilers
pieces of boat, shattered timbers. bodies
whole and bodies in fragments-arms, legs,
ders and strawberries heads! All, sicken-
ing sickening, And the shrieks, the groans,
the cries for help! 1t was pitiful. No lam
persisted in midair and how many found
death after struggling with the cold and
muddy water of the Mississippi, only the
recording angel knows. But OF the 40
lives LOO were lost 1t seems to me that no
calamity of the war was so dreadful, shock
ing Every soul left the boat. Such as
were not blown overheard, jumped. and TO
destruction for they seemed to go in heaps
and were drowned In groups and hun
dreds as instead of separating, they chung
one and an his SO feeM ne fer
self I had presence of mind enough to Sc
lect a vacant place in the water away from
the rest. who appeared 10 nuddIe all TO-
/ struck out to get clear of any struggling
form, for contact meant death Tor both,
or for as many as might be together
at was fortunate enough 10 secure small
piece of plank about four feet long and six
inches wide, and with this under my left
arm | used my right for swimming. Sim
Il
Single person, although the river was full
of the five hundred who were saved. I
drifted with the current and was fioated
back by the eddies. so that after five of the
longest hours mortal ever spent, as Ii
seemed to me- I found myself off Memphis,
and would have passed on without knowing
/. had / not heard the voices of rescuers
who had been picking up bodies and SWIM
mers from the wreck. / called to them
and they came out TO me and hauled me
in the boat when collapsed. / was prac-
tically dead from cold and numbness, and
/ am satisfied could not have held out ten
minutes longer.
II was just able TO sit upright in the bot
tom of the skiff. and as we approached the
wharfboat at the landing, what do you
think I saw? The little child. the only one
on the boat. swimming survivor had
saved IL on piece of timber-that Is, saved
ii through all the perils of that awful night
journey on the bosom OF the great Missis-
sippi and brought IL to the wharfboat at
Memphis, twelve interminable miles they
seemed. and 1--WE almost endless hours.
| only-well, perhaps Ii is what We call fate,
but as I looked on the child and almost
| forgot myself I'm the Joy felt over it's more
| than wonderful escape. the soldier. In his
| eagerness to make the wharfboat and get
| his little charge quickly beyond all danger.
] somehow-pity. pity-turned the timber