The Worst Maritime Disaster in American History

In 1865, the explosion on the Sultana nearly killed as many people as the Titanic

Helena, Arkansas. April 26, 1865 (Library of Congress)

It was a familiar route up the Mississippi River that the paddle steamer Sultana had made dozens of times. This trip was supposed to be no different but on April 27th, 1865 tragedy struck. In the early morning hours, just a few miles upriver from Memphis, Tennessee the Sultana’s boilers exploded killing anywhere from 1,168 to 1,547 people.

Even at the low end of the estimates, the death toll of this event is staggering and the who was onboard made it even worse. How did such a terrible disaster escape widespread notice?

A Tragedy Among Tragedies

President Lincoln was assassinated 12 days before the Sultana disaster ( Library of Congress, 1860s)

The April of 1865 was a particularly eventful and violent month in American history. On April 9th saw the effective end of the Civil War at the Appomattox Court House. The battle added hundreds more casualties to the already staggering numbers from the war but General Lee had finally surrendered.

Then on April 15th, 1865 President Lincoln was killed at Ford Theater by John Wilkes Booth. The tragedy…