On April 27, 1865, the United States recorded the worst naval disaster in history, weeks after the end of the Civil War, when a steamboat named the " Sultana " sank after exploding in the Mississippi River, about 1,200 to 1,800 people were killed in it.
The dead were soldiers who had just been released from Confederate Army prisons and were returning to their homes and families. The victims of the sinking of the Sultana were more than the sinking of the Titanic , but this human tragedy has been somewhat forgotten in American and world history. But what many do not know is that there are various circumstances behind this catastrophe, including complicity and conspiracy, corruption and negligence that could easily have been prevented.
Neglect and corruption in the ship Sultana
After the end of the American Civil War in 1865, both federalists and separatists quickly concentrated on post-war devastation. The end of the war included the release of prisoners on both sides. Thousands of Union soldiers detained at confederation and detention camps in Salma near Alabama and Andersenville in southern Georgia were taken to a small camp outside Wixburg, Mississippi. After their liberation, they needed a safe passage to the north.
Meanwhile, Captain James Cass Mason was the commander of a steamboat named the Sultana on his way to Missouri. The small wooden ship was carrying a crew of 85 and was to carry cotton before filling it with soldiers. While stopping at Vixenburg for a boiler repair operation, the ship's captain received an offer from the US government to pay $ 5 to $ 10 for each soldier and officer heading north.
Greed overcame Captain (Mason), who wished to raise as much money as possible by transporting this "human commodity"; So he seized the opportunity and bribed an officer to allow him to carry as many troops as possible regardless of the capacity of the steamer. Captain Mason hastily and eagerly decided to do so in order to fix the defect that had occurred on the surface of the ship's boilers in part, temporarily, and not in general.
Captain fears troops could find another means of transport to north if ship repairs take place "The ship had a capacity of about 376 passengers, but more than 2,500 passengers were loaded," he said.
Sultana drowning
The ship carried no less than 2,500 people, most of them Union soldiers who had just been released from Confederate Civil War prisons.
On April 24, 1865, the bustling sultana set out from the city of Vixenburg with about 1960 prisoners of war, 22 guards, 70 civilian passengers and a crew of 85. Most of the newly released prisoners of war were in poor health.
The day of the voyage, in addition to the large number of ships, the weather was very bad and the water level in Mississippi was at its highest. Snow was melting from the top of the surrounding mountains and falling to the shore, and its strong currents were full of fallen tree trunks and mud. Needless to say, it was night and dark, but the captain (Mason) insisted on getting the "cargo" to its destination as soon as possible. The steamer stopped briefly in Memphis and then resumed its voyage at night.
At about 2 a.m. on April 27, one of Soltana's boilers exploded a few miles from Memphis, and many passengers were sitting next to the boilers because the ship was so crowded.
The blast immediately killed hundreds of passengers, most of them were Kentucky and Tennessee soldiers sitting directly next to the boilers. Many were killed immediately, whether by shrapnel, scorching steam, or the hot water of boilers.
The first blast occurred after two other boilers exploded. "One moment they [travelers] were asleep, then another moment they found themselves trying to swim in the cold waters of the Mississippi River," Potter writes. Some passengers on board were burned. Fortunately, they relied on the wreckage of the river or the horses and mules that jumped off the ship, hoping to reach shore safely. They could not see because it was very dark and the river was about nine kilometers wide at that point.
Chaos reigned over Sultana, as the passengers on the ship were faced with two options: between staying in the boat and facing the possibility of dying by burning, and between jumping into cold water and the possibility of drowning. In both cases, the chances of survival were slim, and soldiers who had just recovered from the war found themselves struggling to survive.
The Sultana ship sank on its way back to the north after its boilers, which needed maintenance, exploded.
As Sultana began to sink near the small town of Marion, south of the Allied Territories, passing boats and locals attempted a tumultuous rescue operation to save the lives of soldiers.
According to newspaper reports, a local man named John Fagelman and his sons were among those who came to help. Frank Vogelman, a descendant of John Fogelman and current mayor of Marion, says the direction of the boat he was traveling in caused winds to blow the flames backwards and worsened the situation.
Mayor Frank Vogelmann says of his predecessors' heroism: "It is said that the Vogelmann family managed to make a wooden boat out of some tree trunks and then set off to transport passengers from the burning sultana to the river bank." Survivors were placed on tree branches along the shore and returned to the boat to rescue more people.
"When I woke up, I found myself surrounded by rubble and in the middle of smoke and fire," said one of Soltana's survivors. "The screams and moans of the wounded were horrible, and the smell of burnt meat was unbearable and beyond my ability to describe.
Another survivor from Ohio wrote: "Some were killed by the blast, and they were lying on the ground and trampled, while some were crying and shouting, some were cursing and some were singing ... I like this scene."
The bodies of Soltana victims were still floating terribly over the waters of the Mississippi River months after the incident, and while some of the victims were found, many were never found, and among the victims not found was Captain Mason himself.
Why did the memory of history easily forget this tragedy?
The Lincoln assassination was bigger: The most logical explanation might be that it happened with the assassination of President Lincoln, which was a catastrophe of greater historical significance, because the assassination of the president took place two weeks before the Sultana incident. The effect lasted for a long time.
The American people had become a little "heartbroken" after the Civil War: On the other hand, the American people seemed a little heartbroken because they had endured the horrors of the four-year civil war. For some, the loss of 2,000 more was just another incident and another consequence of the war. Finally, no charges were brought against Sultana's drowning, even after in-depth investigations and subsequent military tribunals.
The victims of the Sultan were more than the victims of the Titanic. More than 1,800 men lost their lives in the drowning of Soltana. While on the famous Titanic, about 1,500 people were killed, and thus the Soltana disaster became the worst maritime disaster in American history. They met to commemorate the incident and to comfort the souls of the victims. After the death of the last survivors in 1936, the descendants of the survivors received the torch and continued this tradition, and these annual meetings are still held.
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