#Sultana July 6
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July 2026 several of us are going to take on theĀ 30-Day America at 250 Coach4aday Challenge. Each day we share something about Americaās unique and quirky history. It can be about a place, an event, or person.Ā Today it is the deadliest maritime disaster in US History involving the SS SULTANA.
Imagine being a prisoner of war and being told the conflict is over. Not only completed but your side has been victorious, and you are being released and sent home. You will board a ship that you believe will take you back to friends and family. Well, that is what happened in April 1865, after the Civil War for Union Soldiers. They got to board the SS Sultana in Vicksburg MS the evening of April 24th. The sad part of the story is the wooden steamship did not accomplish its mission of returning those Union Soldiers home.
Day 6-Sultana becomes the US Deadliest Maritime Diaster
The greatest loss of life in a ship disaster in U.S. history was the sinking of the SS Sultana. Here are some key facts about what happened.
- The Sultana was designed to carry about 376 passengers but had more than 2,100 people on board, most of them recently released Union prisoners of war returning home.
- Three of the ship’s boilers exploded during the night.
- An estimated 1,168 to 1,800 people died, with the most widely accepted estimate being about 1,195 deaths.
- The disaster claimed more American lives than the sinking of the Titanic (about 1,500 deaths overall, but not a U.S. ship) and remains the deadliest maritime disaster in U.S. history.
The tragedy received relatively little national attention because the country was consumed with the end of the Civil War and the mourning of President Lincoln.
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