Sultana – An Unimaginable Tragedy
By Thomas W. Bankes – Cowans Auctions, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49307857 By April 1865 citizens had grown accustomed to big news events but this month was filled with even more outstanding headlines than usual. On April 9th, Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to U.S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, signaling the first step in the end of the Civil War. Shocking the nation, President Abraham Lincoln was shot April 14th and died April 15th from the assassin’s bullet. His murderer John Wilkes Booth was shot and killed on April 26th. April 26th saw Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrender his army to Gen. William T. Sherman and his Union troops in North Carolina. Yet buried in the backs of most newspapers would be one of the single most tragic events of the Civil War. The explosion of the riverboat Sultana. For a little background, the Sultana was built in Cincinnati in 1863. She ran in the most southern part of the Mississippi River, used mainly for transporting cotton but she was also known to carry U.S. Army officers and soldiers between ports along the river. On April 21, 1865 the Sultana was docked in New Orleans. She was […]