Lack of Punishment and How American Society Remembers this Tragedy

Immediate Aftermath and Rescue Efforts

After the explosion of the SS Sultana, the Mississippi River immediately turned into a chaotic scene that was flooded by frantic rescue efforts. People in the Memphis area were quick to realize that something terrible had occurred as the explosion of the Sultana’s boilers created a bright flash and ear piercing sound that could be both seen and heard for many miles. One of the very first responders to the scene of the disaster was the USS Grosbeak, a Union gunboat whose crew immediately began to move up the Mississippi to search for survivors of the explosion. Along with the USS Grosbeak, other steamships docked in Memphis joined in on the rescue effort as soon as word spread of the disaster¹. Local Memphis civilians also pitched in to help with the rescue as people living close to the river sent smaller water craft, boats and rafts, to assist in pulling survivors out of the water many of those survivors being union soldiers clinging onto debris (wooden boards, barrels, railings, etc.) from the explosion to keep them afloat. The condition of the Mississippi River only added to the already difficult survival situation as well. The river was in its spring flood form meaning that the river was much wider and contained a much stronger current than it normally would. In certain areas of Mississippi, the river stretched to approximately five miles across² and the stronger river current carried a large number of survivors downstream before rescuers could even reach them. A large portion of the soldiers aboard the Sultana were recently released from P.O.W (prisoner of war) camps meaning that some of the victims had already endured months of suffering from starvation and other harsh living conditions making them physically weak and significantly decreased their odds of survival as many of them drowned before rescue could arrive. The rescue effort continued through the night and extended into the next morning which by then, hundreds of survivors had been brought to safety in Memphis.

Memphis Medical Response

Shortly after being pulled from the river, survivors were quickly transported to nearby Memphis hospitals where doctors and volunteers, most of which were local residents, worked to provide medical attention to all in need. Due the sheer number of survivors being brought into the Memphis area, hospitals in the city became overcrowded in which additional buildings were used to take in injured survivors. Hotels, warehouses and even some private homes were temporarily turned into hospitals in an effort to provide medical aid for the wounded survivors. Roughly 700 injured survivors were brought into Memphis for medical treatment, many of them containing serious burns and other miscellaneous wounds from the explosion of the Sultana’s boilers. Along with trauma related injuries, The Mississippi River during the time of the disaster was very cold and in combination with survivors spending upwards of hours floating in the water, Hypothermia was also a major issue. Doctors and other volunteers worked as efficiently as possible to treat the survivors; however, many of the wounds endured were too severe and approximately 200 of the 700 survivors that got rescued later died from injuries in the days after the disaster⁴ .

Recovering the Dead

While doctors and locals were busy treating survivors in Memphis, other groups of people began the tough task of locating and recovering the bodies of those that died in the heat of the disaster. Boats went up and down the Mississippi River in search of remains and people living along the banks of the river pitched in to report any bodies that had washed ashore. The flooding and strong current of the Mississippi River during this time of the year again added to the difficulty of efforts as many victims were carried many miles downstream before they were able to be discovered. The attempt to recover the dead spanned several days and even weeks after the disaster occurred, some bodies recovered near Memphis and others discovered much farther downriver from the site of the explosion⁶. Trying to identify the victims of the disaster also proved to be very difficult because of the condition some of the bodies were in. Many of the dead bodies that were found had been severely burned during the explosion and others had simply been decomposing in the water for a long period of time before being discovered. Additionally, the list of documented passengers for the Sultana was incomplete. Many of the soldiers aboard that were recently released from war camps hadn’t been properly recorded in official military documents which only added to the difficulty of identifying the victims. Due to these issues, there was no other choice but to leave many of the victims unidentified, hundreds later were buried as unknown soldiers. As far as mass burial goes, many of the unidentified were laid to rest in Memphis National Cemetery which, in the present day, contains one of the largest numbers of unidentified Civil War soldiers in America⁷.

Figuring out the precise number of passengers that died in the disaster was quite the difficult task. Some of the early reports of the disaster’s death toll estimated that around 1,238 passengers were killed⁸ however, historians later believed that the actual number of deceased was much higher than that as some of the modern estimated death tolls suggest that between 1,500 and 1,800 passengers were killed⁹. The actual number of casualties remains uncertain because there were likely many bodies that were never pulled out of the Mississippi River, another part caused by the Sultana’s incomplete passenger lists. A significant factor that contributed to the vast number of casualties undoubtedly was the severe overcrowding of the Sultana. Originally designed to safely carry under 400 passengers, the ship left the docks of Vicksburg carrying over 2,000¹⁰. As a result of carrying multiple times it’s intended capacity, later investigations believed this would have made the Sultana quite unstable and could even have played a role in the boiler explosion as the sheer weight may have caused the Sultana to lean or shift forcing the boilers to function improperly.

Military Investigation

After the Sultana disaster, the U.S. Army started an official investigation to figure out how the disaster happened and whether or not anyone was to blame. The military investigation was overseen by Army Commissary General of Prisoners Brigadier General William Hoffman¹². In his report, General Hoffman was very critical of the choice to stuff the Sultana with passengers that well exceeded the recommended capacity stating that boarding so many men aboard the Sultana was both unnecessary and very irresponsible¹³. This military investigation ultimately concluded that the Sultana disaster was caused by boiler failure likely as a result of improper maintenance and the insufficient repairs that were made to patch the boilers just before the Sultana left Vicksburg. Even though the boilers were the main culprit of the Sultana disaster, the investigators also emphasized that the severe overcrowding of the vessel escalated the situation and made it much more dangerous as well. The choice to board so many passengers was elaborated on when the financial incentives (price per passenger) was brought up proving to be a key inhibitor.

To further unpack how financial incentives contributed, it should be noted that during the Civil War, the U.S. government paid transportation contractors by the passenger. In the case of the Sultana, the operators of the vessel received $5 per enlisted soldier and a whopping $10 for each officer that they took aboard¹⁴. With this information it became intuitive as to how this payment system created a very strong financial incentive to cram as many passengers onto each ship as humanly possible. It was simple, for ship owners, transporting more soldiers meant earning more money and in the eyes of military officials who were responsible for managing troop transportation, sending more soldiers per vessel allowed them to move troops much faster. The resulting “safety concerns” were often ignored as both profit and efficiency of transportation were favored. Deeply connected to the investigation of the Sultana disaster, investigators concluded that such financial incentives played a massive role in the executive decision to overcrowd the Sultana, snowballing into its disaster.

Amidst the investigation, Frederick Speed turned into one of the major figures to be examined by the military. Ultimately, there were two investigations that were conducted which resulted in different outcomes. One the the investigations was ordered by General Cadwallader Washburn who placed the majority of the blame directly on Speed. Cadwallader’s main argument was that Speed failed to do his job of supervising the loading of the Sultana resulting in the steamboat departing with well over its intended capacity as noted previously¹⁵. However, the second investigation run under General Hoffman reached a conclusion that contrasted with Washburn’s. General Hoffman believed that the responsibility of the Sultana disaster didn’t single handedly fall into Speed’s hands but rather that the responsibility and blame should be distributed between the officers involved in the overall transporting process. In Hoffman’s report, Frederick Speed along with Colonel Reuben B. Hatch were the “most censurable”¹⁶ officials connected to the Sultana disaster because of how they both played key roles in the overloading of the vessel. Even with the conduction of these investigations, neither of them ever lead to any kind of significant long term punishment.

Patronage and Colonel Reuben B. Hatch

On the topic of Hatch, the role that he played in the Sultana disaster would lead to some further questions about political patronage during the Civil War. Hatch already had a notably controversial career before the disaster due to previous accusations of corruption related to government contracting in Cairo, Illinois. Regardless of the investigation that followed these accusations of corruption, Hatch was cleared by the Cairo Claims Commission(a civilian investigative body)¹⁷. Following the Sultana disaster, Reuben B. Hatch was criticized for allowing the Sultana to be overloaded and at one point recommended for court martial¹⁸. However, rather than facing trial, Hatch ended up being mustered out of the army with an honorable discharge. The overall controversy surrounding Hatch was also connected to political patronage because of how his appointment of quartermaster had been supported by political allies of President Lincoln. During the Civil War it was pretty common for both military and government positions to be influenced by political connections and with his standing connection to Ozias Hatch, historians argue that this system of political patronage is what helped Reuben B. Hatch from any serious consequences post-disaster¹⁹.

Why the Disaster Was Forgotten

As previously stated, the disaster of the SS Sultana is the largest maritime disaster in American history, so how could such a notable event dissipate from national attention? One of the reasons why this is the case is simply because of when the disaster occurred. With the Civil War ending and President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination dominating the headlines, the Sultana disaster received very limited long-term attention as it was essentially “overshadowed” by other major events. Newspapers originally reported the Sultana disaster however, coverage rapidly shifted to said political events. Unique relative to later maritime disasters such as the Titanic, the Sultana also didn’t lead to any national reforms or investigation so the victims of the Sultana had to be put to rest quietly and dissipated from public memory over time.

1. Baker, Elias John, “No Place in American History”
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2. Baker, Elias John, “No Place in American History” ↩︎
3. “Memphis I.” Civil War Naval Operations and Engagements
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4. Baker, “No Place in American History” ↩︎
5. “Appalling Steamboat Disaster (Sultana)” Chicago Tribune, April 29, 1865.
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6. Baker, “No Place in American History” ↩︎
7. Baker, Elias John, “No Place in American History” ↩︎
8. McElreath, David Hughes, et al. (PDF) Chapter 13 The Sultana Disaster  ↩︎
9. McElreath, et al. (PDF) Chapter 13 The Sultana Disaster  ↩︎
10. McElreath, et al. (PDF) Chapter 13 The Sultana Disaster
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11. Mackowski, Chris. “The Surprises in William Hoffman’s Photo.”
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12. Baker, “No Place in American History” ↩︎
13. McElreath, et al. (PDF) Chapter 13 The Sultana Disaster  ↩︎
14. Yager, Wilson M. “The Sultana Disaster.” ↩︎
15. Guarneri, Carl J. 2021. “Vindicating Lincoln: Presidential Patronage, the Sultana Disaster, and the Cairo Claims Commission.” ↩︎
16. Guarneri, “Vindicating Lincoln: Presidential Patronage, the Sultana Disaster, and the Cairo Claims Commission.” ↩︎
17. Guarneri, “Vindicating Lincoln: Presidential Patronage, the Sultana Disaster, and the Cairo Claims Commission.” ↩︎
18. Guarneri, “Vindicating Lincoln: Presidential Patronage, the Sultana Disaster, and the Cairo Claims Commission.” ↩︎
19. Guarneri, “Vindicating Lincoln: Presidential Patronage, the Sultana Disaster, and the Cairo Claims Commission.” ↩︎
20. Appalling circumstance! The President dead! Escape of the Murderer!. Herald Extra, Newburyport, Massachusetts, 1865. Periodical.
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