Postscript Sultana

A Historical Vignette
by Tom Parquette

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The following is a postscript to the article "Who (or What) Really Dunnit?" That article addressed the possible coverup or incomplete investigation of the circumstances surrounding the explosion and fire of the steamboat SS Sultana on April 27, 1865 which took the lives of over 1700 citizens and returning Union Army former pow's following the supposed end of the Civil War. You can review that article. Parts One through Four are (1)here, (2)here, (3)here and (4)here.

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Part Five of Five
(Part One is HERE , Part Two is HERE
Part Three is HERE , Part Four is HERE)

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The actual, formal end to the Civil War never really took place. At least, not in the sense you might envision, say, by virtue of a formal surrender or proclamation. Insofar as the Union never recognized the South as any form of government and nothing more than a literal insurgency, it's not assumed the Union really expected a formal, all encompassing surrender. But, they (the Union) acted in many respects as if they had one.The end started to develop when Lee surrendered the Northern Virginia Army to Grant on April 9, 1865. It is important to remember that Lee was only surrendering the army in his command. Not on behalf of the entire Confederacy. Jefferson Davis was captured on the run on May 10, 1865 and charged with various crimes of treason, etc. The Confederate Congress was at that time too scattered and disrupted to have entertained or issued terms or offered surrender.

While various Generals of the Confederate forces followed suit over the days following Lee's surrender and surrender continued, no one single moment, event or document exists which encompassed the surrender of the South to the North. Thus, the battles and the sentiments understandably continued throughout the country, albeit dwindling in many respects.

General Lee Surrenders to General Grant

So then, while the North 'hoorah'd' the end with the surrender of Lee, there were still fighting factions of the Confederate forces who wouldn't give up so easy. Including the Confederate Secret Service, and, for purposes of our interest in the bombing of Sultana, the boat burners. And, Robert Louden was by his own admission, the Official Records of both the Union AND Confederate Armies, and by comprehensive, though circumstantial evidence, the likely preeminent boat burner responsible for the destruction of Sultana.

The rest of the story. Robert Louden was clearly an active, long standing associate through the Liberty Fire Company 6 with John M. Wimer. Thomas E. Courtenay was the pinnacle of the Confederate Secret Service and the inventor and manufacturer of the 'coal torpedo'. Courtenay was also a former Sheriff of St. Louis County and as importantly, was an investor/business partner of John M. Wimer.

Thomas Courtenay, Inventer
of the Coal Torpedo

Prior to the explosion of Sultana, Louden was known to be in the deep south somewhere along the river, possibly New Orleans. The balance of this story, I will leave to you, gentle reader, to write. I present below actual transcripts of the various remaining Official Records of the Union Army and of the Confederate Army and the Union Provost Martial in St. Louis. These records indicate the nature of documentation retained following the war and represent pertinent, but not all documents referring to these men. Bearing in mind Louden's two confessions of bombing the Sultana, I leave the conclusiveness of the admittedly circumstantial (but for Loudens background and confessions) evidence as to whether to posthumously convict Mr. Louden.

Given all of the circumstances surrounding the country, Missouri and the very nature of the drawn out ending of this war, were these various players acting as unabated killers unwilling to stop, or were they doing nothing more than continuing the fight for the South and their values? I leave it to you.

Was the investigation into the Sultana disaster by the Union authorities just incompetent and bungling? Or was it a purposeful way to avoid ripping the scab off of a war which was supposed to be over, a scab which would and could so painfully reignite the war? I leave that to you also.

Finis

………. Tom Parquette

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Postscript Sultana

A Historical Vignette
by Tom Parquette

* * *

The following is a postscript to the article "Who (or What) Really Dunnit?" That article addressed the possible coverup or incomplete investigation of the circumstances surrounding the explosion and fire of the steamboat SS Sultana on April 27, 1865 which took the lives of over 1700 citizens and returning Union Army former pow's following the supposed end of the Civil War. You can review that article. Parts One through Four are (1)here, (2)here, (3)here and (4)here.

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Part Four of Five
(Part One is HERE , Part Two is HERE
Part Three is HERE )

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3rd Street, St. Louis 1854

One of John Wimer's first acts upon entering the mayor's office for the second term in 1857 was the renewed updating of fire protection in St. Louis. Wimer must have had great misgivings about his decision to abolish the volunteer fire service and institute a full time paid fire service. Having organized Liberty Fire Company himself some sixteen years prior, Wimer had no choice but to accede to the political and public pressure which was mounting. The volunteers had become too rowdy, too unlawful and too much of a blemish on the populace which was rapidly becoming more proper and dignified. Wimer announced his intention to disband the volunteer system, acquire all of the volunteer property and start the St. Louis Fire Department and that's just what he did. However, the members of Liberty Fire Company did not take kindly to John or the idea at this point. In February of 1858 on the eve of the assignment of the Liberty Fire Company #6 firehouse and equipment to the City of St. Louis, the Liberty 6 firehouse and all of it's equipment burned to the ground, rendering it all useless and returning the vacant lot back to it's original grantor, the City of St. Louis. Arson was the cause with the intent to prevent the paid regulars from ever using the Liberty property. No one was ever caught or directly accused of this arson.

The paid full-time St. Louis Department was organized into, initially, three companies with H. Clay Sexton as the 'Engineer' (Chief at that time). As the department expanded under Sexton with city resources, the fourth engine company was named John M. Wimer Engine Company and of course, as years went on, simply to Engine Company 4.

During this very difficult period, President Lincoln was struggling with the secessionist movement taking place throughout the country and particularly in Missouri, as Missouri was a 'border state' of the issue. Ultimately, history states Missouri did not secede from the Union, at least in any officially recognized sense. A newly formed Missouri government at one point did vote to secede though. The Union has never acknowledged that vote. Lincoln allowed General John C. Fremont to declare martial law in August of 1861, first in St. Louis, then statewide. The appointment of the Provost Martial was to enforce military law on the citizenry and to ensure loyalty. The Provost Martial essentially had the unlimited power to issue orders, passes, paroles, oaths of allegiance to the United States, transportation permits, and claims for compensation for property used or destroyed by military forces. Citizens could be arrested simply on suspicion; charges could be initiated by anyone, civilian or military. Statements by accusers or witnesses were taken down as evidence.

Not long after martial law was imposed, John Wimer and, separately, H. Clay Sexton were arrested for their southern leanings and imprisoned in the Gratiot Prison. Wimer, because of his long public record of supporting secession and the southern mandate (except slavery) and Sexton, because of recorded complaints to the Provost Martial by disgruntled fire personnel in St. Louis who claimed he had used the southern cause as intimidation. This was never proven and Sexton was later freed from Gratiot on a $5,000 bond and upon signing a loyalty oath to the Union. He return to and retained his position with the City of St. Louis for many years.

Henry Clay Sexton

John Wimer was transferred to Alton Penitentiary in Illinois though, also on the river. In December of 1862, Wimer managed to escape from Alton by hiding in a water tanker as it was moved from the prison grounds.

Alton Penitentiary  1862-1865

Certain historians have suggested over time that Wimer headed for Canada for a time following his escape from Alton. While this would be a technical possibility due to the existence of the Underground Railroad operated secretly by abolitionists which moved thousands of slaves north, the timing dictates it would be extremely unlikely Wimer ever made that trip. Wimer next appears in history organizing a Confederate troop in northwest Arkansas in very early January of 1863.

John Wimer made his way to northwest Arkansas where he quickly joined forces, formally, with the Confederate effort under Maj. General Thomas C. Hindman, commander of the Confederate force in northwest Arkansas. Hindman issued orders to Brigadier General John Sappington Marmaduke to head off the Union forces approaching northwest Arkansas under direction of Union Brigadier General James G. Blunt. Blunt was known to be approaching Arkansas with 8,000 troops and 30 pieces of artillery. Marmaduke assembled his command into two columns. One led by himself, one under the command of Col. Joseph C. Porter. Marmaduke would head north, ultimately losing a battle at Springfield, Missouri, before turning east toward Hartville, the original destination, to rejoin Porter. Porter left Pocahontas, Arkansas on January 2, 1863 and reached Hartville January 9. Porter's column captured Hartville without firing a shot and captured 40 militiamen and 200 weapons.

Battle of Hartville Monument

Porter sent his vanguard detail of Lt. Col. John M. Wimer further north to clear the way for Marmaduke and at Hazelwood, Wimer captured and burned all fortifications there. Marmaduke had ordered Porter to return to Hartville to await his arrival. In doing so, a battle ensued with additional Union forces. In the lengthy Union ambush St. Louis native Col. Emmet McDonald and Lt. Col. John M. Wimer were killed on January 11, 1863. McDonald's history was one of outstanding commitment and valor. You now know much of John M. Wimer's history.

Marmaduke, who following the war in 1884, would be elected Governor of Missouri, ordered McDonald and Wimer's bodies to be transported to St. Louis and turned over to their respective families for proper funeral arrangements befitting the heroes they were. Later, while the families conducted final services in their respective homes for each dead hero, the Union Provost Martial, one Franklin Dick (no,…really) broke into each home with an armed contingent and stole the bodies. Dick had them spirited away and buried in unmarked graves the whereabouts of which were unknown to the families. Dick allegedly did this to prevent public sentiment from boiling over and making the dead men the martyrs they were. The families later learned of the locations and exhumed the bodies for proper burial. John Wimer is appropriately buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis.

Grave of John Wimer

Tomorrow in our conclusion, we'll assemble the likely connections of John Wimer to the possible sabotage of the SS Sultana. Though, as shown, he died valiantly over two years before the Sultana incident, the groundwork had already been laid in place either knowingly or unknowingly, for the murder of hundreds.

Friday – Conclusion

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Postscript Sultana

A Historical Vignette
by Tom Parquette

*  *  *

The following is a postscript to the article "Who (or What) Really Dunnit?" That article addressed the possible coverup or incomplete investigation of the circumstances surrounding the explosion and fire of the steamboat SS Sultana on April 27, 1865 which took the lives of over 1700 citizens and returning Union Army former pow's following the supposed end of the Civil War. You can review that article. Parts One through Four are (1)here, (2)here, (3)here and (4)here.

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Part Two of Five
(Part One is HERE)

John Wimer was born May 8, 1810 in Amherst County, Virginia. A significantly high percentage of notable figures in the region of Missouri had their origins in Virginia. Wimer migrated west to Missouri in 1828 at the age of 18 and became a blacksmith by trade, then opened his own shop in 1833. It didn't take long for John's public spirited energy to surface and, while laboring as a blacksmith, he was elected Constable of St. Louis. Very quickly he assumed more positions and responsibility and was named one of the earliest Superintendents of the Waterworks followed by his election as Sheriff and later as a judge. Throughout John's career in early St. Louis, firefighting was clearly one of his greatest interests.

John Wimer

As 1840-41 rolled around, John Wimer was one of the original organizers of Liberty Fire Company #6 as part of the volunteer fire services protecting St. Louis. Liberty 6 was organized in 1841 and formally incorporated in 1843. The original members which made up the entire group, founding and otherwise, were largely employees of the Gaty, McCune and Co. foundry in St. Louis. Volunteer fire companies in St. Louis, of which there were 12 at the peak, were very powerful in the community and quickly developed and took advantage of political connections. The funding for the companies, Liberty 6 in particular, came from a multitude of sources. The city donated land for a firehouse and the balance was raised continually through contributions from citizens and, of course, payments from insurance companies for services. The name 'Liberty' was suggested by Mr. J. McDonough, Esq. who was later to become Chief of Police in St. Louis. Mr. McDonough had originated in Baltimore and took the name from that city's Liberty #6 of which he had been a member. The fire company wasted no time in acquiring what was then the best of equipment. The first pumper was built by none other than the Gaty, McCune & Co. foundry to be followed by a first class engine built by Agnew Company of Philadelphia under the express condition that it had to be better than an engine named "Emperor" delivered by Agnew to 'competing' St. Louis company Union Fire Company #2. The engine desired by Liberty had to include every ounce of the creativity of the Agnew builders and it was delivered on August 10, 1848. Liberty immediately challenged the Union apparatus to a contest which took place September 11, 1848 as a very public affair. Unfortunately, for Liberty, the new engine lost to Union's Emperor which had pumped water 246 feet.

The fire companies in St. Louis, as elsewhere, were extremely competitive and run more like businesses, or even gangs, than a public facility. Liberty stayed with the Agnew Company for their third and last apparatus. Agnew created a beautiful, second class pumper which was delivered in October of 1857 and proudly named "August Philiburr" after one of their past presidents. It was decorated with a very accurate likeness of Philiburr on the side panels.

John Wimer's fire hat

While the organizers of the various fire companies were generally considered to be connected men of political and financial strength, the members of the companies were overwhelmingly not. Many, especially many of the Liberty Company, were considered as east coast riff raff of Irish origins from the docks of the east. Whether true or not, the Liberty members, as well as the other companies in St. Louis loved to drink, compete, and they would go out of their way for a fight. Brawls were not uncommon, and in fact, several times took precedence over actually fighting the fire at hand. You see, when a fire alarm was called, usually more than one company would respond and it turned into a fight over who got to the fire first, and then who got the best fire plug access. In large part, both their individual pay and certainly their self pride depended on beating the competition.

As he both formed and continued to participate in the operation of Liberty Fire Company #6, John Wimer was an even busier man than you might expect. At the age of 33, just following the organization of the Liberty Fire Company, Wimer was elected as the seventh mayor of St. Louis for the period of 1843-1844. John was elected again as mayor of St. Louis for 1857-1858 and became, in both terms, one of the most popular mayors the city has ever had. Wimer was dedicated to the good and safety of the city and it's residents, a goal which would soon enough become fruitless for him. No man before, or probably since, has had the warm recognition and public support in politics as did John Wimer. Prior to his mayoral ambitions, John held the office of alderman for three terms and held the fifth ward in the palm of his hand for years.

As mayor in 1843 John Wimer instituted some of the first municipal fire codes in the country. Chimney and stove fires, always a serious problem of the day, were addressed with a list of specifications and requirements spelled out in detail. Wimer had the city inspectors cruise the city monthly with orders that any nonconforming installations be reported to a judge who would have the City Marshal pull them down. Wimer restructured the pay for city offices and spelled out in detail the responsibilities of each. The new pay structure had the City Engineer as it's highest paid at $1500 yearly with the mayor, register, auditor, judge and water works superintendent at $1200. A sweeping reform of city codes, ordinances and criminal codes followed.

Following his first term as mayor and continuing through the late 1840's and early 1850's, John was to continue his active involvement with the Liberty Fire Company, serving as it's president for over five years. But, having left blacksmithing behind for politics and public service, John became the Postmaster of St. Louis for several years, but not just any postmaster. I doubt John Wimer could envision how history might view his days with the post office. We'll continue following John Wimer's career in Part Three.

Monday, Part Three

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Who (Or What) Really Dunnit?

A Historical Vignette
by Tom Parquette

Part Five of Five

Firegeezer notes: This has been a reprise of Tom Parquette's previous posting under this same title on June 19 – 22. While you may read them previously, we are repeating them here for those who missed them or to be used as reminders  leading into a sequel of five additional parts that will present additional information and a more complete account of the SS Sultana explosion in the Mississippi River in April 1865. A mystery that is still not settled.

The Questions Remain

Loudens wife, Mary, had also been arrested and confined for aiding the enemy. Along with 20 or so other women of the resistence, the authorities didn't know what to do with them so they uprooted them and put them on a boat headed south to Louisiana to rid St. Louis of them. Investigation much later proved that Captain James C. Mason was the pilot of the river boat that hauled Mary Louden to exile and from her children. She was allowed to return following the capture of her husband.

Robert Louden

Louden returned to St. Louis after the Sultana disaster, but chose to do so under cover of an alias. Early history relates that Charles Dale was Louden's alias of choice but we have proof that the true alias Louden used was Charley Deal. Early reporters and transcriptionists carried an error forward and the Charles Dale name stuck in much of history.

This alias is significant. Sgt. Major William C. Streetor of St. Louis was the key records clerk of Gratiot Street Prison in St. Louis and knew Louden and his associates very well. Following Loudens escape and his later return to St. Louis as Charley Deal, Streetor actually worked with Louden in the painting business along the river for a time.

Louden was known to like to drink and Streetor, in 1888, related how Louden had previously confessed to him that he had sunk several Union river boats including the Sultana. Louden claimed to use a device known then as a 'coal torpedo'. A coal torpedo was simply a round metal ball hollowed out inside and filled with explosives. Then, coal was applied to disguise it as, well, coal. The coal torpedo was invented by Capt. Thomas Edgeworth Courtenay of the Confederate Secret Service. Louden was well acquainted with Capt. Courtenay and had ready access to him. The coal torpedo, once inserted into the bulk coal pile from which the boilers were fed, would guarantee a massive explosion of the boilers. The 'when' was not controllable but the result was guaranteed. Louden had openly stated to many in St. Louis, especially during the war, that it was far too risky trying to board a boat, set it on fire and then escape fast enough to get away safely. The coal torpedo solved that problem, lessening the risk.

Thomas Courtenay, inventor
of the coal torpedo (below)

Another Gratiot Prison alumnus, Ab Grimes knew and worked with Louden. Grimes himself was a spy/smuggler of great repute and was noted as a very prolific jail break aritst. Grimes lived some time longer than Louden and apparently was aware of the statements Streetor attributed to Louden. Grimes never raised an objection or disputed the claims made by Streetor in reference to his old friend, Louden. Each of these players is worthy of a book of material in their own right.

A. C. "Ab" Grimes

Louden had eventually located to Louisiana following the end of the war and the receipt of his Presidential pardon. He died in the yellow fever epidemic but not until he again made the same confession of bombing the Sultana the night of April 26, 1865, from his death bed.

Arthur McCoy

Arther McCoy, well known then as 'the Wild Irishman', deepened his efforts with Quantrills Raiders from Missouri and as the effects of the end of the war faded somewhat, he grew bored with a farm type life and headed to Texas to try his hand at raising cattle. He was widely reported to be associated with the infamous James Gang taking part in several train robberies and ultimately shooting a Pinkerton officer to protect the James Gang. Questions exist on the extent of that affiliation, however. His connection to the James gang is validated though through the relation of his wife to a wife of one of the James boys and more strongly by McCoy's membership with Quantrill as were the James boys and the Younger gang. An exact date of death for McCoy isn't known but it is reliably believed he died in Texas about 1880. That too, is when he wife first recorded herself as a widow.

Well, if you've never heard of the SS Sultana and the largest maritime disaster in US history, you have now. If you have heard of it, maybe this presents a question in your mind as it has mine. The Sultana did sink by virtue of an explosion at about 2:00 AM April 27, 1865, that much is known, for sure. It was clearly overloaded over six times it's rating. That too, is known. Boiler repairs were alleged to be insufficient. That too, is perhaps likely. Did Robert Louden of St. Louis fame as a fireman with Liberty Fire Company #6, the same Robert Louden known as a reputed spy, smuggler, secessionist, Minute Man, confidant of bomb makers, braggart, and brother in law of a Quantrill Raider turned probable outlaw, commit one of the final strikes against the North? Perhaps a strike against the notorious St. Louis captain who hauled his wife away and broke up his family? Did he see it as a final curtain call to take out over 1700 broken Union ex-pows AND Captain Mason,……..the final revenge as time was 'running out'? Or, was Louden just a rabel rouser who went wrong and wanted to claim 'the big one' as a legacy? We may never know.

Was the Maritime Commission investigation another Warren Commission report that left as many questions as answers? I've read micofilmed digital copies of the hand written transcript from 1865 and, given even adjustments for the times and the technologies involved, I think so. Is this a 'conspiracy theory'? I don't believe so. I believe many historians have been left with the same questions I have. But too, there are those who align with the 'official version'. Go figure.

The SS Sultana did sink to the bottom of the Mississippi about seven miles north of Memphis very near Marion, Arkansas on the west side of the river. Since 1865 the Mississippi has gradually changed course a bit and the spot where Sultana sank is now the middle of an actively farmed soybean field residing some 32 feet below ground level. It is considered hallowed ground. The City of Marion is making efforts to create a formal museum dedicated to the Sultana disaster. Following the disaster in 1865 extensive and repeated efforts were made to induce the US Government to construct a fitting memorial to those lost in the Sultana explosion. Those efforts were unsuccessful to this day. Since most of the victims of the disaster were from various states, it fell upon many local towns and villages to construct monuments to both the Sultana and the local victims involved. Therefore, there are many 'monuments' to this event. In spite of our bipartisan incompetence in DC.

Memphis Sultana Marker

The next time someone mentions, oh, the Titanic, perhaps, you may give a pause for a moment to the 2000+ lives lost in the Sultana disaster too. Many endured four years of confinement, torture, starvation and abuse only to live and see freedom long enough to meet their end on the river. A dark river.

Finis

Wednesday – Part One, Postscript Sultana

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Who (Or What) Really Dunnit?

A Historical Vignette
by Tom Parquette

Part Three of Five
(Part One is HERE, Part Two is Here.)

The Backstory

Firegeezer notes: This is an expanded sequel to Tom Parquette's previous posting under this same title on June 19 – 22. While you may recognize some of the paragraphs in Parts One and Two as being partly repetitive, he has used the extra space to add more information and present a more complete account of the SS Sultana explosion in the Mississippi River in April 1865. A mystery that is still not settled.

The times were tough. They were brutal, deadly, painful and,…..well,….horrific! There is no other way to describe the history which was occurring in April of 1865,..period! The country had been divided for some years, then Lee surrendered at Appomattox on April 9, Lincoln was shot April 14, Johnson surrendered an army of 7500 to Sherman on April 26, and on the same day Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth was cornered/captured and shot, and then Jefferson Davis was finally captured on May 10 in Georgia. The country, the people and the press had a lot on it's plate to digest. The war was (supposed to be) over. A river boat going down in the Mississippi didn't make news in many places. At least 26 of them had been sunk during the war, one more on top of all the other news wasn't really news.

A rushed maritime investigation begun on April 27 which was literally inundated with piles of paper work and documents (which by all records were not even reviewed) needed an answer and needed to put the disaster to rest. And they did. Overloaded boat. Boiler leak. Rushed repairs. 2400+ soldiers wanted to go home. Then, boom! Case closed. And the case is still closed on the Sultana. Officially, that is. But a growing number of historians and investigative journalists (myself included) can't get some unexplored 'facts' out of their minds. See if it affects you the same way. Captain Frederic Speed, the Union Army officer who volunteered to organize the mustering out of the prisoners, was charged under military law and following a six month trial was convicted of "neglect of duty pertaining to the good order of the military" and discharged. He was the only person charged in the disaster. The charges were later dropped against him.

Sultana marker – Marion, Arkansas

Leading up to the Civil War a growing group of people, secessionists, were campaigning in their various states to leave the union and survive on their own. When Lincoln was elected in 1860, the last straw was down and over a period of six months from December 20, 1860 to June 8, 1861, 11 states seceded from the union. South Carolina led the way followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee. Of note here is that Missouri was not a seceding state.

Though not seceding from the union, Missouri was a hotbed of sympathizers and underground activity in support of the Confederate States, and as any good sympathizer type landscape might do, it produced a certain ongoing hell for the yankee efforts in the Civil War. Many secessionists relocated to Missouri from the Confederate States purely to conduct operations from a central and key geographical point. This very pointed element of history lends itself to a lifelong study and believe me, it is loaded with some of the most fascinating details you never knew before. But, as always we are confined in the time we have so we'll focus on two or three key players and what they might have meant to the fate of the Sultana.

Tomorrow – Part Four

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Who (Or What) Really Dunnit?

A Historical Vignette
by Tom Parquette

Part Two of Five
(Part One is HERE)

Into the Darkness

Firegeezer notes: This is an expanded sequel to Tom Parquette's previous posting under this same title on June 19 – 22. While you may recognize some of the paragraphs in Parts One and Two as being partly repetitive, he has used the extra space to add more information and present a more complete account of the SS Sultana explosion in the Mississippi River in April 1865. A mystery that is still not settled.

While the Sultana was in port at Vicksburg undergoing the repairs, men on the docks fought, connived and tried bribing their way onto the Sultana for the trip north. Following the week earlier surrender of the Confederate Army, the rushed exchange of Union troops who had been held captive in Confederate prisons was almost immediate. The notorious prisons of Andersonville and Cahawba kicked loose their captives and the men, virtually all emaciated, weak and struggling, made their way to both Vicksburg and some to Memphis to try to board any northbound vessel. The Sultana was licensed to carry at capacity of 376 passengers. The Union Army had contracted with Captain Mason to pay him five dollars per head for enlisted passengers and ten dollars a head for officers for the trip back to St. Louis and their homes. So Mason allowed the passengers to virtually stack up on the decks and all empty spaces of the Sultana so much so that it was reported by a survivor that he couldn't sit or lay down but rather had to lean into the person next to him. But Mason, as part owner of the Sultana together with Merchant And People Lines, was positioned to grab the big bucks quickly so he loaded the boat to the gunwales. It is reliably estimated that the Sultana carried over 2400 passengers as it embarked Vicksburg and then Memphis. There were other river boats racing to Vicksburg to collect troops and in fact there were empty boats docked at Vicksburg the night Sultana cast off, but the military chose not to use them.

The Sultana was packed with
over 2,400 passengers

Captain Mason was generally very highly regarded as a seaman of excellent repute. However, historical records indicate sufficient evidence to support the allegation that Mason was paying off the key military officers involved in troop transport to get all the business he wanted. He just had to be there.

The Sultana made a critical port across from Memphis on the Arkansas side of the river to take on fuel (coal). And then, it would be up river on it's voyage to St. Louis, stopping first in Cairo, Il.

An interesting sidenote. The crew of the Sultana kept a live alligator on board as a mascot. This is not further explained in history.

The Sultana left the Memphis area late on the evening of April 26, 1865 steaming up river into the oncoming spring river currents of the flooded river. Approxiamately 9 miles north, at about 2:00 AM April 27th, a massive explosion seemingly from the boiler room area, tore the Sultana apart and sprayed hot, burning coal and embers through the sky like fireworks. The explosion was heard and some say seen as far away as Memphis to the south and up river to the north. Bodies and body parts were blown into the night air as those who weren't killed outright tried to escape. Anything which would float was thrown overboard into the river and the exhausted and weak ex-pows dove in to cling to the debris. The Sultana was equipped with only one life boat. Over 100 victims tried to cling somehow to the lifeboat but were unsuccessful as it sank. The Sultana, such as it remained, burnt to the waterline and sank. The exact death toll that fateful morning is questionable but the best historical documents put it at 1754 dead the night of the explosion and several hundred more dying within days from their injuries. 

The Sultana in flames.

A maritime commission was impaneled to investigate this disaster almost immediately. While Captain Mason did not survive the conflagration, another, historically unnamed pilot aboard the Sultana, did. Part of his testimony related to "their pride in the one lifeboat" aboard Sultana and claiming the boat was fully equipped with cork life jackets, all 76 of them. The commission investigation might well have been the precursor to the Warren Commission investigation and report regarding the assassination of Jack Kennedy. It might have for all it's thoroughness and pomp and circumstance. Substance? That's another matter altogether. In some level of fairness though, one must remember that the country had just 'ended' the war, it's President had been assassinated AND the very day of this explosion, that same assassin had been also killed by agents. Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby come to mind for some reason, but, hey, that's another story.

The Sultana as well as other steamships of that day were operating, supposedly, under governance of the Steamship Act of 1852 (10 Stat. 61) which, on paper anyway, did revise and improve safety regulations of vessels. The years prior to 1852 had seen many several shipping disasters which encouraged political action. But the war in all it's glory, put enforcement on the back burner. The conclusion reached by this maritime commission might, just might have been dictated from the mouth of Mr. R.G. Taylor. Mr. Taylor was the boiler repair man who performed the hurried repairs to the boiler of Sultana in Vicksburg. He stated that Mason didn't want to take the time needed to perform the repairs correctly. The Steamship Act of 1852 would survive as time and history progressed and it did become the foundation at least for what we consider modern Coast Guard regulations in effect today.

To this day, the position of the 'Maritime Administration' report is just that. Sultana was overloaded. Yes it was. Mason was in a hurry to reach St. Louis and the Union Army cash. Yes he was. The Sultana was steaming under heavy headwind and currents which, in addition to her extreme weight, caused the boilers to be taxed to their limits. Well, maybe. That the Sultana, due to the overloaded condition was 'careening' in the river, from side to side. This caused the water in the married boilers to flow from starboard to port and back, a sort of sloshing effect. The water in the boilers must have been low. Maybe, maybe and maybe again. As the water sloshed from a low boiler that left extreme heat firing an empty boiler and a steam overload. Maybe. And that caused one helluva boom! Well, something sure did. Something,…………someplace,………..or,…………..maybe,…..someone! We'll look at what else history tells us about the greatest maritime disaster in US history as our whodunnit continues next with the Backstory.

Tomorrow:  Part Three – The Backstory

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