EP 148: The Sultana Disaster

This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the deadliest shipwreck in American history. On April 27, 1865, a commercial steamboat called the Sultana, carrying over 2,000 passengers (though it was legally only allowed to carry 376) burst into flames due to unresolved issues with the boilers. Between the people that died immediately as a result of the explosion, those that died later of burn damage, and those that died in their attempts to swim to shore, the total number of casualties is estimated to be somewhere between about 1,200 and 1,800.

This disaster occurred the same month that marked the end of the Civil War (the bloodiest war in American history), it was the month that marked the first presidential assassination in American history with Lincoln’s death, and it was the month that marked the start of the Reconstruction Era.

So, like, there was a lot going on…

Because of that, much of the disaster was largely overshadowed. Much of the research was extensively  neglected. But this is a really important story to tell. The Titanic (which we have talked about before) is so much more popular than the Sultana and yet the number of casualties is roughly the same. 

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- Rachel and Leah