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Sultana: Surviving the Civil War, Prison, and the Worst Maritime Disaster in American History
“One of the most riveting war stories I have ever read….Huffman’s smooth, intimate prose ushers you through this nightmare as if you were living it yourself.”
—Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm The dramatic true story of the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history, Alan Huffman’s Sultana brings to breathtaking life a tragic, long forgotten event in America’s Civil War—the sinking of the steamship Sultana and the loss of 1,700 lives, mostly Union soldiers returning home from Confederate prison camps. A gripping account that reads like a nonfiction Cold Mountain, Sultana is powerful, moving, rich in irony and fascinating historical detail—a story no history aficionado or Civil War buff will want to miss.
—Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm The dramatic true story of the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history, Alan Huffman’s Sultana brings to breathtaking life a tragic, long forgotten event in America’s Civil War—the sinking of the steamship Sultana and the loss of 1,700 lives, mostly Union soldiers returning home from Confederate prison camps. A gripping account that reads like a nonfiction Cold Mountain, Sultana is powerful, moving, rich in irony and fascinating historical detail—a story no history aficionado or Civil War buff will want to miss.
300 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
August 17, 2025
This is a historical survival story of the sinking of the Steamship Sultana during the days after the end of the Civil War just outside of Memphis, TN on the Mississippi River. It follows the story of three soldiers who survived the Civil War but were wounded and aboard the Sultana when it sank.
For it's day it was one of the worst maritime disasters in history. 1,700 of the 2,400 passengers died. The Sultana was only supposed to carry 376 people. The reasons why are covered in Hoffman's account. A first-rate story of survival and human error.
For it's day it was one of the worst maritime disasters in history. 1,700 of the 2,400 passengers died. The Sultana was only supposed to carry 376 people. The reasons why are covered in Hoffman's account. A first-rate story of survival and human error.
May 25, 2025
I have been reading Civil War histories ever since I was 8 when I received as a gift The Civil War by Fletcher Pratt. Since then, I've read all the "greats" - Sears, Cozzens, Foote, Catton, Sword, Coddington, and many more.
But I have never read anything quite like Sultana. I had recently traveled to Vicksburg to see the National Military Park and was reminded that Union POWs, released at the end of the war, boarded the SS Sultana at Vicksburg for their journey home. A journey to finally bring relief to their long suffering at Confederate camps like Cahaba and Andersonville. Alas, it was not to be as the Sultana had a massive boiler explosion and most on board the overloaded ship died either of the explosion or in the cold waters of the Mississippi above Memphis TN.
The book is divided into three parts
First, a story of some individual Union soldiers in the Indiana cavalry who either guarded supply lines and/or raided into the south in support of Sherman's Atlanta campaign. This part brought to vivid detail the life of some specific men, their camp experiences, their fighting experiences, and ultimately, their being captured experiences. This section had the best descriptions of camp dysentery and diarrhea I have ever read in a Civil War history - the book quotes extensively from first hand accounts. You also get a real flavor for those little actions that get glossed over in operational histories but which had real consequences for the soldiers involved (death, capture, wounding, etc.) Not all Union commanders were particularly valorous or competent here - especially versus Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Next, a story of life in a Confederate prison camp, again told through the experiences of a few individual soldiers. It is everything you imagine and worse (or, occasionally, better). Survival was a matter of luck and fortitude. Prison gangs ran rampant (i.e. not everyone was a forthright farmer/shopkeeper-turned soldier). There were active efforts at prisoner exchanges, something not told in much detail in other books. These efforts were complicated by an impasse over the recognition of black soldiers as legitimate prisoners of war.
Finally, the story of boarding the Sultana, the corruption involved (the more men on board, the more money to claim from the government as reimbursement), the explosion, and the fight for survival. Surprisingly, the Sultana also carried women and children. You'll imagine yourself flung over the side of the ship or perhaps dropping into the water to escape the flames - only to discover that all around you are people struggling to float as swimming skills were not commonplace. The water was April cold and high. Frantic horses and mules complicate the picture. Truly horrible. The worst naval single ship disaster in US history.
There's a short epilogue that goes into the remaining lives of some of the survivors - the same soldiers from that Indiana cavalry unit. Long-suffering from wounds or other ailments, yet stoic. Battling the Federal Government for modest survivor's pensions, marrying, having spouses die, then remarrying. Struggles with holding down a job. This epilogue, with echoes of our recent experiences in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, is poignant yet also something rarely touched in all those popular Civil War histories.
In short, read the book to put a human face on the war. The conflict was more than just marching and battles. No maps or photos so a basic familiarity with the war in the western theatre is helpful.
Quibble: For a book filled with first person accounts, there are no notes or sources except for an occasional reference to a previously published history.
But I have never read anything quite like Sultana. I had recently traveled to Vicksburg to see the National Military Park and was reminded that Union POWs, released at the end of the war, boarded the SS Sultana at Vicksburg for their journey home. A journey to finally bring relief to their long suffering at Confederate camps like Cahaba and Andersonville. Alas, it was not to be as the Sultana had a massive boiler explosion and most on board the overloaded ship died either of the explosion or in the cold waters of the Mississippi above Memphis TN.
The book is divided into three parts
First, a story of some individual Union soldiers in the Indiana cavalry who either guarded supply lines and/or raided into the south in support of Sherman's Atlanta campaign. This part brought to vivid detail the life of some specific men, their camp experiences, their fighting experiences, and ultimately, their being captured experiences. This section had the best descriptions of camp dysentery and diarrhea I have ever read in a Civil War history - the book quotes extensively from first hand accounts. You also get a real flavor for those little actions that get glossed over in operational histories but which had real consequences for the soldiers involved (death, capture, wounding, etc.) Not all Union commanders were particularly valorous or competent here - especially versus Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Next, a story of life in a Confederate prison camp, again told through the experiences of a few individual soldiers. It is everything you imagine and worse (or, occasionally, better). Survival was a matter of luck and fortitude. Prison gangs ran rampant (i.e. not everyone was a forthright farmer/shopkeeper-turned soldier). There were active efforts at prisoner exchanges, something not told in much detail in other books. These efforts were complicated by an impasse over the recognition of black soldiers as legitimate prisoners of war.
Finally, the story of boarding the Sultana, the corruption involved (the more men on board, the more money to claim from the government as reimbursement), the explosion, and the fight for survival. Surprisingly, the Sultana also carried women and children. You'll imagine yourself flung over the side of the ship or perhaps dropping into the water to escape the flames - only to discover that all around you are people struggling to float as swimming skills were not commonplace. The water was April cold and high. Frantic horses and mules complicate the picture. Truly horrible. The worst naval single ship disaster in US history.
There's a short epilogue that goes into the remaining lives of some of the survivors - the same soldiers from that Indiana cavalry unit. Long-suffering from wounds or other ailments, yet stoic. Battling the Federal Government for modest survivor's pensions, marrying, having spouses die, then remarrying. Struggles with holding down a job. This epilogue, with echoes of our recent experiences in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, is poignant yet also something rarely touched in all those popular Civil War histories.
In short, read the book to put a human face on the war. The conflict was more than just marching and battles. No maps or photos so a basic familiarity with the war in the western theatre is helpful.
Quibble: For a book filled with first person accounts, there are no notes or sources except for an occasional reference to a previously published history.
May 1, 2025
i expected a straightforward read about a steamboat and, while we do get to that (and how!), it’s also one of the best and most human accounts of the civil war i’d ever read. more lived-in than just a chronological history, this illustrates the grotesque hell of civil war combat and imprisonment that those thousands of men survived only to get blown all over the Mississippi River
anyway my main takeaway is that everyone in the civil war had diarrhea all the time so please please please let’s not have another civil war 🙏🙏
anyway my main takeaway is that everyone in the civil war had diarrhea all the time so please please please let’s not have another civil war 🙏🙏
March 21, 2012
Don't let the only 3 stars fool you, this is a good book. I only give 4 stars to books that absolutely thrill me and 5 stars is for books that I can't live without.
The weird thing is, I started this book about 5 times and kept putting it aside after the second chapter, but I couldn't really say why, it wasn't boring, I just wasn't getting into it. After I promised someone I would read it, I sat down determined I would read 50 pages a day until I finished it. I read half the book the book that night. The next day I would have finished it, but I was falling asleep because I was tired. I finished it this morning.
After all those starts and stops, once I got into the book, I really got into it. The first few chapters talk about enlisting and how ill-prepared the men were for fighting. He also talks about the psychology of survival. Then he gets into the battles of the Civil War, none of the battle scenes are written in an 'exciting' fashion, he doesn't 'novelize' the accounts, just reports the facts, the facts are enough. He relates how each man is captured, the conditions of the prisons and the hospitals. It is a wonder anyone who was injured in the Civil War survived, much less lived to old age.
For men who had survived battle, injury, disease and incarceration at Andersonville, "the worst confederate prison", the explosion of the Sultana, on their way home, must have added insult to injury so to speak. Even afterwards, there was no justice either, the ones responsible, even when found guilty were not really punished. Officers were allowed to be 'honorably discharged'.
And the disaster of the Sultana faded into American history. When I told people I was reading a book called "Sultana" they thought I was reading about a middle eastern princess.
As I said this is a good book, I would recommend it for history lovers, Civil War aficionados, disaster freaks and the like. I use the word freak affectionately. After all I'm a freak myself. It would be interesting to people for its human nature aspects, how people survive the worst and keep going when even worse happens.
For pictures of the Sultana (these were not in the book) click Sultana Photos.
The weird thing is, I started this book about 5 times and kept putting it aside after the second chapter, but I couldn't really say why, it wasn't boring, I just wasn't getting into it. After I promised someone I would read it, I sat down determined I would read 50 pages a day until I finished it. I read half the book the book that night. The next day I would have finished it, but I was falling asleep because I was tired. I finished it this morning.
After all those starts and stops, once I got into the book, I really got into it. The first few chapters talk about enlisting and how ill-prepared the men were for fighting. He also talks about the psychology of survival. Then he gets into the battles of the Civil War, none of the battle scenes are written in an 'exciting' fashion, he doesn't 'novelize' the accounts, just reports the facts, the facts are enough. He relates how each man is captured, the conditions of the prisons and the hospitals. It is a wonder anyone who was injured in the Civil War survived, much less lived to old age.
For men who had survived battle, injury, disease and incarceration at Andersonville, "the worst confederate prison", the explosion of the Sultana, on their way home, must have added insult to injury so to speak. Even afterwards, there was no justice either, the ones responsible, even when found guilty were not really punished. Officers were allowed to be 'honorably discharged'.
"Ultimately the Sultana inquiries were mostly for show. Even the death toll was never fully reckoned. Officially, it was listed at just more than twelve hundred, which failed to include an entire trainload of passengers from Camp Fisk."The accepted estimated total was 1,700 dead making it the worst known maritime disaster in America, even eclipsing the Titanic with an estimated 1,500 dead.
And the disaster of the Sultana faded into American history. When I told people I was reading a book called "Sultana" they thought I was reading about a middle eastern princess.
As I said this is a good book, I would recommend it for history lovers, Civil War aficionados, disaster freaks and the like. I use the word freak affectionately. After all I'm a freak myself. It would be interesting to people for its human nature aspects, how people survive the worst and keep going when even worse happens.
For pictures of the Sultana (these were not in the book) click Sultana Photos.
January 17, 2012
Tolbert and Maddox left Indiana as young Union soldiers. Although injured and only minimally treated, they managed to survive the bloody Civil War battlefields and brutal years of imprisonment in infamous Andersonville. But it was on the long-anticipated road home that they suffered the worst trial.
The paddlewheeler Sultana left Memphis late at night on April 27th, severely overcrowded, with 2400 passengers on a ship meant for 400. One of the four boilers had been patched, and the others were problematic. In the middle of the night, the worst happened when three of the four boilers exploded, causing the ship to split into burning halves. Passengers were thrown into the air by the explosion, many of them fatally scalded or burning to death. Most could not swim, but flung themselves into the rapid and frigid Mississippi, and in their panic, pulling those who could swim down as well. All in all, 1700 died, 200 more than when the Titanic sank.
How is it that the name of the Sultana is not as well known? It seems that Lincoln had just been shot little over a week before, and the Civil War was coming to its bloody close. No one had time for a naval disaster, even one of such magnitude as this one.
Huffman does a wonderful job of piecing together the tale using eyewitness accounts, primarily those of the returning soldiers, who often had, against all odds, kept diaries of their experiences. As he sums it up, "For most of the surviving veterans, the war trumped all of their previous travails. For those who were also former prisoners, captivity trumped the war. And for those who survived the Sultana, the disaster trumped everything."
The paddlewheeler Sultana left Memphis late at night on April 27th, severely overcrowded, with 2400 passengers on a ship meant for 400. One of the four boilers had been patched, and the others were problematic. In the middle of the night, the worst happened when three of the four boilers exploded, causing the ship to split into burning halves. Passengers were thrown into the air by the explosion, many of them fatally scalded or burning to death. Most could not swim, but flung themselves into the rapid and frigid Mississippi, and in their panic, pulling those who could swim down as well. All in all, 1700 died, 200 more than when the Titanic sank.
How is it that the name of the Sultana is not as well known? It seems that Lincoln had just been shot little over a week before, and the Civil War was coming to its bloody close. No one had time for a naval disaster, even one of such magnitude as this one.
Huffman does a wonderful job of piecing together the tale using eyewitness accounts, primarily those of the returning soldiers, who often had, against all odds, kept diaries of their experiences. As he sums it up, "For most of the surviving veterans, the war trumped all of their previous travails. For those who were also former prisoners, captivity trumped the war. And for those who survived the Sultana, the disaster trumped everything."
November 21, 2021
I struggle on how many stars to give this book. While I enjoyed reading about the Sultana disaster, an event I sadly believe is almost completely forgotten in American History, that part of the book made up around 60-70 pages of a 280 page book. Huffman was detailed and thorough, but the storyline felt disconnected and forced throughout the book.
February 8, 2015
I enjoy reading accounts of war - modern and historical - and this is definitely about war. The title seems a bit misleading as the Sultana disaster is but a small part of the book. This is more a study of survival, seen through the eyes of a few men from the same small area of Indiana, who lived through incredible trials and, if not unscathed, did at least survive. These men were at Chickamauga and other pivotal battles in Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. They were taken prisoner and endured the horrific conditions of the Cahaba and Andersonville prisons. When they were finally released in the waning days of the war, they were taken by train and marched to Vicksburg, there to board a paddlewheel boat for transport to their homes up the Mississippi. Unfortunately, that boat was the Sultana - and overloaded with passengers (by some accounts over 2400) and in poor repair, they left their stop at Memphis only to have the boilers explode a few miles upstream. Their trials were not even then over, as many of the men faced what we now call PTSD, pension boards that were reluctant to grant them even meager compensation for their suffering and ongoing disabilities, and folks back home who did not and could not understand their suffering. Sounds like things have not changed much over the last 150 years.
The only criticism that I have is that this story seemed almost too clinical. It is scholarly and the author has done his research painstakingly. But there seems little of the immediacy that this story warrants. It is too dispassionate.
Quotes to remember:
Survival is not an achievement. It is a process, and it is impossible to know, at any given moment, where you are in that process.
In reality, life is a long series of survival challenges, and always has been. How someone reacted to a survival threat in 1863 is no less telling than how people react to very different, yet equally lethal threats today. It is all about luck, physiology, and a circuitous, sometimes obscure, process of preparation.
Still, the moment that is unfolding is the one that matters most.
The only criticism that I have is that this story seemed almost too clinical. It is scholarly and the author has done his research painstakingly. But there seems little of the immediacy that this story warrants. It is too dispassionate.
Quotes to remember:
Survival is not an achievement. It is a process, and it is impossible to know, at any given moment, where you are in that process.
In reality, life is a long series of survival challenges, and always has been. How someone reacted to a survival threat in 1863 is no less telling than how people react to very different, yet equally lethal threats today. It is all about luck, physiology, and a circuitous, sometimes obscure, process of preparation.
Still, the moment that is unfolding is the one that matters most.
June 3, 2012
I saw the word "Sultana" and thought - "Good, a book about the steam ship disaster in April 1865 that my great-grand Uncle Samuel Jenkins survived."
What I didn't read - in small print on the book jacket - was "surviving the Civil War, prison and...the worst maritime disaster in American History".
So there I am, plowing through page after page of prison accounts from Cahaba and Andersonville - fully 1/2 of the book - wondering why the author is spending so much time 'setting the stage' for the main story - the explosion of the Sultana.
You see I take off the book jacket when reading so I missed the surviving the Civil War and prison.
Basically the main story was NOT about the Sultana. To me it was actually a study in how people survive extreme hardship and violence (or don't survive) using the Sultana episode as one example. You have the war itself; you have the prisons; and you have the sinking of the riverboat that claimed 1,700 lives (the Titanic lost 1,500).
I thought it was a very good study of the human spirit under extreme stress. The author used diaries and first hand recollections plus official reports.
For a history of the Sultana disaster - the book covered the essentials but I wanted more details.
What I didn't read - in small print on the book jacket - was "surviving the Civil War, prison and...the worst maritime disaster in American History".
So there I am, plowing through page after page of prison accounts from Cahaba and Andersonville - fully 1/2 of the book - wondering why the author is spending so much time 'setting the stage' for the main story - the explosion of the Sultana.
You see I take off the book jacket when reading so I missed the surviving the Civil War and prison.
Basically the main story was NOT about the Sultana. To me it was actually a study in how people survive extreme hardship and violence (or don't survive) using the Sultana episode as one example. You have the war itself; you have the prisons; and you have the sinking of the riverboat that claimed 1,700 lives (the Titanic lost 1,500).
I thought it was a very good study of the human spirit under extreme stress. The author used diaries and first hand recollections plus official reports.
For a history of the Sultana disaster - the book covered the essentials but I wanted more details.
September 3, 2015
I love this book! I can't say enough positive things about it. If you love reading about history, particularly the Civil War period, you will LOVE this book. A compelling book that covers several pivotal moments towards the end of the Civil War, woven into stories shared through accounts and journals of soldiers, bystanders and historians. You follow the journey of a group of enlisted men, from their enthusiastic entrance into battle, to their awakening of the horrors of war, enduring one of the most dire and deadly prison camps, and then to overcome odds and survive the worst maritime disaster in American history. It's very graphic, entertaining, heart-wrenching, surprising and moving. You'll really gain an appreciation of what life was like during the time, and if you've never heard of the story of the Sultana, you are in for a treat. This would make an awesome movie!
October 6, 2019
As I am attempting to prepare for a presentation about the Sultana to a Civil War Round table group, I found this book very useful as it had plenty of information about the nature of the disaster and the prison camps from which the soldiers had come. The best part of the book is the description of the actual explosion and fire on board the Sultana and the horrifying experiences of those plunged in the bitterly cold Mississippi River which at that time was at flood stage. The stories of the survivors are those of incredible courage, luck and perseverance but the author then explains how the injuries suffered and the trauma experienced by those survivors haunted them for the rest of their lives and often ended their lives prematurely. In addition, the author does explain why the disaster occurred and it is largely due to human greed and incompetence. What makes this event so interesting is that it has largely been ignored until recently.
July 19, 2022
This book meanders about as much as the Mississippi. The author jumps around events and even eras to flesh out his narrative. He latched onto three men and tried to tell their story from the beginning of the Civil War through their capture and survival of the worst US maritime disaster. Unfortunately, the resources to complete their story was unavailable, so the author incorporated multiple similar biographies into a blender. These bios were interesting in themselves, but often did not contribute to the overall narrative. Most of the book sets the stage for the disaster, which he does detail well. However, he flies through the aftermath of the event with cursory information. The book is more concerned about relating the emotional and psychological trauma of the Civil War to modern readers. There is some value in that but this book adds little to the historical record of Civil War prison camps or the disaster of the Sultana.
May 2, 2020
This book is 1 part Civil War story, 1 part POW story, and 1 part maritime disaster survival story. Interesting read for history buffs.
On Apr. 27, 1865, the deadliest maritime disaster in U.S. history occurred when the SS Sultana exploded on the Mississippi River just north of Memphis. The Civil War had recently ended and repatriated Union POWs were eager to return home. To assist this migration, the fed. gov't paid steamship operators for each soldier they carried, leading to corruption. In the case of the Sultana, that meant carrying ~2,600 people, almost 7x her licensed capacity. It was a disaster waiting to happen when a neglected boiler exploded in the middle of the night, setting her ablaze. Although ~1,800 people were killed, the incident was largely overshadowed in the press by the ongoing coverage of the Lincoln assassination.
On Apr. 27, 1865, the deadliest maritime disaster in U.S. history occurred when the SS Sultana exploded on the Mississippi River just north of Memphis. The Civil War had recently ended and repatriated Union POWs were eager to return home. To assist this migration, the fed. gov't paid steamship operators for each soldier they carried, leading to corruption. In the case of the Sultana, that meant carrying ~2,600 people, almost 7x her licensed capacity. It was a disaster waiting to happen when a neglected boiler exploded in the middle of the night, setting her ablaze. Although ~1,800 people were killed, the incident was largely overshadowed in the press by the ongoing coverage of the Lincoln assassination.
May 22, 2018
3.5 stars
This was an interesting read, but I feel like the book wasn't really about the Sultana so much as it was about the suffering endured by survivors who had been through the Civil War, the prison camps at Cahaba and Andersonville, and then finally the explosion of the Sultana. While it's all notable stuff, it's not stuff I really signed on for - I just wanted to get my disaster fix (although this was even more depressing than I'd imaged it would be!). Nonetheless, it's an interesting account of the suffering and prolonged misery of many Civil War veterans, with notes on what it takes and what it means to survive.
This was an interesting read, but I feel like the book wasn't really about the Sultana so much as it was about the suffering endured by survivors who had been through the Civil War, the prison camps at Cahaba and Andersonville, and then finally the explosion of the Sultana. While it's all notable stuff, it's not stuff I really signed on for - I just wanted to get my disaster fix (although this was even more depressing than I'd imaged it would be!). Nonetheless, it's an interesting account of the suffering and prolonged misery of many Civil War veterans, with notes on what it takes and what it means to survive.
Read
May 3, 2019I bought this to read as research for a novel I'm writing that includes a fictional account of the Sultana tragedy, a historical event from the Civil War that I've been researching for over ten years now. Huffman's a good writer but tries to mix present day with the past which felt odd to me in the first few chapters. He abandons that later, but it still felt unnecessary.
There are other details too that were weird. I now know more about Civil War time diarrhea than I ever cared to know!
More later when I finish...
There are other details too that were weird. I now know more about Civil War time diarrhea than I ever cared to know!
More later when I finish...
September 22, 2017
I felt like the book didn't have much of a focus and jumped from story to story, person to person, situation to situation in an unorganized and confused way. Also, very little of the book was actually devoted to the very boat whose name was given to the book. I feel like the title of the book was highly misleading.
September 10, 2023
One of the greatest maritime disasters occurred right after the end of the Civil War and took over 2000 lives on the Mississippi River.
Overfilled with both soldiers and civilians it blew up during high water in the middle of the river.
Gives background on some of the survivors and the challenges they had face before that night in both battle and prison.
Overfilled with both soldiers and civilians it blew up during high water in the middle of the river.
Gives background on some of the survivors and the challenges they had face before that night in both battle and prison.
October 4, 2018
Tells the story of the worst maritime accident in US History that is pretty much a footnote to the civil war. The event was overshadowed by the assassination of Lincoln. Also does a great job of exploring the horrors of the war.
January 30, 2019
The story bogged down for me at the beginning, but it picked up. The horrors of the POW camps was grusome. Then those poor soldiers went from the frying pan into the fire, literally, when they got on the Sultana. Just goes to show there were war profiteers even back then.
April 26, 2021
Excellent book about America's worst maritime disaster. 1800 people died; most were Civil War soldiers. This is 300 more individuals than perished on the Titanic, yet we hear almost nothing about it. Highly recommend. Kristi & Abby Tabby
January 11, 2016
Really 3 1/2 stars.
The trials and tribulations of a few soldiers in the Civil War from the Midwest. Huffman follows particularly three men from Indiana. He probably follows a couple of others, too, not sure who they were but he seems to trust more people from the Midwest. Or maybe he just follows a unit from Indiana. These were people who fought at Chickamauga, were captured and sent to Andersonville prison camp. As if this weren't enough, those who survived Andersonville and were being sent back north got on board the Sultana. The boat was overcrowded to the extreme. Palms were greased.
This was one of those years where the Mississippi River was running high. Flooding. There is some question as to whether the Sultana overheated or whether this was one of the last gasps of the Confederacy - a mark of terrorism - and a view that someone may have planted something that caused the Sultana to explode. Because explode it did, in the middle of the night.
There were people along the shore who wanted to help, in the name of humanity. However, Union soldiers had just recently come along to confiscate skiffs that might be used to aid the remnants of the Confederacy or to help people escape. Or, possibly, to help save people on the river?
At any rate, the disaster of the Sultana has gone down as the worst maritime disaster in American history - I think because of the amount of people killed. Monetarily, the Titanic surpasses but Sultana had 1400+.
It was enjoyable but I felt it was a little long. We follow a certain set of characters from the time they decide to join the Union Army until their demise. Many of them did suffer in later years from PTSD (or is this when they were calling it "the soldier's disease"?)because the things they had seen both at Andersonville and surviving the Sultana are things that cannot be unseen. Partly because of injuries and imprints on the brain.
The trials and tribulations of a few soldiers in the Civil War from the Midwest. Huffman follows particularly three men from Indiana. He probably follows a couple of others, too, not sure who they were but he seems to trust more people from the Midwest. Or maybe he just follows a unit from Indiana. These were people who fought at Chickamauga, were captured and sent to Andersonville prison camp. As if this weren't enough, those who survived Andersonville and were being sent back north got on board the Sultana. The boat was overcrowded to the extreme. Palms were greased.
This was one of those years where the Mississippi River was running high. Flooding. There is some question as to whether the Sultana overheated or whether this was one of the last gasps of the Confederacy - a mark of terrorism - and a view that someone may have planted something that caused the Sultana to explode. Because explode it did, in the middle of the night.
There were people along the shore who wanted to help, in the name of humanity. However, Union soldiers had just recently come along to confiscate skiffs that might be used to aid the remnants of the Confederacy or to help people escape. Or, possibly, to help save people on the river?
At any rate, the disaster of the Sultana has gone down as the worst maritime disaster in American history - I think because of the amount of people killed. Monetarily, the Titanic surpasses but Sultana had 1400+.
It was enjoyable but I felt it was a little long. We follow a certain set of characters from the time they decide to join the Union Army until their demise. Many of them did suffer in later years from PTSD (or is this when they were calling it "the soldier's disease"?)because the things they had seen both at Andersonville and surviving the Sultana are things that cannot be unseen. Partly because of injuries and imprints on the brain.
September 21, 2009
In his book, Sultana: Surviving the Civil War, Prison, and the Worst Maritime Disaster in American History, Alan Huffman follows a handful of Union soldiers from their enlistment in the Army during the American Civil War, through the confusion and terror of battle, and then on to the often far greater horror of Confederate prison camps. When those who survived are finally released to be carried home to their loved ones, they face the final horror. The Sultana, a Mississippi River paddlewheel steamer, seriously overloaded with freed Union prisoners, exploded on 27 April 1865, killing over 1,600 of the estimated 2,400 aboard. To this day the explosion of the Sultana remains the the greatest maritime disaster in United States history.
Huffman’s account is vivid, often harrowing and feels well researched. My only real complaint with the book is the title. Huffman has written a fascinating study of human survival under inhuman conditions. In his book, however, the explosion of the Sultana serves almost as a denouement. If the book had not been entitled “Sultana” with the phrase “The Worst Maritime Disaster in American History” in bold face and all caps, that might not have been a problem.
Alan Huffman has written a fascinating and engaging book with an unfortunate title. It is not strictly speaking about the “Worst Maritime Disaster In American History”. It is a vivid account of human survival in the American Civil War. On that basis it succeeds. If you are looking for the story of the Sultana, however, you may be disappointed.
Huffman’s account is vivid, often harrowing and feels well researched. My only real complaint with the book is the title. Huffman has written a fascinating study of human survival under inhuman conditions. In his book, however, the explosion of the Sultana serves almost as a denouement. If the book had not been entitled “Sultana” with the phrase “The Worst Maritime Disaster in American History” in bold face and all caps, that might not have been a problem.
Alan Huffman has written a fascinating and engaging book with an unfortunate title. It is not strictly speaking about the “Worst Maritime Disaster In American History”. It is a vivid account of human survival in the American Civil War. On that basis it succeeds. If you are looking for the story of the Sultana, however, you may be disappointed.
October 10, 2012
The subtitle of this book "Surviving the Civil War, Prison, and the Worst Maritime Disaster in American History" kind of says it all. I was expecting a book primarily about the sinking of the ship and investigation afterwards. What I got was a book that initially follows three soldiers from the mid-west fairly closely. It then branches off into an explanation of how brain chemistry in soldiers works in survival situations, which is a bit out of place in a history book. The story then covers captured soldier's lives in two Confederate prison camps. Finally, more than halfway through the book, then ship finally sinks. The coverage of the sinking is fast paced, using many sources (more than just the first three soldiers). Most of the rest of the book covers the post-war experiences of the soldiers and how they constructed memories.
The author does a good job at bringing the soldier's experiences of this little known disaster to life.
The author does a good job at bringing the soldier's experiences of this little known disaster to life.
November 13, 2014
The Explosion of the steamboat Sultana was the worst maritime disaster in American history. There were allegedly more casualties from this calamity than there were from the titanic. The event occurred at the end of the American civil war, Spring of 1865. Many of the passengers were Union army soldiers who had survived the rigors of several civil war battles, imprisonment in hellish prisoner of war camps (like Andersonville)only to face their greatest trial on their means of returning home. In fact, the survivor's stories tell it all. Of all the dangers these brave men and women faced...the war trumped anything at home, prison camp life trumped the war, but the Sultana explosion trumped everything. Nothing in their lives changed them physically, emotionally or neurologically as did that one night aboard an exploding river boat. This is truly one of the greatest historical disaster stories of all time.
May 11, 2009
The explosion and wreck of the Mississippi riverboat Sultana in 1865, which killed 1,700 passengers, mostly Union soldiers recently released from Confederate POW camps, is finale of this engrossing survey of the many varieties of suffering in the Civil War. Journalist Huffman doesn't even get aboard the Sultana until the last third of the saga. Before that, he fills in the backstories of four Yankee survivors as they fight in the battle of Chickamauga, go raiding with Sherman's cavalry and finally get captured and sent to the infamous Southern prison camps at Andersonville, Ga., and Cahaba, Ala. There they endure the torments of starvation, exposure, festering and maggoty wounds, predatory criminal gangs, lice and diarrhea—a scourge, Huffman notes, that was far deadlier to soldiers than bullets. Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire.
October 29, 2015
I will give this book a 2.5 if just for the fact it sheds light on the worst maritime in American history. My main problem is that the book wanders all over. Sultana is in the title, but you really don't get to that part of the story until about halfway through the book. The author begins the book by focusing on a few soldiers and following their path through battle, POW camps, and eventually the Sultana. The problem is that when the soldiers get to the POW camp, he adds a large number of new individuals and it gets very difficult to track all the characters. At parts, he discusses the body's responses to fear in scientific terms, which just seemed out of place with the tone of the rest of book, while other chapters are solely devoted to diary entries of soldiers. I felt like the author had a really good magazine article he tried to stretch to a full length book.
January 19, 2010
A very good book about the worst maritime disaster in American History. 2400 returning soldiers from Confederate Prison Camps were being brought back north. Many were in terrible shape, but the steamboat was holding 3 times its normal passenger load, and blew up when the strain on the engines became too much, plunging the passengers into the Mississippi River or buring them to death.
Interesting research included stories about soldiers from Southern Indiana and cities the local paper at the time, The New Albany ledger. Not many people survived the incident and those who did and made it home never talked much about it or their times in the camps.A very good read for historians and Civil War buffs.
Interesting research included stories about soldiers from Southern Indiana and cities the local paper at the time, The New Albany ledger. Not many people survived the incident and those who did and made it home never talked much about it or their times in the camps.A very good read for historians and Civil War buffs.
February 4, 2021
My sister and I visit cemeteries all over the place. One day, we happened upon a random cemetery that we passed by and turned around to see. In this cemetery was a tombstone of someone who had died aboard the Sultana. I mentioned that I thought I had a book about the Sultana, and came home and read it that very day. I had never heard of the Sultana, and just happened to buy this book at a second hand store a couple of months before we saw the tombstone. I learned a lot from this book, but I am disappointed that I had never heard of it for it to be such a horrible disaster. I would suggest this book for anyone who is interested in the Civil War or disasters of any type.
February 7, 2015
Excellent retelling of both the Deep South battles preceding the Sultana disaster, the deplorable conditions of the Confederate prisoner of war camps at Cahaba and Andersonville, as well as the explosion and sinking of the riverboat. I wish there had been more on the disaster itself. In one chapter it is over. Also the retelling of both the camps and sinking, though often told in survivor snippets, lacked narrative emotion. Nevertheless, still a fascinating read abut a little known disaster that killed more people than the Titanic.
February 4, 2015
The subject matter of the story was very intriguing to me. It was a more personal recounting of soldiers in the Civil War framed by the title tragedy. I enjoyed the stories and the backgrounds of the many soldiers. Unfortunately, I often became confused about the author's aims. It bounced from so many different narratives and different locations that I did not remember one from another. That bouncing lost much of the emotional pull the author was trying to build when they get on the fated steamboat. I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did.
January 26, 2014
The grossly overloaded by a cargo of more than two thousand passengers the steamboat was traveling on the Mississippi River in April 1865 when three of her boilers setting the ship on fire and causing her to sink. Many of the 1,700 people who perished were returning Union soldiers who were returning home after release from a Confederate prison camp. This work follows the paths of several survivors to tell the story of one of America's worse maratine tragedies.
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