A quiz question · hard
The steamboat Sultana, which exploded on the Mississippi in April 1865, was legally certified for 376 people. Roughly how many was she carrying?
Most were Union soldiers freed from Confederate prison camps, packed aboard for the per-head transport fee. Around 1,200 died — more than on the Titanic.
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The Sultana Explosion of 27 April 1865, America's Deadliest Maritime Disaster, Which History Overlooked The steamboat Sultana, legally certified for 376 people, was carrying more than 2,100 — most of them Union soldiers just released from Confederate prison camps — when her patched boiler exploded on the Mississippi above Memphis on 27 April 1865. Around 1,200 died, more than on the Titanic, in a week when the newspapers were full of Lincoln's funeral and the death of John Wilkes Booth.
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