In April 1865, the Civil War ended and former Union prisoners took the Sultana to return home. The steamer goes up the Mississippi. It carries far more passengers than its expected capacity, and a damaged boiler received a temporary repair prior to the trip.
On April 27, near Memphis, three of his four boilers exploded. The National Park Service tells the story of Valmore Lambert, who had survived the fighting and then eight months in Andersonville prison. He died on board the Sultana, along with more than a thousand other people according to this notice.
The story is about a terrible reversal: the release from captivity was not the end of the danger. The ship supposed to bring the men back to their loved ones becomes the place of the disaster. Estimates of the total number of deaths differ in historical sources; this disagreement does not change either the documented explosion or the overpopulation of the boat.
What we know
The precise balance varies according to the sources; no hypothesis of sabotage is given as certain.
To go to the source
References accessed October 11, 2026. Linked pages may be in another language.
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