The Sultana
In 1862, less than a mile upriver from this marker, the John Lithoberry shipyard in Cincinnati Ohio constructed the Sultana, a 260-foot wooden steamboat transport. At the end of the Civil War the U.S. Government contracted the Sultana to transport recently freed Federal war prisoners north from Confederate stockades. During the night of April 27, 1865 while carrying over 2,300 Union soldiers - over six times its capacity of 376 - a steam boiler aboard the Sultana exploded. The ship erupted in a massive fireball and sank in the cold, flood-swollen Mississippi river ten miles north of Memphis, Tennessee. Over 1,700 individuals died - some 200 more lost than those aboard the Titanic in 1912 - in what remains the worst maritime disaster in American history. Of the total casualties, Ohio lost the most of any state, with 791 dead. Indiana lost 491 persons, with Kentucky suffering 191 dead. It is estimated of the Ohio casualties, over fifty were Cincinnatians.| HM Number | HM1Q7E |
|---|---|
| Series | This marker is part of the Ohio: Ohio Historical Society series |
| Tags | |
| Historical Period | Civil War |
| Historical Place | River |
| Marker Type | Memorial |
| Marker Class | Both |
| Marker Style | Mounted |
| Marker Number | 18-31 |
| Year Placed | 1999 |
| Placed By | Ohio Historical Society, The Longaberger Company, Tim and Chris Heather |
| Marker Condition | No reports yet |
| Date Added | Saturday, December 26th, 2015 at 10:43am PST -08:00 |
| Directions Information | Cincinnati, Ohio River Front Sawyer Point |
|---|---|
| UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 16S E 716299 N 4330856 |
| Decimal Degrees | 39.10003333, -84.49871667 |
| Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 39° 6.002', W 84° 29.923' |
| Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 39° 6' 0.12" N, 84° 29' 55.38" W |
| Driving Directions | Google Maps |
| Area Code(s) | 859 |
| Can be seen from road? | No |
| Is marker in the median? | No |
| Closest Postal Address | At or near 101-199 L and N Pedestrian Bridge, Newport KY 41071, US |
| Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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