Trial by Fire Aboard the Sultana

Categories: History

It seems that there are lots of people who (secretly) love to read about disasters.  Whether regarding the "natural" variety, or the "man-made" variety, there are some excellent disaster books to be found. 

Among the newer titles, Sultana: Surviving the Civil War, prison, and the worst maritime disaster in American history, supplies almost every sort of human trial imaginable. To my mind, this story makes the sinking of the Titanic look like a day at the beach. 

Author Alan Huffman deftly lays out the backstories of four Yankee soldiers who survived some of the major battles of the Civil War, only to be captured and held in godforsaken prisoner of war camps, faced with lice, disease, and starvation.  They somehow lived through it all and at the end of the war were to be shipped back home.  

In order to travel up the Mississippi River they boarded the Sultana, a steamship built in Cincinnati. Even though the ship was merely two years old, there were problems with the boilers and the boat exploded, killing nearly two thousand passengers. 

Civil War buffs and disaster fans alike have everything they could ask for in this sordid tale.  Alan Huffman recently appeared on CSPAN's Book TV: the program is well worth a look.  Additional information can be found at The Sultana Disaster Online Museum and Archives.