Civil War Mississippi Cruise – May 2013
Memphis to New Orleans on the Queen of the Mississippi
Memphis: Day One –
One hundred forty five passengers and I left Memphis at noon on Saturday headed south on the Mississippi River. The first lecture I gave was on the Sultana disaster of April 27th 1865 which occurred on the river just six miles north of Memphis. This ship was authorized to carry less than 400 passengers. But, on this night it carried over 2,300 hundred, mostly Union soldiers returning home after extended periods as prisoners of war in Confederate prisons. The e4xplosion killed over 1,700 passengers and is considered the worst maritime disaster in American history.