Sultana Memorials

The following is a list of all known Sultana markers and monuments. If I have missed any, or if anyone has additional info or photographs to provide, please contact me at memorials@sultanadisaster.com. NOTE: The large number of photos on this page may take the page longer than usual to load.

Muncie, IN

Dedicated to the men of the Indiana 9th Cavalry, 121st Regiment, especially those who were on board the Sultana, 55 of whom perished in the disaster.

Beech Grove Cemetery.

photo courtesy Mark Davis, Hartford City, IN

Memphis, TN - Elmwood Cemetery

One of the two Memphis markers for the Sultana is tucked away in a corner of the nearly inaccessible Elmwood Cemetery. On my visit in April, 2002, I was told by the grounds management that graves of some of the disaster's civilian victims would be found nearby, but I had no luck locating them. On your way into Elmwood, stop into the office to ask for a map and directions to the Sultana marker.

Historic Elmwood Cemetery, 824 South Dudley St., Memphis, TN 38104. Website: www.elmwoodcemetary.org. 

full text of marker

Marion, AR

Dedicated in April 2000. The Arkansas Daughters of the American Revolution erected a marker in this small town across from Memphis, TN. Nearby are where the remains of the Sultana are buried beneath a soy bean field. Marion also shares a few hometown heroes who helped rescue and house victims of the Sultana disaster.

City Hall, 15 Military Rd., Marion, AR

full text of marker

Vicksburg, MS

Dedicated April 27, 2002 near the waterfront where the soldiers first boarded the Sultana. Efforts are also under way to create a mural near the marker depicting the loading of the ship.

full text of marker

Cincinnati, OH

Brother's Christopher and Timothy Heather formed the Cincinnati Sultana Association to raise $700 (with matching funds) to erect this marker as part of Ohio's Bicentennial.

Sawyer Point, Cincinnati, OH

full text of plaque 

article on marker

photo courtesy Gene Shields

Cincinnati, OH - National Steamboat Monument

Part of the city's National Steamboat Monument, this Sultana plaque is engraved in metal and shows a photo of the ship's final and most famous photograph (the original copy of this photo is supposedly in the local library). The Sultana, by the way, was built only a few blocks away.

Mehring Way near Broadway, Cincinnati, OH

full text of plaque    

more info on the National Steamboat Monument

Knoxville, TN - Mount Olive Cemetery

Erected July 4, 1912. The names of over 365 Tennessee soldiers who were  part of the disaster are chiseled into this marble monument along with a depiction of a riverboat. This is also the site of where most of past ten Sultana descendant's reunions have been held.

Mount Olive Baptist Church and Cemetery, Maryville Pike, Knoxville, TN.

full text of marker     photo courtesy Gene Shields

Dedicated November 11, 2001. Erected to honor the 280 Michigan men - 75 from the Hillsdale area - who died on the Sultana.

full text of marker

info and photos of the creation and dedication of this wonderful monument.

Mansfield, OH

One of two markers in Mansfield, this beautiful plaque was made by renowned sculptor Michael Kraus, who is currently working on the Civil War feature film Cold Mountain. Dedicated May 27, 2002 and honoring all the men from Richland county who suffered aboard the Sultana, this is to be installed soon outside the Mansfield Memorial Museum.

photo and info courtesy Kent Dorr, McLaughlin Camp #12 SUVCW

Mansfield, OH

This marker is dedicated in honor of the men from the 102nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry and was erected November 10th, 2001.

South Park.

info courtesy Kent Dorr, McLaughlin Camp #12 SUVCW

text of marker

no photo available

Full text from markers and monuments

Memphis, TN - Elmwood Cemetery

IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO DIED ON THE ILL-FATED PASSENGER STEAMER

SULTANA

On April 27, 1865, just North of Memphis, the luxury steamer Sultana's massive boiler's exploded. The disaster claimed over 1500 lives -  a death toll exceeding that of the Titanic.

The soldier was returning home and longed to see loved ones, the bride and the bridegroom talked of future plans, and the mother embraced her babe in sleep. We salute their memory, and for the agony and terror that night, we bid them God's mercy.

Placed by

Dr. Robert Kaplan

Dr. Christine Mroz

Jim and Barbara Taylor

Historians

Hugh L. Berryman, Ph.D.  -- Jerry O. Potter, J.D.

May, 1989

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THE LOSS OF THE SULTANA

Early on April 27, 1865, the overcrowded steamboat Sultana exploded on the Mississippi River near Marion, Arkansas. The vast majority of the Sultana's passengers, believed to number over 2000, were Federal soldiers, recently released from Confederate prisons. Approximately 1500 people perished: this remains the worst tragedy in American nautical history.

Marker placed by the Arkansas State Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, April 1, 2000

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THE STEAMER SULTANA

On April 24, 1865, the Sultana left Vicksburg with over 2,300 Union soldiers aboard, many of whom were formerly prisoners of war. Some 200 civilians were also on board, despite a legal limit of 376 people. Due to a faulty boiler, the Sultana exploded north of Memphis, killing at least 1,800, the greatest maritime disaster in U.S. history.

MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY, 2001

Sidewheel Packet

SULTANA

Built at Cincinnati, OH in 1863. On April 27, 1865, the SULTANA exploded on the Mississippi River above Memphis, Tennessee with over 2,200 people on board, the majority of which were Union soldiers on their way home at the close of the Civil War. Legally registered to carry only 376 people, the boat was terribly overloaded. More than 1,700 people died in the tragedy, making it the worst marine disaster in U.S. history.

STEAMBOAT HALL OF FAME DONOR

Joseph S. Stern, Jr.

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OHIO HISTORICAL MARKER

THE SULTANA

 In 1862, less than a mile upriver from this marker, the John Lithoberry

Shipyard in Cincinnati constructed the Sultana, a 260 foot wooden steam

transport.  At the end of the Civil War, the U.S. Government contracted the

Sultana to transport recently freed Federal prisoners north from Confederate

stockades.  During the night of April 27, 1865, while carrying over 2300

Union soldiers-over six times its capacity of 376 passengers – a steam boilers

aboard the Sultana exploded.  The ship erupted in a massive fireball, and sank

in the cold, flood-swollen Mississippi, 10 miles north of Memphis, Tennessee. 

Over 1,700 individuals died - some 200 more that those lost 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

490 soldiers, with Kentucky suffering 194 dead.  It is estimated that among the

Ohio casualties, over 50 were Cincinnatians.

 

Ohio  Bicentennial Commission

The Longaberger Company

Timothy & Christopher Heather, Colerain Twp., Ohio

The Ohio Historical Society

1999

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list of names engraved on the monument

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SULTANA

Dedicated to the memory of the 280 Michigan Civil War soldiers who lost their lives in America's worst maritime disaster, the sinking of the steamship "Sultana."

These men were among more than 2,200 Union soldiers returning home from Confederate prison camps on April 27, 1865, when the vessel's boilers exploded at 2:00am on the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tennessee.

The 18th Michigan Infantry, organized July 1862 in Hillsdale, lost 75 men, more than half their number who were on board that night.

We honor all who were on the "Sultana" for their courage and service to their country.

November 11, 2001

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In memory of the 73 men of the 102nd OVI who died as a result of the steamship 'Sultana' blowing up on April 27, 1865, while returning 2,400 prisoners of war, on the Mississippi River. The result was the loss of over 1,800, the greatest maritime disaster in U.S. history. The 102nd Regiment was formed in Mansfield, and mustered in on Sept. 6, 1862. The regiment lost the most men of any infantry regiment on the ship as a result of the disaster.

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