Who We Are  by David Markland

The Association of Sultana Descendants and Friends is a loose knit organization whose main goal is the preservation and spreading of the story of the passengers of the ill fated steamboat Sultana, that exploded on April 27th, 1865 and claimed over 1600 lives. The Association holds an annual reunion, publishes a quarterly newsletter, and maintains an online mailing list. Individual members are encouraged to tell the story to schools, Civil War roundtables, and their own family and friends.

Members of the Association have erected assorted markers and monuments, given countless presentations, and published a number of articles in newspapers and national magazines. The Association has also assisted in providing research materials to a handful of documentaries about the Sultana.

There is no formal membership process besides the act of getting involved and helping to preserve and spread the story of the Sultana. A subscription to The Sultana Remembered is strongly encouraged, as is signing up for the online Sultana mailing list.

A Short History of Our Organization  by Norman Shaw

     I first learned about the Sultana story in the mid 1980s when I happened to come across a 1962 book entitled Transport to Disaster by James W. Elliott while browsing through the library of the McClung Collection in Knoxville, TN.  I discovered that the Sultana was an overloaded steamship bringing home over 2000 former Union POWs when it exploded without warning in the middle of the Mississippi River seven miles above Memphis, TN, at about 2:00 a.m. on April 27, 1965.  I was amazed by the magnitude and heartbreak of the tragedy--the official death count was eventually proven to be low at a little over 1500 souls which, nevertheless, exceeded the total who died on the Titanic. 

     A few years later I was pleasantly surprised to discover two individuals, Edgar (Si) Keeble and Mrs. Malcolm Bloom, both in their nineties, who lived in Knoxville whose fathers, troopers in the 3rd Tenn. Cavalry  (U.S.), had survived the Sultana explosion.  It turned out that their fathers had been close friends and, coincidentally, were the last two members of the survivors of the 3rd Tenn. from the Knoxville area to pass away.

     I decided this little known Civil War event would make a great topic for a presentation to the Knoxville Civil War Roundtable (KCWRT).  After researching and reading what little there was on the subject at that time, I gave a talk to the Roundtable on March 10, 1987, which concluded with the introduction of two surprise guests, Mr. Keeble and Mrs. Bloom!

     Shortly after my speaking to the KCWRT, Fred Brown, reporter for the Knoxville News-Sentinel, wrote an article on the Sultana and the fate of the 3rd Tenn.  Si Keeble was featured in the piece.  Fred agreed to include in his story my request for all readers who were descendants of soldiers on the Sulltana to meet at the Sultana monument in South Knoxville at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 26, 1987.  Even though Fred's article only came out in the Sunday morning edition of his paper, to my great delight about fifty people had gathered at the monument at the designated time that same Sunday!  Here, I met a third survivor's child, Elsie Huffaker!

     This group of expectant descendants became the nucleus of the Association of Sultana Descendants and Friends!  After obtaining names and addresses of everyone present at the monument in 1987, I contacted them in 1988 to have our first formal reunion that April at the Mt. Olive Baptist Church which owned the cemetery that featured the Sultana monument.  A good number of about seventy people attended the initial meeting!  We met in Knoxville for the next 13 years until we decided to meet in 2002 in Vicksburg, MS, the Sultana loading place of the recently released Union men.  Our organization had the honor to participate in the dedication of a new state marker which recalled the Sultana story.  We plan to meet in Memphis in 2003 to reminisce and to tour the sites related to the end of the ill-fated steamship.  We will reunite in Knoxville in 2004.

     Our association is open to anyone interested in joining, descendant or not.  For info on joining click here.  I may be reached at work at 865/693-9000 for further information.

Michael Johnson (moderator of the Sultana-L mailing list) Doc82@ftc-i.net

Jack Lundquist (database specialist) has developed the most complete and detailed database of the more 2,100 Sultana passengers and crew to date, including info on where the soldiers were captured, which prison they were kept at, where they were buried, and more. This project led him to creating a database of soldiers held at the Cahaba Prison, completed in 2000 with over "9,500 names complete with capture information and source citations." Jack is now taking on the monumental  task of creating another list of soldiers held at the infamous Andersonville prison that held over 42,000 soldiers, and eventually wants to take on all Civil War prison camps south of Virginia. "All of these prisons...and Sultana are interrelated; which means that when a prisoner's name is 'inquired' on a single database the complete history of his confinement/s will be shown on a single computer screen and will contain all information as to date and place captured, his fate and all source citations." When completed Jack will make it available on the web for all Civil War buffs and researchers to reference. sultana427@aol.com 

David Markland (web master) is the great-great-great grandson of Corp. John Hawken of the 52nd Ohio Infantry, the unit assigned to guard the passengers of the Sultana. David created and maintains the Sultana Disaster Online Museum & Archives website and the current Sultana.org site. contact: david@sultanadisaster.com 

Mark and Mike Marshall (River Rock Entertainment, LLC - documentary filmmakers) are currently producing "Soldiers of Misfortune: The Sultana Disaster" a feature length documentary set for an April 2003 release. "The documentary will seek to tell the story of the Sultana disaster primarily in the words of the descendents of those who lived through, and those who did not survive, the tragedy."  River Rock Entertainment, LLC can be contacted by e-mail at riverrockent@sbcglobal.net, or by phone at 580-242-7487. For more information on current and upcoming projects go their web site at: www.riverrockentertainment.com .

Pam Newhouse (editor of Sultana Remembered) has been a part of the Association of Sultana Descendants and Friends for 13 years, during which time she has published the group's newsletter, The Sultana Remembered.  Her gr gr grandfather, Pvt. Adam Schneider, 183rd Ohio Infantry, Co. C from Cincinnati, Ohio, died on the Sultana after his confinement in Cahaba Prison near Selma, Alabama.  She has participated in and helped plan many annual reunion programs.  An avid Civil War researcher, she continues to write and lecture on many facets of the complex Sultana story. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband (Larry) of 37 years. Contacther at: cw1865@aol.com 

Jerry Potter (author, The Sultana Tragedy), "a Memphis lawyer, first became interested in the Sultana over a decade ago when he saw a painting of the burning ship. Determined that the Sultana should not be forgotten, Potter researched newspaper accounts, the three existing books on the subject, and previously unused military and government documents." (from The Sultana Tragedy).

Gene Eric Salecker (author, Disaster on the Mississippi), "a well known Chicago collector of Sultana artifacts and photgraphs, has been compiling data on the disaster since 1978 and and has written numerous articles on the subject for Civil War magazines.  Mr. Salecker is a native of Chicago and graduate of Northeastern Illinois University, where he now serves as a police officer." (from Disaster on the Mississippi)

Norman Shaw (Association founder) has been a title attorney in Knoxville, TN, since 1981.  He is married to Peggy R. Shaw and has two minor children.  In 1983, he became the founder and first president of the Knoxville Civil War Roundtable, and in 1987, as described above, he started the Association of Sultana Descendants and Friends.  Mr. Shaw is interested in the preservation of Civil War sites and belongs to the Tennessee Civil War Preservation Association, Inc. and the Civil War Preservation Trust. shawpan@msn.com