Ray Appleton

The soldiers had survived the horrors of the U.S. Civil War and the POW camps. Over 2000 Union soldiers were crammed aboard the steamboat Sultana, heading home. But graft, greed, overcrowding, a poorly maintained boat, and a swollen Mississippi River conspired to create disaster. On April 27, 1865, exploding boilers caused the United States' worst maritime disaster. It's time to Remember the Sultana.