The sidewheel steamboat SS Sultana, explodes and sinks on April 27, 1865, near Memphis, Tennessee, killing over 1,100 people. The Sultana had a legal capacity of 376, but was carrying over 2,200 passengers mostly paroled Union soldiers on their way home.
The explosion, which is believed to have been caused by a boiler failure, resulted in one of the deadliest maritime disasters in US history. The event was not widely covered in the news at the time, overshadowed by the end of the war and the assassination of President Lincoln. More
