Sultana Steamship

Dedicated to the memory of the 280 Michigan Civil War soldiers who lost their lives in America’s worst maritime disaster. The steamboat Sultana exploded and burned in the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tennessee, at 2:00 A.M. on April 27, 1865, with the loss of 1,700 returned prisoners of war. The 18th Michigan Infantry, organized July 1862 in Hillsdale, Michigan, lost 75 men which was more than half their number that were on board that night.