Terror on the Mississippi: The Sultana Disaster, Part III - Page 2
© Curtis Payne
He escaped, going south, and later received a pardon from President Johnson. It was after receiving the pardon that he told the story of how he smuggled the torpedo on board the Sultana.
William Streeter was a Union man and assistant keeper and chief clerk of Gratiot Street Prison, the prison in which Louden had been held during the war.
Everyone of course will have to make up his or her own mind if the Sultana disaster was Sabotage or a boiler explosion.
I don't believe that the burden of proof has been met to conclusively say the Sultana was a victim of sabotage. However it would have been extremely difficult at that time to determine what was sabotage and what wasn't.
Forensic evidence of sabotage was lost or masked due to the nature of the device. Speculation after such a disaster would have been normal and may account for some statements about sabotage.
Curtis Payne
Credits
My thanks to Curtis for providing us with an excellent, thought-provoking series about this little-known aspect of Civil War history. Be sure to stop by the discussion board and say hello to Curtis, and to post your thoughts and questions about the Sultana.
The photograph of the Sultana appearing in Part II, as well as all of the paintings that accompanied this series, were provided courtesy of the Sultana Disaster Online Museum and Archives web site. See below for more information.
Sources for this series include the following -
Books:
The Sultana Tragedy, by Jerry O. Potter, 1992
Cahaba Prison and the Sultana Disaster, by John Walker, 1910
Transport to Disaster, by James W. Elliott, 1963
War of the Rebellion: The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies - Series I, Volume XXII, Part 2; Series I, Volume XXVI
Magazine Articles
"Survivor of Cahaba and the Sultana Disaster," by Margaret Luzelle Helton - American Heritage, October 1955 issue
"The Crippling of the Sultana: The Real Picture," by Gene Salecker, p. 24-31 - Blue and Gray, August 1995 issue
"The Sultana: A Case For Sabotage," - North & South, Vol. 5, Number 1, Dec. 2001 issue
"Sgt. Talkington Survived the Explosion and Sinking of the Sultana" - Indiana History Bulletin, Vol. 32, Number 7, p. 123-125, July 1955 issue
Newsletter:
Sultana Remembered, published by the Association of Sultana Descendants and Friends. Issued quarterly. Annual subscription $6
Videos:
The Great Ships: Sultana, available through the History Channel - http://www.historychannel.com/
Steamboating on the Mississippi, St. Louis Riverboat heritage
Be sure to also visit the excellent web site below for more information (Scroll to the bottom of the page to enter the online museum) -
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