The Sultana Disaster

The Sultana Disaster is a Tennessee historical marker in Jefferson Davis Park, Shelby County.

Shelby Co, Memphis, Jefferson Davis Park

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One of the worst maritime disasters in world history occurred 7 miles north of Memphis on April 27, 1865, when the steamer Sultana exploded and burned with the loss of over 1,547 lives. Built to carry only 376 passengers, the Sultana had over 2,300 on board at the time of the disaster. Most were Union soldiers from Tennessee, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Virginia, who were on their way home following their release from the Confederate prisons at Andersonville and Cahaba.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1855 · Arkansas (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1859 · Arkansas (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1862 · Johnson's Kentucky & Tennessee (1862) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1865 · Military map showing the marches of the United States Forces 1863-1865. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1886 · Arkansas. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

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What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

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Marker text and location from the Tennessee Historical Commission, as the Commission publishes them on its marker map.

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