THE SULTANA — Ohio Historical Marker

In 1862, less than a mile upriver from this marker, the John Litthberry Shipyard in Cincinnati constructed the Sultana, a 260 foot, wooden steam transport. At the end of the Civil War, the U.S. Government contracted with the Sultana to transport recently freed Federal prisoners north from Confederate prisons. During the night of April 27, 1865, while carrying over 2,300 Union soldiers — over six times its capacity of 376 passengers — a steam boiler aboard the Sultana exploded. The ship was to sink in a massive fireball and sank in the cold, flood-swollen Mississippi River ten miles north of Memphis, Tennessee . Over 1,700 individuals died — some 200 more than those lost aboard the Titanic in 1912 — in what remains the worst maritime disaster in American history. Of the total casualties, Ohio lost the most of any state, with 791 dead. Indiana lost 491 persons, and Kentucky suffering 194 dead. It is estimated that of the Ohio casualties over fifty were Cincinnatians.

Ohio Bicentennial Commission, The Longaberger Company, Timothy & Christina Metheny, Colrain Twp., Ohio, The Ohio Historical Society, 1999 — 18-31

The April 1865 wreck of the Sultana is the United States’ worst maritime tragedy, and many of the casualties were Ohio sons returning home after the Civil War. Most had just been released from Confederate prisoner of war camps. Some like Arthur Jones (Geauga County) and Michael Brunner (Cincinnati) were returning from the infamous prison in Andersonville. Arthur was the only Northeast Ohioan who survived the explosion and sinking. He returned home to become a success. Michael survived and his descendants came to Lake County, but neither man ever forgot their nightmarish experience. It was a tragic story complicated by shameless greed, with an awful connection to President Lincoln who was assassinated just days before. Learn more about them and the other less fortunate people on board, and the corruption and controversy of the steamer Sultana.

About the Speaker

Ginnie Jeschelnig is the program presenter. She was a public librarian and a school media specialist for 23 years. She is a graduate of Ursuline College and earned her master’s degree in library science from Kent State University. Ginnie spent ten years working with the Lake County History Center. As a lifelong history geek and Lake County native, this has been a delightful and predictable ‘third career.’ She loves researching the people & details behind the stories of this corner of Ohio and sharing them with a new generation.