LOSS OF THE SULTANA - REMINISCENCES OF SURVIVORS
Hosea C. ALDRICH
I ENLISTED in the service of the United States in
August, 1862, in Hillsdale county, Mich., as sergeant in Company G, of the 18th Mich. Vol. Inft. I was captured at Athens, Ala., the 24th of September, 1864, and was confined in prison at Cahaba, Ala., and released from there April 12, 1865, and sent to Vicksburg, Miss., where I want on board the boiler deck of the steamer "Sultana" with the other prisoners, like a flock of sheep, until her passengers numbered 2,141, over six times her capacity. She steamed out of Vicksburg, April 25, at one o'clock A. M., arrived at Helena, Ark., the 26th, about seven o'clock A. M., and arrived at Memphis, Tenn., the 26th of April at seven o'clock P. M. Here we stopped for a while and I went up town and got some refreshments, and I went back on the boat well fed but weary. A comrade, J. W. Dansmore, and I bunked on the floor about midway on the cabin deck, the only place I could find as the floors of all the decks were completely covered when all of the boys laid down. We left Memphis about one o'clock A. M. April 27th. There was no danger manifested, and more than that it was not in the least anticipated only that the boat was heavily loaded. But in the darkness of that morning, between one and two o'clock opposite Zagleman (Tagleman) Landing, eight miles above Memphis, suddenly and without warning, the boiler of the steamer exploded. When it happened I was sound asleep, and the first thing that I knew or heard was a terrible crash, everything seemed to be falling. The things I had under my head, my shoes, and some other
articles and specimens that I had gathered up and had them tied up in an old
pair of drawers, they all went down through the floor. We scrambled back. The
smoke came rushing up through the passage made by the exit of the exploded
boiler. The cry from all was, " What is the matter ?" and the reply came, " the
boat is on fire." It was all confusion. The screams of women and children
mingled with the groans of tho wounded and dying. Brave men rushed to and fro in
the agony of fear, some uttering the most profane language and others commending
their spirits to the Great Ruler of the Universe; the cries of the drowning and
the roaring of the flames as they. leaped heavenward made the scene most
affecting and touching. But it was of short duration as the glare that
illuminated the sky and made visible the awful despair of the hour soon died
away while darkness more intense than ever settled down on the floating hulk and
the victims of the disaster. I was pushed in the water and started for the
bottom of the Mississippi, but I soon rose to the surface and found a small
piece of board, and soon had the luck of getting a larger board, which was very
lucky for me, as I could not swim. At this time a comrade grabbed me. I released
his hold by giving him the small board, another comrade had got hold of the
middle of the large board ; then there came an end of a ladder in my reach, I
grabbed it and pulled it under the board, another comrade was on the other end
of it. That was the craft which we three hung to and managed to keep away from
others that were fighting and drowning. We floated along down the river nearly
an hour I think when my limbs began to cramp; that was the last of which I was
conscious until at eight o'clock A. M. We had floated down the river six miles
and lodged in the flood-wood against an island which was within two miles of
Memphis, and here we were picked up by the United States picket boat,
"Pocahontas." They poured whiskey down me, rolled and rubbed me, and finally
brought me back to life. I was like the new born babe, not a raveling of
clothing upon me, in a place surrounded by persons whom I had never seen before,
but I was happy as a lark to think I was rescued and saved. They placed me on
the stretchers and carried me to the Overton hospital at Memphis, gave me a
shirt and drawers and placed me in a good bunk. The third day, as soon as I was
able to get up, they issued a suit of Uncle Sam's blues for me and I was happy,
without as much 'as a postage stamp, for I thought I might live so as to tell
the story to friends at home, and I am glad that I have the opportunity to give
this short and hasty sketch.
I was discharged from the service of the United
States at Jackson, Mich., July 1865. [Now deceased.]
(Reminiscences also linked in Full List of Men)
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