[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 62 (Monday, April 27, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H4739-H4741]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       RECOGNIZING THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE ACCIDENT OF SS SULTANA

  Mr. SNYDER. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to 
the resolution (H. Res. 329) recognizing the anniversary of the tragic 
accident of the steamboat ship SS Sultana, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution, as amended.
  The text of the resolution, as amended, is as follows:

                              H. Res. 329

       Whereas the explosion of the SS Sultana on April 27, 1865, 
     is considered the worst maritime disaster in American 
     history;
       Whereas the steamboat ship SS Sultana exploded on the 
     Mississippi River 7 miles north of Memphis, Tennessee, at 
     2:00 a.m.;
       Whereas roughly 1,800 of the 2,400 passengers lost their 
     lives in the tragedy;
       Whereas 2,000 passengers on the SS Sultana at the time of 
     the explosion were Union prisoners of war recently released 
     from the Confederate Andersonville and Cahaba Prison Camps in 
     Alabama;
       Whereas several of the former prisoners of war were 
     suffering from disease and extreme malnutrition caused by the 
     overcrowded and unsanitary conditions at the prison camps;
       Whereas the explosion was presumed to have been caused by a 
     defective boiler trying to overcome the current of the 
     Mississippi River;
       Whereas the enormous loss of life was attributed to an 
     overcrowded vessel caused in part by poor oversight on behalf 
     of the Union commanding officers responsible for the release 
     of the prisoners of war;
       Whereas up to 300 of the initial survivors of the explosion 
     later died from burns, hypothermia, or exposure;
       Whereas then Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton stated in 
     his annual report for 1865 that the loss of ``over 1200 
     officers and soldiers--a loss greatly increased . . . by an 
     improper and unnecessary overloading of the boat'';
       Whereas only one of the several individuals responsible for 
     the conditions of the steamer or the overcrowding of the 
     vessel which contributed to the tragedy and large loss of 
     life was ever prosecuted; and
       Whereas the disaster received little attention in the 
     newspapers or magazines of the time and is scarcely 
     remembered today: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) recognizes the 144-year anniversary of the tragic 
     accident of the steamboat ship SS Sultana;
       (2) honors the memory of the soldiers and passengers who 
     lost their lives in this disaster;
       (3) regrets the lack of military and civilian oversight 
     that led to the explosion and tremendous loss of life; and
       (4) rededicates itself to honoring all our veterans and 
     military families with the highest level of support in 
     quality resources, equipment and services.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Arkansas (Mr. Snyder) and the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Fleming) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arkansas.


                             General Leave

  Mr. SNYDER. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks 
on the resolution under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Arkansas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SNYDER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, American history is a rich one when it comes to the 
Civil War. Unfortunately, not all events are known or remembered as 
they ought to be, and the tragic story of the Steamboat Sultana, lost 
April 27, 1865, is one of those events. Books can tell us the story 
today.
  Retelling the story one night in 1994, author Jerry Potter, as an 
after-dinner speaker on a modern Mississippi riverboat, brought to life 
the events of his 1992 book, ``The Sultana Tragedy: America's Greatest 
Maritime Disaster.''
  Each of the attendees, including me, at that very warm and 
comfortable banquet that night felt the horror as we realized survivors 
and bodies alike floated and bobbed down this very same Mississippi 
River on April 27, 1865, the same place that we were bobbing and having 
dinner that night. This is Potter's book.
  Years later, other books have appeared. In 1996, ``Disaster on the 
Mississippi: The Sultana Explosion, April 27, 1865.'' In 2009, just in 
the last few months, ``Sultana: Surviving the Civil War Prison and the 
Worst Maritime Disaster in American History,'' by Alan Huffman. ``The 
Sultana Tragedy,'' Jerry Potter's book, is printed by the Pelican 
Press, ``Disaster on the Mississippi'' by the Naval Institute Press, 
and the most recent book, ``Sultana,'' by the Smithsonian Press.
  Today, April 27, is another anniversary of these events. But why do 
most of us know more about the Titanic than the Sultana, even though 
more died in the Sultana? The end of a horrific war a few weeks before; 
the assassination of Lincoln, his death; a new President; April 26, the 
night before the Sultana sank, John Wilkes Booth was killed; a war-
weary Nation trying to move on, tired of years of carnage. And one sad 
detail; most onboard the Sultana were not prominent like some of the 
folks on the Titanic. Most were enlisted Union soldiers recently 
released from the hells of POW camps. As Jerry Potter says, ``Who 
remembers the steerage passengers aboard the Titanic?'' I do want to 
point out there was one prominent American onboard the Sultana, U.S. 
Senate-elect from Arkansas, William D. Snow.
  Now, there were certainly people on the east coast at that time that 
would say the same thing Jerry Potter said, ``Who remembers the 
steerage passengers aboard the Titanic?'' And so today we remind 
America and ourselves with this resolution, and today in Memphis, right 
now a ceremony of remembrance is taking place.

[[Page H4740]]

  So what story needs to be told? What was the Sultana? This picture 
was the last picture of this boat, and for many of the people who we 
see onboard this ship right now, it was the last photograph that was 
ever taken of them before their death.
  The Sultana was an 1863 paddle-wheeled steamboat, modern and tough, 
built to handle the Mississippi River at flood stage day or night. 
Contracted in April 1865 to haul sick, emaciated, weakened Union 
prisoners of war who had been in the prisoner of war camps at 
Andersonville and Cahawba. And to give you a sense of how weak and 
emaciated they were, many of these men had lost up to 100 pounds of 
weight. The pictures of them coming out of the camp were comparable to 
what we saw coming out of the death camps in Europe at the end of that 
war.
  The boat was built to handle approximately 400 people; it was loaded 
with perhaps 2,500. There were allegations of bribery amongst the 
steamboat companies trying to get government businesses. There were 
allegations of poor-quality repair work done in Memphis. The whole 
issue of whether it was overcrowded or overloaded continues to be one 
that is discussed by historians, the difference being if something is 
overcrowded doesn't necessarily mean that the ship can't handle the 
weight. And that was certainly the case with the Steamboat Sultana; it 
could handle the weight.

                              {time}  1415

  The other side of that argument is, as you can tell from this 
picture, with all the folks on top, it became top heavy, and there is 
one school of thought that says because it was so top heavy, in fact, 
as the boat would careen back and forth in the flood stage of the 
Mississippi, it would have affected the shifting waters in the boilers 
that may have led to the boilers blowing.
  At approximately 11 p.m. the night of April 26, it left Memphis. It 
went across the Mississippi River that at that point was about 4 miles 
wide at flood stage. It went to Hopefield, Arkansas, got a load of 
coal, pushed out into the river. And when it was about 7 miles north of 
Memphis in the river at 2 a.m., the boilers blew. It was described as 
this thunderous, thunderous noise that was heard for miles, and thus 
begins the horror. And, of course, there were no photographs, no on-
site CNN news. What we see are depictions of drawings of people trying 
to put together the recollections of survivors about what it looked 
like. This is, by the way, the cover of the most recent book by Alan 
Huffman, and that's the drawing that's on the cover of his book.
  But thus begins the horror: death and injury by explosion and crash, 
death and injury by scalding from the boilers, death and injury by fire 
that went on for hours, death and injury by drowning. These were weak, 
emaciated people who did not know how to swim or were too weak to swim 
even if they knew how to swim, in very cold waters coming from the 
north. This was April 27, springtime. The river was at flood stage, and 
those waters were cold waters coming from the north. Death and injury 
by hypothermia, death and injury weeks and months later by 
complications of infection and other medical challenges of those 
weakened by war who were unable to fight injury. The boat had one 
lifeboat and it had 76 cork life preservers.
  There were probably about 1,800 dead. We will never know for sure. 
Most of the Union POWs were from Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, 
Tennessee. There were many volunteers along the shore or on boats that 
participated in picking up survivors and bodies. One of those was John 
Fogleman and his sons, Dallas and Leroy, from Arkansas. They built a 
raft of two logs and rescued people, six and nine at a time, and then 
their home was turned into a temporary hospital. The Fogleman family is 
still very much in Arkansas and active in public affairs.
  Investigations began immediately, but the survivors were never 
satisfied that their story was ever told.
  Probably the best description of the summary of why we need to 
remember this comes from the Jerry Potter book. He says: ``To say that 
the explosion on board the Sultana was purely accidental or 
unpreventable does not take into account the irresponsible conduct and 
criminal negligence that characterized the actions of an entire chain 
of army command and the profit-making schemes of various civilians. The 
Sultana tragedy is much more than a record of a steamboat. The deeper 
record is one of greed and the lengths to which men will go to achieve 
personal gain, even if that gain means endangering the lives of 
others.'' And that's the end of the quote from Jerry Potter's book 
``The Sultana Tragedy.''
  March 4, 1931, a man named Pleasant Keeble died. He was the last 
known Sultana survivor. So now we no longer learn from the survivors. 
We learn from Civil War historians and maritime and military scholars. 
Today we remember a little bit and today we resolve ourselves a little. 
And the resolve part of our resolution today says the following:
  ``Resolved, that the House of Representatives, one, recognizes the 
144-year anniversary of the tragic accident of the steamboat ship SS 
Sultana; two, honors the memory of the soldiers and passengers who lost 
their lives in this disaster; three, regrets the lack of military and 
civilian oversight that led to the explosion and tremendous loss of 
life; and, four, rededicates itself to honoring all our veterans and 
military families with the highest level of support in quality 
resources, equipment and services.''
  This is one of those stories, Madam Speaker. It's a rich part of 
American history. Unfortunately, it is not as well-known as it could 
be. We have not learned the lessons from these events as well as we 
could. I commend this resolution to the Members of the House to vote on 
today and to vote for this resolution to help in remembering.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. FLEMING. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, first of all, I want to thank my colleague from across 
the aisle, Dr. Snyder from Arkansas, who also is a physician. He's 
interested in this very interesting topic and the passage of this very 
important resolution, H. Res. 329.
  I rise in support of House Resolution 329, recognizing the 
anniversary of the tragic accident of the steamboat ship SS Sultana, 
which occurred 144 years ago today.
  Madam Speaker, on April 27, 1865, the SS Sultana, a Mississippi River 
steam-powered paddle wheeler, exploded and sank just north of Memphis 
in the early hours of the morning. There were 2,400 souls aboard when 
the ship's boilers exploded, blowing the overcrowded steamboat apart 
and sending scores of helpless passengers into the vast currents of the 
Mississippi River. Tragically, over 1,800 individuals lost their lives 
in what is now known to be the worst maritime disaster in the United 
States. And by comparison the Titanic, which, of course, sank many 
years later, lost 1,500 lives, and, of course, that's something that we 
have memorialized for many years. It's even worse than Shiloh when 
1,700 lives were lost in 1 day.
  The Sultana had frequently been contracted by the War Department to 
carry troops up and down the river. On the day of the accident, its 
precious cargo was nearly 2,000 Union prisoners and additional troops 
who had recently been released from the Confederate prison camps at the 
infamous Andersonville and Cahawba. And, as I say, 300 or so of these 
were Active Duty personnel along with the prisoners. This boat was 
legally registered to carry only 376 personnel, and as you can see, it 
was about eight times overloaded.
  The SS Sultana left New Orleans, and during a routine stop at 
Vicksburg, the former prisoners, who were anxious to start their 
journey home, had crowded on board the steamboat in numbers far above 
its normal capacity. While the boat was at Vicksburg, it was discovered 
that the boilers were leaking.
  And, parenthetically, I have to mention that there were tremendous 
incentives on both sides to overcrowd this boat. First of all, the ship 
captains received $5 per head, which was quite a bit of money in those 
days. And the Army officers got a $1.15 kickback. And, of course, the 
soldiers were just out of Andersonville. They were tired. They wanted 
to go home. So everyone was obviously in favor of getting this boat 
underway. Quick repairs were

[[Page H4741]]

made. However, it was more or less patchwork rather than true repairs.
  Madam Speaker, as the Sultana sailed past Memphis, a combination of 
disastrous circumstances, including poorly maintained boilers, the 
powerful current on the Mississippi, and the overcrowded conditions, 
led to the catastrophic explosion. Thankfully, hundreds of the 
passengers survived primarily through the help of other steamboats in 
the area that rushed to the scene. Most remarkable was the willingness 
of the good people of Memphis to help the injured Union soldiers, who 
just weeks before had been their enemy.
  Sadly, Madam Speaker, although this was an enormous disaster in 
American history, it remains relatively unknown because, remember, this 
happened in April 1865, a very special month. What happened in that 
month? Well, on April 9 the Appomattox surrender occurred. Then 
President Lincoln was assassinated. Then on April 26 John Wilkes Booth 
was arrested. And then, finally, General Johnson surrendered and 
Jefferson Davis was arrested. So you can well see how such a remarkable 
tragedy found itself in the back pages of the local newspapers.
  With that in mind, it is fitting today for all of us Americans to 
remember the tragic loss of over 1,800 souls on the SS Sultana that 
happened so many years ago, and I, therefore, strongly urge all Members 
to support this resolution.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SNYDER. Madam Speaker, at this time I have no further requests 
for time, and I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. FLEMING. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume 
for a closing statement.
  Madam Speaker, this, as I said, is a remarkable event in history, 
and, quite frankly, until recently I was unaware of it, and I, among 
many others, am a Civil War buff. And it happened between my two home 
States, Louisiana and Mississippi. So I appreciate very much that this 
has been brought to light and that we can learn more about it and 
certainly recognize it for the future.
  I do want to point out, however, that this turned out to be an 
example to some extent of unfettered greed; that is, that there was no 
control over the captain of the ship as well as Army officers. They 
were in it for profit, and I think they took advantage of the poor 
Union soldiers who were coming out of desperate situations and so 
desperately wanted to go home. So I think that's a lesson we can learn 
for the future, that we need to put our own individual interests at 
hand and look out for the better good of all.
  With that, Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SNYDER. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the leadership of my 
colleague on this event.
  These House resolutions, we know today that we're not passing a 
statute, we're not changing a law, we're not creating a memorial. What 
we are trying to do is call attention to what we believe is a very 
significant event in our Nation's history. And to the families and 
relatives of the folks who were lost or survived the sinking of the 
Sultana, to the day they died, they regretted that their country did 
not pay more attention to what happened. So there are lessons to be 
learned.
  As we are doing this right now on the floor of the House, in Memphis 
there is an event going on recognizing this event. I want to call 
attention to my colleague, Congressman Steve Cohen, as a cosponsor of 
our resolution from Memphis.
  So it is just another thing that we can do to say, hey, America, 
there is something to learn from our rich, rich history from an event 
that we all may not know enough about as we would like. And I commend 
the books that I mentioned to folks and to seek out opinions about what 
occurred on April 27, the anniversary today, in 1865 on the Mississippi 
River just north of Memphis.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Snyder) that the House suspend the rules 
and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 329, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. SNYDER. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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