Page updated 05/23/2004
Up to within a few months of the close of the Rebellion, steamers plying on the river were in constant danger of destruction by Rebel batteries. The Rebel Secretary of War ordered these batteries placed along the Mississippi, in the hope of stopping all travel by that route. His plan was unsuccessful. Equally so was the barbarous practice of burning passenger steamboats while in motion between landing-places. On transports fired upon by guerrillas (or Rebels), about a hundred persons were killed and as many wounded. A due proportion of these were women and children. On steamboats burned by Rebel incendiaries, probably a hundred and fifty lives were lost. This does not include the dead by the terrible disaster to the Sultana. It is supposed that this boat was blown up by a Rebel torpedo in her coal.
Knox, Thomas W., Campfire and Cotton-field: Southern Adventure in Time of War. New York: Blelock and Company, 1865
visits since 02/14/2004.
Page updated
05/23/2004