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    Sinking the Sultana A Civil War Story of Imprisonment, Greed, and a Doomed Journey Home by Sally M. Walker In 1865, the Civil War was winding down and the country was reeling from Lincoln’s assassination. Thousands of Union soldiers, released from Confederate prisoner-of-war camps, were to be transported home on the steamboat Sultana. With a profit to be made, the captain rushed repairs to the boat so the soldiers wouldn’t find transportation elsewhere. More than 2,000 passengers boarded in Vicksburg, Mississippi . . . on a boat with a capacity of 376. The journey was violently interrupted when the boat’s boilers exploded, plunging the Sultana into mayhem; passengers were bombarded with red-hot iron fragments, burned by scalding steam, and flung overboard into the churning Mississippi. Although rescue efforts were launched, the survival rate was dismal — more than 1,500 lives were lost. In a compelling, exhaustively researched account, renowned author Sally M. Walker joins the ranks of historians who have been asking the same question for 150 years: who (or what) was responsible for the Sultana’s disastrous fate? The worst maritime disaster in American history wasn’t the Titanic. It was the steamboat Sultana on the Mississippi River — and it could have been prevented.

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    Sinking the Sultana A Civil War Story of Imprisonment, Greed, and a Doomed Journey Home by Sally M. Walker In 1865, the Civil War was winding down and the country was reeling from Lincoln’s assassination. Thousands of Union soldiers, released from Confederate prisoner-of-war camps, were to be transported home on the steamboat Sultana. With a profit to be made, the captain rushed repairs to the boat so the soldiers wouldn’t find transportation elsewhere. More than 2,000 passengers boarded in Vicksburg, Mississippi . . . on a boat with a capacity of 376. The journey was violently interrupted when the boat’s boilers exploded, plunging the Sultana into mayhem; passengers were bombarded with red-hot iron fragments, burned by scalding steam, and flung overboard into the churning Mississippi. Although rescue efforts were launched, the survival rate was dismal — more than 1,500 lives were lost. In a compelling, exhaustively researched account, renowned author Sally M. Walker joins the ranks of historians who have been asking the same question for 150 years: who (or what) was responsible for the Sultana’s disastrous fate? The worst maritime disaster in American history wasn’t the Titanic. It was the steamboat Sultana on the Mississippi River — and it could have been prevented.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    21 views1 page

    Sinking The Sultana Discussion Questions

    Uploaded by

    Candlewick Press
    Sinking the Sultana A Civil War Story of Imprisonment, Greed, and a Doomed Journey Home by Sally M. Walker In 1865, the Civil War was winding down and the country was reeling from Lincoln’s assassination. Thousands of Union soldiers, released from Confederate prisoner-of-war camps, were to be transported home on the steamboat Sultana. With a profit to be made, the captain rushed repairs to the boat so the soldiers wouldn’t find transportation elsewhere. More than 2,000 passengers boarded in Vicksburg, Mississippi . . . on a boat with a capacity of 376. The journey was violently interrupted when the boat’s boilers exploded, plunging the Sultana into mayhem; passengers were bombarded with red-hot iron fragments, burned by scalding steam, and flung overboard into the churning Mississippi. Although rescue efforts were launched, the survival rate was dismal — more than 1,500 lives were lost. In a compelling, exhaustively researched account, renowned author Sally M. Walker joins the ranks of historians who have been asking the same question for 150 years: who (or what) was responsible for the Sultana’s disastrous fate? The worst maritime disaster in American history wasn’t the Titanic. It was the steamboat Sultana on the Mississippi River — and it could have been prevented.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    of 1

    SINKING

    THE SULTANA
    A CIVIL WAR STORY OF IMPRISONMENT,
    GREED, AND A DOOMED JOURNEY HOME

    S A L LY M . WA L K E R

    HC: 978-0-7636-7755-8

    Discussion Questions
    1. Whose story did you find most compelling?

    2. I f youd heard of the Sultana before reading this book, where did you learn about it and how much did you
    know? If not, why do you think this chapter of history is so little known

    3. How did privilege play a role in the Sultana disaster?

    4. Do you think the blame for the disaster lies with any one person more than others?

    5. W
     hat do you think was going through the minds of the men throwing whatever they could find overboard as
    they tried to help as many people as they could?

    6. How do you think the captains of the empty steamboats like the Lady Gay and the Pauline Carroll felt when
    they heard the news of the Sultana explosion?

    7. What do you think of the investigation into the Sultana disaster? Were you surprised by the outcome?

     hink about what the Sultana voyage meant for its different passengers. How would a voyage home
    8. T
    be different for the Union soldiers released from prisoner-of-war camps than for the average steamboat
    passengers who boarded in Vicksburg? Would they react to the disaster in the same way, either while it was
    happening or in the aftermath if they were lucky enough to survive?

     he author discusses how the nations reaction to news of the Sultana disaster was tempered by timing,
    9. T
    writing that in a terrible way, the nation had become numbed by death. . . . When the Sultana sank, the
    nation was still reeling from Abraham Lincolns assassination (page 161). Why do you think theres a
    difference in the way we process multiple tragedies at once versus isolated events?

    10. W
     hy is it so interesting to read and learn about disasters that have occurred, even though we know how
    terrible they were?

    11. In the books conclusion, Sally M. Walker draws several parallels between the fate of the Sultana and current
    events we read about in the news: a war-torn nation, an overcrowded ferry, individuals who place profit
    above safety, and people who kindly aid suffering victims of disaster (page 162). What specifically is Walker
    referring to here? What can we learn from the Sultana disaster that could prevent similar tragedies from
    happening? In what small ways can you personally make a difference?

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