The 70 paid passengers probably grumbled when the 2,000 soldiers were put aboard the Sultana. Things would get much, much worse. The Sultana was a side-wheel steamboat that was only two years old. It worked the St. Louis to New Orleans route. On April 23, 1865, it put in to Vicksburg to repair a leak in one of its boilers. Earlier, Capt. J. Cass Mason had cut a deal with Union Army quartermaster Capt. Reuben Hatch to take on recently released prisoners from camps like Andersonville and transport them to the North. The government offered $2.75 for each enlisted man and $8 per officer. He offered Mason a bribe and Hatch would kickback some of the contract to Hatch. Almost 2,000 soldiers were crammed onto a boat that had a capacity of 376! Because a full repair would abort the deal, Mason insisted on a one-day patch job on the boiler. The boat steamed north on a flooded Mississippi with treacherous currents. At around 2 A.M. on April 27, 1865, the boiler exploded, destroying the center and setting the steamboat on fire. It is estimated that 1,168 people died, including 200 who succumbed to burns. Many of the dead were drowning victims. Bodies floated down the Mississippi for months after. It was the greatest maritime disaster in American History. Hatch, who was well-known for his corruption and incompetence, went scot-free because of his political connections.
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/sultana-disaster
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultana_(steamboat)
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