BNOB: "Sultana" by Alan Huffman

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"Sultana" is a recent release by Alan Huffman.  It tells the amazing story of the Sultana disaster.

Briefly, the Sultana disaster is almost a footnote to the American Civil War, which is very surprising considering approximately 1800 people died and it is considered the worst maritime disaster in American history.  The Sultana was a steam-powered paddleship that ran up and down the Mississippi River.  Chartered by the U.S. government to provide passage to returning Union soldiers from southern prisons such as Andersonville and Cahaba, it picked up a load of passengers in Vicksburg to head northward.  When I say they picked up a load, I mean a 'load'.  Supposed to be built to safely carry around 400 people, they packed what experts thought were well over 2300 passengers.  Circumstances surrounding the overpacking were of course fraud (for every extra Union soldier they transported, they received more U.S. government commission) and a lack of oversight agencies such as NTSB and OSHA.  The riverboat explodes a few miles north of Memphis on the flooded, 5 mile wide, Mississippi River.....in the middle of the night.  Hundreds are thought to have died instantly in the explosion.  Hundreds more drowned.  The cause of the explosion is a matter of some controversy with opinions varying from the mainstream (the poorly managed boilers exploded) to the conspiratorial (the last Confederate vestige resistance put a bomb on it).

Most of you reading this blog (all 2 of you) have probably not heard of the Sultana disaster.  It is little known in American history.  Occurring in the wake of the Appomattox truce and within a week of Lincoln's assassination, the nation had been through a lot and had plenty on its mind.  There was just too much news in the April 1865 news cycle for the Sultana story to have lasting significance for the many.

I said the Sultana story was amazing.  Unfortunately, the "Sultana" book...not so much.  The main problem is that the Sultana final voyage and disaster comprise only around 25% of Huffman's book.  So, my major critique is that it is poorly titled.  The majority of the book follows the lives of three Union soldiers as they muster in, train, raid, fight, are captured, are released, and as they eventually board the Sultana and survive.  Their stories and occurrences within the narrative were disjointed and hard to follow.

I enjoyed learning about the Sultana, and the book, while it does raise awareness of this important story, is mis-titled and a little hard to read.  I would give it 5 out of 10 stars.