Description:

Civil War
Various, ca. 1863-1865
Three Civil War Muster Rolls, 1863-1865, Including Soldiers Who Died Aboard the Sultana
Archive

[CIVIL WAR.] Archive of muster-rolls, 1863-1865, 3 documents, 6 pp.

Collection of three muster rolls, one for the 9th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry and two for the 57th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Three members of Company C of the 57th Indiana Volunteer Infantry were killed aboard the Sultana when it exploded on the Mississippi River in April 1865.

Contents and Excerpts
- Muster-Out Roll and Pay Roll of Col. Isaac H. Duval of the Field and Staff for the 9th [West] Virginia Foot Volunteer Infantry, October 31, 1863, Fayetteville, West Virginia. 2 pp., 31" x 11". Expected folds, repaired tears on some folds; small hole.

- Muster-Out Roll of Capt. Thomas D. Ridge's Company D of the 57th Indiana Veteran Volunteer Infantry, June 30, 1864, In the Field. 2 pp., 31" x 21.25". Expected folds; soiling; some separation on folds; 6" tear affecting a few words.
Two of the men on the muster roll, Corporal Henry C. Hunt and Private John Willis, were killed in action on June 23 and May 27, 1864, respectively.

- Muster-Out Roll of Capt. John W. Hort's Company C of the 57th Indiana Veteran Volunteer Infantry, December 14, 1865, Victoria, Texas. 2 pp., 31" x 21.25". Expected folds; soiling; small holes at intersections of folds.
Includes two corporals and six privates killed in battle in January and March 1864, and nine soldiers who died of wounds received in the service. Three of those—John L. Chawning, John T. May, and Elam Newbern—died by being scalded to death when the hospital steamer Sultana exploded on April 27, 1865. Charles Weir died as a prisoner of war at Andersonville, Georgia.

Historical Background
Constructed in Cincinnati for the lower Mississippi River cotton trade, the Sultana was a side-wheel steamboat. Under the command of Captain James Cass Mason of St. Louis, the Sultana left St. Louis on April 13, 1865, bound for New Orleans. On April 15, the Sultana was moored at Cairo, Illinois, when word reached the city that President Abraham Lincoln had been shot in Washington, D.C. Mason took Cairo newspapers headed south to spread the news where telegraphic communication had been cut off.

When the Sultana reached Vicksburg, Mississippi, Captain Reuben Hatch, the chief quartermaster at Vicksburg, approached Captain Mason about transporting Union prisoners of war. The prisoners had been held in Alabama and Georgia and were relocated to a parole camp outside Vicksburg, waiting to return to their homes in the northern states. The U.S. government paid $2.75 per enlisted man and $8 per officer to steamboat captains who would return them north. Hatch offered to give Mason a full load of former prisoners if Mason agreed to give him a kickback.

The Sultana continued south to New Orleans, spreading the news of Lincoln's assassination. On the return trip to Vicksburg, one of the Sultana's four boilers sprang a leak. After it reached Vicksburg, Mason and his chief engineer convinced a mechanic to make temporary repairs to the damaged boiler so they would not lose their cargo of valuable prisoners. When the Sultana left Vicksburg on April 24, it had a legal capacity of only 376 passengers, but it was severely overcrowded with 1,950 paroled prisoners, 22 guards from the 58th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 70 civilian cabin passengers, and a crew of 85.

The steamboat spent two days traveling up the flooded Mississippi River. On April 26, it stopped at Helena, Arkansas, and Memphis, Tennessee. The Sultana left Memphis around midnight, took on a new load of coal, and started north again. Around 2 a.m. on April 27, 1865, its boilers suddenly and violently exploded, killing many people instantly. The explosion destroyed the pilothouse and set the boat afire. A half hour later, the south-bound Bostona arrived and began rescuing scores of survivors. Other survivors drifted the seven miles downriver to Memphis and beyond, before other boats rescued some of them. Bodies of victims were recovered for months, some as far south as Vicksburg. Death toll estimates range from 1,100 to 1,547. An 1880 War Department report declared that 931 persons had survived the wreck, but more recent studies have placed the number of survivors as low as 263.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 31" x 11"; 31" x 21.25"
  • Medium: Archive

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