Lee Surrenders President Murdered Booth Killed screamed the headlines of American newspapers in April 1865, leaving little room for mention of a maritime disaster that to this day is America's worst.
On April 27, 1865, the Sultana, a 260-foot, wooden-hulled steamboat-smaller than the Titanic but carrying more passengers-exploded on the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tennessee.
More than 1,800 men, mostly Union soldiers on their way home from Confederate prison camps, died.
Pelican Publishing Company The sultana tragedy: america's greatest maritime disaster, hardcover/jerry potter
