Alliance in Stark County, Ohio — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)

The Sultana Tragedy

Photographed By Don Morfe, July 17, 2013

1. The Sultana Tragedy Marker

Inscription. Soldiers from Company F of the 115th Ohio Volunteer Infantry died in the explosion of the steamboat Sultana seven miles north of Memphis on the Mississippi River on April 27, 1865. The Sultana reportedly carried more than 2,400 passengers—six times its capacity of 378. The vast majority were Union soldiers recently freed from Southern prisons at the end of the Civil War. Approximately 1,800 passengers and crew died in what is considered the worst maritime disaster in American history. Company F was organized in Stark, Columbiana, and Portage Counties and was mustered into service at Camp Massillon in the fall of 1862. This marker is a memorial to the soldiers of Company F who died as a result of the Sultana tragedy and other war-related causes.

Erected 2011 by "Scotty" Hays and the Friends of the Cemetery-The Ohio Historical Society. (Marker Number 23-76.)

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Disasters • War, US Civil. In addition, it is included in the Ohio Historical Society / The Ohio History Connection series list. A significant historical month for this entry is April 1911.

Location. 40° 55.867′ N, 81° 6.717′ W. Marker is in Alliance, Ohio, in Stark County. Marker is on West Vine

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Street (Cemetery Entrance) east of North Rockhill Avenue. This marker is located within Alliance Cemetery. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Alliance OH 44601, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within one mile of this marker, measured as the crow flies. The Deceased of Co. F. 115th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (here, next to this marker); Spanish American War Veterans (about 800 feet away, measured in a direct line); Mabel Hartzell (approx. 0.4 miles away); Alliance-Birthplace of Ohio's State Flower - The Scarlet Carnation (approx. 0.7 miles away); In Commemoration of the Veterans of the Civil War (approx. one mile away); Spanish-American War Memorial (approx. one mile away); Last Post Meeting in Ohio Held in This Building (approx. one mile away); Christ United Methodist Church (approx. 1.1 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Alliance.

More about this marker. The reverse side of this marker is The Deceased of Co. F, 115th Ohio Volunteer Infantry-posted separately

Related markers. Click here for a list of markers that are related to this marker.

Also see . . . The Sinking of the Sultana. The New York Times' Disunion article on the sinking of the Sultana:...At 2 a.m., when the ship was just seven miles upriver from Memphis, three of its four boilers exploded. Nearly 1,800 people,
Photographed By Don Morfe, July 17, 2013

2. The Sultana Tragedy Marker
mostly Union soldiers, died in what remains the worst maritime disaster in American history – worse, even, than the Titanic – and one of the largest military losses of life in a single day.... (Submitted on April 27, 2015.)

Photographed By Don Morfe, July 17, 2013

3. The Sultana Tragedy Marker

Photographed By Don Morfe, July 17, 2013

4. The Sultana Tragedy Marker

<i>Helena, Arkansas. April 27, 1865. Ill-fated Sultana</i> image. Click for full size.

Image Courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, April 26, 1865

5. Helena, Arkansas. April 27, 1865. Ill-fated Sultana

Photograph shows the overloaded steamboat Sultana on the Mississippi River the day before her boilers exploded and she sank on April 27th. The passengers included ca. 1,880 Union soldiers heading home at the end of the Civil War; more than 1,100 of these men died in the disaster. - Library of Congress

Credits. This page was last revised on May 24, 2023. It was originally submitted on August 9, 2013, by Don Morfe of Baltimore, Maryland. This page has been viewed 1,166 times since then and 56 times this year. Last updated on May 21, 2023, by Robert Baughman of Bellefontaine, Ohio. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on August 9, 2013, by Don Morfe of Baltimore, Maryland. 5. submitted on November 18, 2014. • Devry Becker Jones was the editor who published this page.