The Cumberland Mountain Civil War Roundtable would like to invite everyone to an evening of American Civil War History on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, at 6 PM at Christ Lutheran Church at 481 Snead Drive in Fairfield Glade.
Our guest speaker, Gene Eric Salecker, is a military historian and author from Chicago, with several military history books and a special interest in the April 27, 1865, Sultana Disaster at the end of the American Civil War. Salecker’s topic for the evening will highlight vividly “The Sultana: The Deadliest Maritime Disaster in American History,” which occurred north of Memphis on the Mississippi River on April 27, 1865, killing 1,164 people.
At the end of the Civil War in April 1865, thousands of Union prisoners of war who were captured by the Confederate Army during the war were being released and repatriated from various locations in the South. Many Union soldiers were imprisoned at two horrendous POW Camps. Andersonville in Andersonville, Georgia, and Cahaba Prison (Castle Morgan) in Selma, Alabama. Most of the Union prisoners from these two camps were transported by rail, steamer or walked to holding camps close to Vicksburg, Mississippi, the city designated by the Confederate Office of Exchange. From these holding camps, the prisoners were then moved by rail to Vicksburg for loading onto steamboats contracted by the US Government to move these men to their home states and families in the North. The steamboat companies and captains of the boats were in serious competition to contract to move these prisoners upriver to their final destinations for payment from the US Government. The Union Army officers in the loading area and occupied cities oversaw the processes and were also the negotiating arm with the steamboat companies and their captains.
One of the steamboats was the “Sultana,” owned by a consortium of individuals including Capt. James Mason. The Sultana was a commercial side-wheel steamboat. Constructed of wood in 1863 by the John Litherbury Boatyard in Cincinnati, Ohio and was intended for the lower Mississippi cotton trade. The steamer registered 1,1719 tons and normally carried a crew of 85. For two years, she ran a regular route between St. Louis and New Orleans and was frequently commissioned to carry troops during the American Civil War. Although designed with a capacity of only 376 passengers and 85 crew members, she was carrying 2,127 when three of the boat’s four boilers exploded and caused her to sink near Memphis, Tennessee. The explosion resulted in the deaths of 1,164 people. As a comparison, the Titanic, which sunk on April 14, 1912, was carrying 2,227 passengers; the Sultana, over 2,127. This number was more than six times the Sultana’s legal carrying capacity of 376. The number on the Titanic totaled 1,522 as compared to approximately 1,164 on the Sultana. The disaster was overshadowed in the press by events surrounding the end of the Civil War, including the killing of President Abraham Lincoln by assassin John Wilkes Booth just the day before. Greed, corruption, and ignorance all led to the overloading of the Sultana, resulting in the horrific loss of life.
Gene Salecker’s 7 military publications include: Destruction of the Steamboat Sultana: The Worst Maritime Disaster in American History (2022) and The San Francisco V-J Day Peace Riots: Celebration Turned Deadly, August 13-15, 1945 (2026). He owned the largest collection of Sultana artifacts and memorabilia, which he donated to the Sultana Disaster Museum in Marion, Arkansas. A graduate of Northeastern Illinois University, he is a retired police officer and retired middle school teacher currently acting as the historical consultant for the Sultana Disaster Museum. He lives in River Grove, Illinois, with his wife, a cat, and dozens of tropical fish.
Additional information about the Sultana – The brand-new Sultana Disaster Museum in Marion, Arkansas at will open on November 14, 2026, located at 114 Military Road in Marion. www.sultanadisastermuseum.com.
The CMCWRT invites all to an exciting evening of American Civil War history with our guest speaker, Gene Salecker, and to take us back to April 1865 on the Mississippi River and the last cruise of the S.S. Sultana. The meeting will be held on the evening of Wednesday, October 14, 2026, at 6 PM at Christ Lutheran Church, 481 Snead Dr., in Fairfield Glade. First-time visitors are admitted free, but we do ask for a $5 donation from repeat nonmembers. Memberships to the CMCWRT can be obtained for the yearly subscription of $25 per person or $35 for couples.
Civil War books will be on display for purchase. We will also welcome Diana Benoit – Regent with the Crab-Orchard Chapter of the Daughters of the Revolution to highlight a great program of “Wreaths Across America” for placements of wreaths on veterans' graves at the Haley’s Grove Cemetery in Crab-Orchard.
The Cumberland Mountain Civil War Round Table – CMCWRT - is an organization of American Civil War enthusiasts. The group is in Fairfield Glade and is open to all people of Cumberland County and the surrounding area. Presentations from authors, college professors, and historians are presented on the second Wednesday of the month at Christ Lutheran Church in Fairfield Glade. The purpose of the roundtable is to educate, discuss, and bring to focus the events and historical facts concerning the American Civil War. You can find us on Facebook at Cumberland Mt. Civil War Round Table. For additional information, call Ken Patton at 901-292-9312 or Dennis Flynn at 913-948-3499.
