What happened to the Sultana, and why is it not often well-known?
Subject(s): Arkansas History and US History
Time Period(s): (1850-1877) Civil War and Reconstruction
Grade level(s): 6-8 and 9-12
Click here to download the PowerPoint.
Supporting question(s):
What happened to the Sultana?
What other events took place during the same time period that might have overshadowed the story of Sultana’s sinking?
Source Set
- Helena, Arkansas. April 26, 1865. Ill-fated Sultana
- Appalling circumstance! The President dead! Escape of the Murderer!
- [President Abraham Lincoln's hearse, Springfield] / S.M. Fassett, photographer, Chicago.
- The Burning of the Sultana
- Terrible Accident on the Mississippi
Description
Front page of the Herald Extra, Newburyport, Massachusetts newspaper, April 15, 1865
Description
Photograph of Abraham Lincoln’s funeral hearse, April 1865
Description
Poem written by William H. Norton, a Union soldier, about the sinking of the Sultana
Description
Newspaper article describing the sinking of the Sultana
Additional resource(s):
Encyclopedia of Arkansas
Steamboats: https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/steamboats-4466/
Sultana: https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/sultana-steamboat-2269/
UALR Virtual Exhibit – As Much as the Water: How Steamboats Shaped Arkansas
https://ualrexhibits.org/steamboats/virtual-exhibit/understanding-the-sultana-tragedy-the-long-way-home/
Library of Congress: Primary Resources for the Sultana:
https://www.loc.gov/rr/news/topics/sultana.html
Arkansas Frameworks(s):
H.7.AH.7-8.1 Evaluate ways that historical events in Arkansas were shaped by circumstances in time and place
H.7.AH.7-8.3 Analyze the historical significance of selected Civil War battles, events, and people on various regions of Arkansas