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SULTANA SURVIVOR DIES!.• i!V.i-:i» ■ :i'• lt;• seventy rir.e li? I;*. '! I] :iara surviv.ir.-! ? «I:ihe lt;iicr in ilu* Aiis.n.'-, .*• i{jIfi river duiin.’ the \v:ir •.»t tin-. hellion. (Invi Tuosdav at his home in ) * ». Rattle (Inmnil. !*’»»r three years ami ’nine months he sei ved in lt;’ompauy A. lt;I 4ith Indiana volunteers and was ., | three times a prisoner in Confederate; j , orison eatnps. With several hundred : j : other northern soldiers he was aboard : j ‘the steamer Sultami when it blew up \ ( ’ ear Vicksburg in 18l5 with great loss | ., of life. Thorn found himself strup-; * | gling in the cold water, hut managed to keep afloat for five hours until he •was rescued. He had been an invalid i twenty-five years. Ex-Senator A.1 0. Reser in 1912 secured Thorn’s story j s j which he gives as follows: 1 enlisted; !as a union soldier at the ape of IK. 1 1 j was captured at the battle of Frank-Jin, in November, 1864, and was a(g I prisoner at Andersonville from the J j ‘ 18th of February to the 20th day of; lt;.March, 180a. Then we were taken to' Vicksburg, and on April 24th 2.200 of us were placed on board the Sultana,1 j, J to he taken north, on our way home.*,, j We started on Sunday evening and j ^ pot to Memphis Wednesday evening jg April 27. USOo. About midnight on Wednesday evening we left Memphis, ami when we had pot ten miles above '.Memphis the boiler blew up. and the1,J boat caught on tire, 'flu* (ire pot so;., ; hot the men commenced going oil' the j; ! boat into the river. They kept drop- t j ping otr until the water was black lt;| with them. 1 tied two hoards together! s] |and taking them in my arms, jumped into the river. I couldn't swim. I‘went under, but came un and rot*, astraddle of the boards. 1 floated un:ii , daylight, when 1 was hack in Ale. , j nhis. I “aw two steamboats put tin*1 out at Memphis and halloed a' one I ;i' them and two men came with a . j | -ikiiV and picked me up, and took me tl | to the steamboat. Seventeen hundred r I were drowned and only five hundred d.c*»were rescued.c
Newspaper Details
Lafayette Tippecanoe County Democrat
Lafayette, Indiana, US
Fri, Mar 07, 1919
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Gene S.
USA 04 Jan 2017
Other Publications Near Lafayette, Indiana
Lafayette Courier
Daily Lafayette Courier
Lafayette Times
Lafayette Tippecanoe County Democrat
Lafayette Wabash Atlas
