Lord, leave it to Sandy to get me goin' at this hour o' the mornin'. I just had to dig out this song that I've kept but hadn't thought about since I wrote it when I was barely 20 years old---a month earlier and I'd've been 19.

THE SULTANA
by Art Thieme
tune:"The Rackets We Had On The Blue Mountain Lake"
date of composition: August 28, 1961
hitorical data: April of 1865. The steamboat SULTANA left New Orleans with 250 on board. At Vicksburg she took on 2000 Union troops recently released from Confederate prisons. There were then 2,250 people on a boat built for 376 at most. (also 60 horses and mules) Seven miles above Memphis the patched boiler "exploded". 1900 perished!

Here's the song. Please keep in mind that when w 20 year old writes a song, it means he's 20 years old. When a 60 year old writes a song, it means he's a SONGWRITER!!!

Art Thieme

Come all you young fellows where'ere you be,
Come sit down awhile and listen to me,
It's of a great riverboat, Sultana her name,
She's sunk to the bottom and death brought her fame.

It was April 24th of a865,
On the Father Of Waters sidewheelers did glide,
From New Orleans to St. Louis town,
Right on her schedule--she glided on down.

Yes, the month it was April, the day 24,
Brave Union soldiers at Vicksburg did board,
All sick and pale but happy at last,
To be out of their prisons and goin' home fast.

They jammed into corners and slept side by side,
As they talked about home and the warm fireside,
All bound of Cairo in old Illinois,
2000 soldiers--some women and boys.

Now, the old Mississippi had risen so high,
That o'er the big valley flood waters did rise,
Trees and houses adrift in the stream,
Could be seen only faintly in the dull moon beams.

She landed at Memphis on April 26th,
Gave care to the wounded and care to the sick,
Some stronger soldiers unloaded her hold,
Carried out canned goods--and bodies so cold.

Then all hell broke loose as on they did sail,
The boilers gave way and their bindings did fail,
As great an explosion as ever was seen,
Coursed through the night mid yells and mid screams.

Now, some said the boiler just failed to hold,
Some said that the rebels torpedoed the coal,
No true explanation could ever be found,
And the moans of the 1900 still sound.

This story is true, I swear to you all,
None can deny it--no one at all,
The Mighty Mississippi was destined to be,
The scene of the greatest disaster at sea.

__________ ________ ________ _____

{More people were killed in the Sultana explosion than died on the Titanic.}