It was a cool, damp day on Sunday, May 17, 2009 when members of the Wade family gathered for a reunion. The location was the Tranquility community in northwest McMinn County, Tennessee where some of the Wade ancestors once lived. The day began with special singing and worship at the Tranquility United Methodist Church. That was followed by a meal of barbecue, sharing of old photographs, and reconnecting with family.

That much sounds like many family reunions. What made this a special day, however, was that a page from Civil War history, and two Wade ancestors’ role in it, was being recalled as a part of the reunion. On April 27, 1865, brothers William and Silas Wade became among the minority of survivors of the explosion of the steamboat ship Sultana.

As tensions escalated between North and South and culminated in the Civil War, East Tennesseans had divided loyalties. Even within families, there was division. Three of the sons of James and Louisa Wade – James, Silas, and William – joined the Third Tennessee Union Cavalry at Huntsville, Tennessee near Kentucky but another son, Granville, joined the Confederates.

James Wade died in the battle of Murfreesboro, while Silas and William were captured on September 24, 1864 at a fort near Athens, Alabama. The brothers were then taken to the Cahaba Confederate prison in Alabama. As the war drew to a close in April, 1865, the prisoners were to be transferred to the Federal government in a prisoner exchange program.

The steamboat ship Sultana was to be used to transport the prisoners. Built in 1863 in Cincinnati for use in the cotton business, the vessel was frequently commissioned by the War Department of the United States. The Sultana left New Orleans on April 21, 1865 with less than one hundred passengers and some livestock. At Vicksburg, however, as many as two thousand prisoners were put on board. Though this number was well above the Sultana’s capacity, the steamboat captain focused on another set of numbers. The government paid five dollars per prisoner.

The Sultana steamed north against the strong, swift current of the Mississippi River, swelled by the spring thaw in the northern tributaries. The boiler, hastily and crudely repaired at Vicksburg, was struggling to meet the demand for power. Leaving Memphis at midnight after taking on coal, the Sultana woke up its passengers at 2:00am with the sudden explosion of its faulty boiler. They were seven miles north of Memphis.

For those who were rudely awoken, the ensuing seconds, minutes, hours, days, and years were spent trying to survive and then recovering from that blast. An estimated 1,800 of the 2,400 on board were killed. Fire began to engulf the wooden structure. Water of varying temperatures factored into the fatalities, from the scalding hot water of the boiler to the frigid cold waters of the Mississippi.

Silas and William Wade survived, and eventually returned to the Tranquility community. William, the more seriously injured of the two, lived only until 1872. Silas was afflicted with deafness, and could not return to a normal level of work. However, he survived until 1902, and raised seven children with wife, Adeline. Both Silas and William are buried in the cemetery adjoining Tranquility United Methodist Church.

At the Wade family reunion, Norman Shaw, founder of the Sultana Association and frequent speaker to Civil War groups, gave a presentation on the Sultana. He noted that the survivors of the Sultana continued to hold reunions of their own until the group dwindled to just a few remaining.

Also observed was that if Silas Wade not been counted among the living after the Sultana’s demise, the Wade reunion of 2009 would have been greatly reduced in number. To remember William and Silas Wade, the extended family climbed the hill to the cemetery and placed wreaths at their graves. Fittingly, the group then sang all verses of the Civil War song, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

If you have ancestors who were on the Sultana, or have combined a family reunion with a bit of history like this, please send me an e-mail at jolleyh@bellsouth.net. Thanks to Charles W. Wade, Paul Wade, A.D. Wade and others for organizing this reunion, and for inviting my wife (a Wade descendant) and me to it.

Silas W. Wade was among the survivors of the explosion and fire on board the Sultana. Click to enlarge.