Captain J. Cass Mason portrait   Save
Antique Photographs Collection
Description: Tintype portrait of J. Cass Mason, a captain on the S.S. Sultana, who was killed when the ship exploded on the Mississippi River just north of Memphis, Tennessee, on April 27, 1865. The wooden steamship Sultana was transporting a large number of Union troops who were traveling home after the end of the Civil War, including almost 2,000 soldiers and 350 officers who had just been released from Cahawba and Andersonville prisons. Historians have estimated that over 1,700 lives were lost in what is still the worst maritime disaster in American history. At over 500 men, Ohio had the largest contingent of troops aboard the ship. An investigation held in the months following the disaster concluded with Captain Fredrick Speed, a Union officer in charge of making arrangements for the transport of Union soldiers back home, being found guilty of neglect on June 9, 1866. This verdict was overturned on June 21, 1866 and ultimately no one was held responsible for this disaster. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AP1819
Subjects: Ohio--History--Civil War, 1861-1865; Military Ohio; Disasters; Steamboats;
Places: St. Louis (Missouri)