Disaster on the Mississippi

by Gene Salecker

Over 1,700 people died, making it the worst marine disaster in U.S. history. This book looks at the disaster through the eyes of the victims themselves.

Disaster on the Mississippi

Author: Gene Salecker

Publisher: Naval Institute Press

ISBN: 1612517730

Page: 376

View: 204

At two o’clock in the morning on 27 April 1865, seven miles north of Memphis on the Mississippi, the sidewheel steamboat Sultana’s boilers suddenly exploded. Legally registered to carry 376 people, the boat was packed with 2,100 recently released Union prisoners-of-war. Over 1,700 people died, making it the worst marine disaster in U.S. history. This book looks at the disaster through the eyes of the victims themselves. It offers a concise, minute-by-minute account on the cause of the explosion and its effect on different parts of the boat. To focus on the personal stories of the victims, both civilian and soldier, Gene Eric Salecker patiently collected material from hundreds of letters, period newspaper stories, and other sources. Readers are first introduced to victims while they are languishing in Confederate prisons and follow their release to an exchange camp outside of Vicksburg to their eventual crowding onto the Sultana. His knowledgeable narrative is interwoven with individual reminiscences, including those of the heroic rescuers. He offers unprecedented details about the captain’s handling of the steamboat and corrects some long-held myths about the placement of the soldiers on the Sultana and newspaper coverage of the disaster. A large portion of the book covers rescue attempts, both successful and failed, and the aftermath of the disaster as it affected those involved. With its emphasis on the human-interest aspect of the Sultana, this book brings to the literature a critical point of view and much new research.

The Thousand Year Flood

by David Welky

Then he tells the gripping story of the river's inexorable rise: residents fled to refugee camps and higher ground, towns imposed martial law, prisoners rioted, Red Cross nurses endured terrifying conditions, and FDR dispatched thousands of ...

The Thousand Year Flood

Author: David Welky

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

ISBN: 0226887189

Page: 384

View: 485

In the early days of 1937, the Ohio River, swollen by heavy winter rains, began rising. And rising. And rising. By the time the waters crested, the Ohio and Mississippi had climbed to record heights. Nearly four hundred people had died, while a million more had run from their homes. The deluge caused more than half a billion dollars of damage at a time when the Great Depression still battered the nation. Timed to coincide with the flood's seventy-fifth anniversary, The Thousand-Year Flood is the first comprehensive history of one of the most destructive disasters in American history. David Welky first shows how decades of settlement put Ohio valley farms and towns at risk and how politicians and planners repeatedly ignored the dangers. Then he tells the gripping story of the river's inexorable rise: residents fled to refugee camps and higher ground, towns imposed martial law, prisoners rioted, Red Cross nurses endured terrifying conditions, and FDR dispatched thousands of relief workers. In a landscape fraught with dangers—from unmoored gas tanks that became floating bombs to powerful currents of filthy floodwaters that swept away whole towns—people hastily raised sandbag barricades, piled into overloaded rowboats, and marveled at water that stretched as far as the eye could see. In the flood's aftermath, Welky explains, New Deal reformers, utopian dreamers, and hard-pressed locals restructured not only the flood-stricken valleys, but also the nation's relationship with its waterways, changes that continue to affect life along the rivers to this day. A striking narrative of danger and adventure—and the mix of heroism and generosity, greed and pettiness that always accompany disaster—The Thousand-Year Flood breathes new life into a fascinating yet little-remembered American story.

Mississippi Libraries

by

Douglas 53 no4 : 101 - 102 Winter ' 89 Brocks - Shedd , V . Mississippi Authors
Award 1989 non - fiction winner : Dr . Margaret Walker Alexander 53 no4 : 103
Winter ' 89 Overman , L . Disaster preparedness . 50 no3 : 62 - 4 Fall ' 86 What to
 ...

Mississippi Libraries

Author:

Publisher:

ISBN:

Page:

View: 507

Mississippi River Tragedies

by Christine A. Klein

The authors deftly uncover the larger story of how the law reflects and even amplifies our ambivalent attitude toward nature—simultaneously revering wild rivers and places for what they are, while working feverishly to change them into ...

Mississippi River Tragedies

Author: Christine A. Klein

Publisher: NYU Press

ISBN: 1479856169

Page: 276

View: 609

Read a free excerpt here! American engineers have done astounding things to bend the Mississippi River to their will: forcing one of its tributaries to flow uphill, transforming over a thousand miles of roiling currents into a placid staircase of water, and wresting the lower half of the river apart from its floodplain. American law has aided and abetted these feats. But despite our best efforts, so-called “natural disasters” continue to strike the Mississippi basin, as raging floodwaters decimate waterfront communities and abandoned towns literally crumble into the Gulf of Mexico. In some places, only the tombstones remain, leaning at odd angles as the underlying soil erodes away. Mississippi River Tragedies reveals that it is seductively deceptive—but horribly misleading—to call such catastrophes “natural.” Authors Christine A. Klein and Sandra B. Zellmer present a sympathetic account of the human dreams, pride, and foibles that got us to this point, weaving together engaging historical narratives and accessible law stories drawn from actual courtroom dramas. The authors deftly uncover the larger story of how the law reflects and even amplifies our ambivalent attitude toward nature—simultaneously revering wild rivers and places for what they are, while working feverishly to change them into something else. Despite their sobering revelations, the authors’ final message is one of hope. Although the acknowledgement of human responsibility for unnatural disasters can lead to blame, guilt, and liability, it can also prod us to confront the consequences of our actions, leading to a liberating sense of possibility and to the knowledge necessary to avoid future disasters.

Annotated Mississippi Code

by

Antitrust And Trade Regulation &= 212 Mitigating the disaster: Lessons from
Mississippi. Lash, Morse, 77 Miss. L.J. 873 (Spring 2008). In general 1 1. In
general Mortgagee was not required to institute foreclosure proceedings on
property in ...

Annotated Mississippi Code

Author:

Publisher:

ISBN:

Page:

View: 935

Mississippi Business Review

by

According to the local food stamp office , any household which suffered a loss
greater than its income for the disaster month qualified for food stamps . The
application form for emergency food stamp assistance solicits information on
income ...

Mississippi Business Review

Author:

Publisher:

ISBN:

Page:

View: 856

The Journal of Mississippi History

by William David McCain

The majority report supported by the quartermaster general required the senior
officer at a natural disaster scene to report the facts to the adjutant general and to
the Army departmental commander with jurisdiction where the disaster occurred .

The Journal of Mississippi History

Author: William David McCain

Publisher:

ISBN:

Page:

View: 667

Includes section "Book reviews".

Mississippi after Katrina

by Jennifer Trivedi

Drawing on ethnographic, media, and historic document research and analysis, Jennifer Trivedi explores the pre-disaster cultural, historical, social, political, and economic distinctions that shaped the recovery ofBiloxi and Biloxians.

Mississippi after Katrina

Author: Jennifer Trivedi

Publisher: Lexington Books

ISBN: 1793610142

Page: 262

View: 246

Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the American Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005. Biloxi, Mississippi, a small town on the coast, was one of the towns devastated directly by the storm. Drawing on ethnographic, media, and historic document research and analysis, Jennifer Trivedi explores the pre-disaster cultural, historical, social, political, and economic distinctions that shaped the recovery ofBiloxi and Biloxians. Trivedi examines how networks of people, groups, and institutions worked to prepare for and recover from the hurricane, reinforcing the distinctions that existed before the storm.

Mississippi

by Corinne J. Naden

Mississippi : The Official Tour Guide , Mississippi Tourism Association , 2002 . ...
Disaster Center , “ Mississippi Tornadoes , ” The Disaster Center Tornado Page ,
n . d . , < http : / / www . disastercenter . com / miss / tornado . html > ( April 29 ...

Mississippi

Author: Corinne J. Naden

Publisher: Myreportlinks.Com

ISBN: 9780766051447

Page: 48

View: 633

Discusses the land and climate, economy, government, and history of the state of Mississippi. Includes Internet links to Web sites.