TwigTalk: Survival

Monday, August 5, 2024

Survival

Francis Marion Jack, "Frank", my third great granduncle, was born on September 14, 1844, in McMinn County, Tennessee, he was the son of John Jack and Mary Ditmore. In 1869 he married Margaret E. McNabb. I found a little death notice for him. I don't know the papers name, I haven't been able to find the original pdf it was in though I do have a lot from the Daily Athenian in Tennessee, I am not sure this is from that one. I'm sorry for the source sin, forgive me. I do know the date is December 14, 1925.The transcription is below the graphic:

Sultana Survivor

Dies At Englewood

ENGLEWOOD, Tenn., Dec. 14 - (Spl.)--Frank M. Jack, one of the four last survivors of the ill-fated Sultana, which was sunk near Memphis in the Mississippi river during the civil war, died here Saturday. Mr. Jack was one of the best-known citizens in this section of the state.

Funeral services for Mr. Jack were conducted by the Masons of the Peabody Lodge of Coghill yesterday. Mr. Jack is survived by five sons and three daughters.

This little blurb tells me a lot. First of all, the Sultana was taking Union soldiers home at the end of the war. He was Union. (making him a Union Jack? opps) I've found he was in Company K, 3rd Regiment, Tennessee Cavalry. He had 8 children living at the time of his death. I found all but one. He was a mason. Just for the record, where else would Mr. Peabody be but Coghill Lodge? Sorry. That was funny if you're old. I am.

The Sultana is the worst boat disaster you have never heard about. Why? On April 15, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. The boat was carrying the news of that as it traveled down the river heading to Vicksburg, Mississippi. On April 26, 1865, John Wilkes Booth was killed. (I know, supposedly.) The Sultana blew up on April 27, 1865. The wooden steamboat had the capacity of a crew of 85 and only 376 passengers. At the time of the explosion, she was carrying 2, 128 passengers according to some researchers. The captain, James Mason, bribed the chief quartermaster at Vicksburg to take on soldiers. The government paid $2.75 per soldier and $8.00 per officer. He took on 1,400 recently released Union prisoners from the prison camps at Cahaba and Andersonville. Many soldiers were mustered out at Vicksburg, and they were also aboard plus his paying customers. The war was over, and they were finally going home. At least 1700 died, most likely more but we will never know for sure. It was close to Memphis, Tennessee at the time it blew up. It was spring and the water was cold. Some died from drowning, some by hypothermia, but most from the explosion and fire. Frank was one of the few that made it home.