It was the worst maritime disaster in American history. It claimed more lives in one night than "Titanic" did 47 years later. Yet, not only do few Americans know about the destruction of the "Sultana," we still don't know for certain why she exploded. Carrying as many as 2,400 passengers on a steamboat certified for 376, most of them were recently-released Union prisoners of war from Confederate prisons. They were emaciated, sick, and wounded. They were going home after years away—homes and families that 1,800 of them would never reach. Men, women, and children were all packed onto "Sultana" as she left the dock at Vicksburg on the Mississippi on April 24, 1865. In the middle of a dark night, a boiler exploded and thousands were cast into the icy river. The questions remain: what happened? Who was at fault? Why was no one ever punished?