The General Lyon Disaster

From Wikipedia.

We are coming up on the 150th anniversary of this tragic sinking off North Carolina's Cape Hatteras.  The Army Transport steamer was loaded with Union soldiers and evidently some former prisoners as in the case of James O'Rorke who was listed in one source as being from Andersonville prison camp.

One recently discharged Illinois regiment, the 56th Illinois,  lost all but five of its 205 members.  Deaths are put at 500, making it one of the worst U.S. maritime disasters.

Another ship returning former Union prisoners is a little more famous, the SS Sultana,  It sank a few weeks later in the Mississippi River resulting in even more deaths.

Just imagine yourself looking forward to returning home and reuniting with family and loved ones and being this close, having survived the harsh conditions of war, and then dying.

Of course, these two disasters were quickly overshadowed by Lee's surrender and Lincoln's assassination.

--Old Secesh

Springfield, Mass. Oct. 1864-- Part 4: A Horrible Train Wreck

SHOCKING RAILROAD ACCIDENT:  A train carrying 275 sick and wounded soldiers from New Haven to Reidsville ,near Boston, derailed at a deep cut known as Rocky Ledge near Lyme, Connecticut.  Twelve soldiers were killed and 35 wounded as the cars slammed into the rocky cliffs.

Among those killed was John B. Baxter of Springfield, a member of the 34th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment.

--Old Secesh