William E. Mansfield was a 1st Sgt. in Co. D, 3rd Tennessee Cavalry (Union) during the Civil War. He was captured with most of the regiment on Sept. 25, 1864 at Sulphur Branch Trestle, AL and confined at the Confederate prison at Cahaba, AL. He was released in early April 1865 and sent to a parole camp near Vicksburg, MS. On April 24, he went aboard the Mississippi steamboat Sultana with almost 2,000 other recently released Union prisoners-of-war. At 2:00 a.m. on April 27, 1865, when the Sultana was 7 miles above Memphis, Her boilers exploded, killing almost 1,200 people. Sergeant Mansfield was rescued by the steamboat Pocahontas and taken to Washington Hospital in Memphis suffering from slight burns. He was mustered out of the service in May 1865 and applied for an invalid pension in January 1871. His name appeared on a list of survivors of the Sultana Disaster that was still alive in April 1903. He died in Knoxville, TN on April 24, 1908 at age 72.
William E. Mansfield was a 1st Sgt. in Co. D, 3rd Tennessee Cavalry (Union) during the Civil War. He was captured with most of the regiment on Sept. 25, 1864 at Sulphur Branch Trestle, AL and confined at the Confederate prison at Cahaba, AL. He was released in early April 1865 and sent to a parole camp near Vicksburg, MS. On April 24, he went aboard the Mississippi steamboat Sultana with almost 2,000 other recently released Union prisoners-of-war. At 2:00 a.m. on April 27, 1865, when the Sultana was 7 miles above Memphis, Her boilers exploded, killing almost 1,200 people. Sergeant Mansfield was rescued by the steamboat Pocahontas and taken to Washington Hospital in Memphis suffering from slight burns. He was mustered out of the service in May 1865 and applied for an invalid pension in January 1871. His name appeared on a list of survivors of the Sultana Disaster that was still alive in April 1903. He died in Knoxville, TN on April 24, 1908 at age 72.
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