John A Farmer was a private in Company A, 3rd Tennessee Cavalry (US). He was captured along with most of his unit at Athens, AL Sept. 24, 1864 and held in the Confederate prison at Cahaba, AL. In April 1865 he was released from prison and taken to a parole camp near Vicksburg, MS to await transport back home. On April 24, 1865 he and 2,000 other recently released Union prisoners-of-war were crowded aboard the Mississippi River steamboat Sultana. At 2:00 AM on April 27, 1865, when the Sultana was 7 miles north of Memphis, TN, her boilers exploded. More than 1,500 people died. Private Farmer was among those that perished. His body was never recovered.
John A Farmer was a private in Company A, 3rd Tennessee Cavalry (US). He was captured along with most of his unit at Athens, AL Sept. 24, 1864 and held in the Confederate prison at Cahaba, AL. In April 1865 he was released from prison and taken to a parole camp near Vicksburg, MS to await transport back home. On April 24, 1865 he and 2,000 other recently released Union prisoners-of-war were crowded aboard the Mississippi River steamboat Sultana. At 2:00 AM on April 27, 1865, when the Sultana was 7 miles north of Memphis, TN, her boilers exploded. More than 1,500 people died. Private Farmer was among those that perished. His body was never recovered.
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