The Wreck of the U.S. Transport North America

On December 22, 1864, the thoroughly modern steamship, North America, bound for New York from New Orleans, foundered off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, and took almost 200 souls to the ocean floor. The known victims, most of whom were convalescing Federal soldiers, hailed from Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin. One of the few soldiers who survived the sinking was the 11th New York Volunteer Cavalry's John Stuart. When recalling the tragedy thirty-three years later for the regiment's historian, a reluctant Stuart still had difficulty going back to that December day. "There were twenty-two saved, nearly two hundred lost, and may God rest their souls. I have completed a hard task in telling this story the memory of which causes me to shudder [still], and I cannot explain how I feel." The loss of North America and almost all of her passengers have occupied only a brief footnote in history. Here, finally, is their long overdue story . . . and epitaph. Martin's book includes nineteen images, three maps, an amended roster of those soldiers who perished with the North America and a full index.