EssentialQuestion

Howdoweuseresearchsourcestounravela150yearoldmystery?

Overview
Inthislesson,studentsinvestigateahistoricalmysterythe1865explosionofthe
steamshipSultanabyanalyzingacollectionofprimaryandsecondarysource
documents.Theyworkincooperativereadinggroupstocompleteajigsawactivityin
whichtheyweighthemeritsoftwocompetingtheoriesaboutthedisaster,thencometo
aconclusionbasedontheavailableevidence.

RelatedHistoryDetectivesEpisode:TheSultanaInvestigation
ItwasAprilof1865.TheCivilWarwasnewlyended,andsteamboatswereregularly
travelinguptheMississippiRivertotakesoldiersbacktotheirhomes.Onesuch
steamboat,theSultana,leftVicksburgonApril24tocarrysoldiersuptoCairo,Illinois.
Tragically,justthreedayslater,theboatcaughtfireandits2000passengershadan
impossiblechoicetomake:burntodeathontheboatorjumpoverboardandrisk
drowning.Over1700peoplediedthatday,buttothisday,nooneknowsconclusively
whatcausedtheexplosion.Wasitanaccident?Orwasitanactofsabotage,onefinal
blowstruckbytheConfederacyagainsttheUnion?WesCowan,TukufuZuberi,and
KaiamaGloversetouttosolvethemystery.

SuggestedGradeLevel
Thislessoniswrittenforgrades910,butcanbeadaptedforuseingrades612.For
middleschoolgrades,primarysourceanalysiscanbesimplifiedbyhighlightingthe
mostimportantportionsofthedocuments.Forgrades1112,lessoncanbemademore
challengingbywithholdingthetheoriesfromthestudents,askingthemtoformulatetheir
owntheoriesoftheSultanaexplosionandthenbackupthattheorywiththesupplied
evidence.Besuretohavestudentsexplainwhytheyvaluedsomedocumentsover
others.

SuggestedUnitofStudy
ThislessonplanwouldfitintoAmericanHistoryunitscoveringtheCivilWarand
Reconstruction.

Materials

Reproducible:
"TheSinkingoftheSultana:TheEvidence"
Reproducible:
"EvaluatingConflictingEvidence"
OptionalVideo:"IntroductiontotheSultanaTragedy"
OptionalVideo:"TheMysteryoftheSultana:Reveal"

EstimatedTimeRequired
2classperiods

Background
TheCivilWarlastedfouryears,from1861through1865.Afterthewar,soldierswere
releasedfromPrisonerofWarcampsandslowlybegantomaketheirwaybacktotheir
homesandfamilies.ManyprisonerstraveledhomebywayoftheMississippiRiver,on
largesteamboats.TheSultanawasonesuchsteamboat.OnApril24,1865,itseta
coursethroughacountryravagedbyyearsofwarandapopulacetenseandfatigued
fromyearsoffighting.Onitsjourney,itcaughtfire,resultinginthedeathsof1700ofits
2000passengers.Thefederalgovernmentinvestigatedtheexplosion,butnever
reachedaconclusionastoitscause.Twocompetingtheorieshavearisenamongthe
historiansandamateurhistorianswhohavestudiedthetragedy.Someclaimitwasa
tragicaccident,aboilerexplosionduetoabotchedrepairjob.Othersclaimtheboiler
explodedthankstotheeffortsofConfederateboatburners,whoplantedabombto
deliberatelysabotagethesteamship.

SetUp
Makephotocopiesofthe
>"EvaluatingConflictingEvidence"
reproducible.
MakecopiesoftheReproducible:
"TheSinkingoftheSultana:The
Evidence."
YouwillhandoutonesourcetoeachDocumentGroupof
students.
Bookmarkthefollowingwebsite(referencedonthe
"TheSinkingofthe
Sultana:TheEvidence"
reproducible)onstudentcomputersortablets,orprint
outandphotocopy:
TheCourtenayCoalTorpedo

WarmUp
Optional:Showstudentsthefirstthreeminutesofthe
HistoryDetectives

CivilWar
Sabotage?
videoorsharetheinformationfromtheBackgroundpresentedabove.Use
thefollowingquestionstoleadadiscussionafterstudentsviewedthevideoorreadthe
backgroundparagraph.
WhatwastheSultana?
(Steamboattaskedwithtakingsoldiersupthe
Mississippi,totheirhomes,aftertheendoftheCivilWar)Whathappenedto
it?(Therewasanexplosionanditcaughtfire,killing1700people)
Whatarethetwotheoriesabouttheexplosionaboardtheboat?
(Itwas
accidentduetoafaultyboilerrepairandcorruptionitwasConfederate
sabotage)
Whydoyouthinkthishistoricaleventhasreceivedsolittleattentioninthe
historybooks?Makeaspeculation.

Activity
Forthejigsawactivity,assigneachstudenttotwogroups:first,aDocumentGroup(A,
B,C,orD),andsecond,aHomeGroup(eachHomeGroupshouldhaveatleastfour
students,onerepresentativefromeachDocumentGrouplabelgroupsusingnumbers
forclarity,i.e.1,2,3,etc.).Passoutcopiesofthe
"TheSinkingoftheSultana:The
Evidence"
and
"EvaluatingConflictingEvidence"
reproduciblestoeachstudent.

Explaintotheclassthattheywillbeexaminingprimarysourcesandsecondarysources
relatedtotheburningoftheSultana.Theirtaskistousethesedocumentstoevaluate
thetwocompetingtheoriesofwhathappenedtotheSultanaandreachaconclusionas
towhichtheoryismorelikely.Thedocumentsstudentswillstudyare:
GroupA:Excerptsfrom
TheLossoftheSultanaandReminiscencesof
Survivors:
Bookofsurvivorstoriesandmemories,collectedbyChesterD.
Berryandpublishedin1892,27yearsafterthedisaster.
GroupB:HistoryDetectivesinterviewswiththeExperts:Modernday
steamshipexpertsspeculateonthepossiblecausesoftheexplosionaboard
theSultana
GroupC:TheCourtenayCoalTorpedo,anarticleaboutThomasEdgeword
Courtenay,inventorofthecoaltorpedo,andConfederatesabotageduringthe
CivilWarincludesembeddedprimarysources
GroupD:TestimonyfromtheWashburnCommitteeReport:Testimonyof
WilliamButler,acookaboardtheSultana,fromtheWashburnCommittee
Report.TheWashburnCommitteewastaskedwithdeterminingthecauseof
theSultanatragedybytheUnitedStatesfederalgovernment.
StudentswillbegintheirworkintheirDocumentGroups,investigatingthesourcethey
havebeenassigned.IntheirDocumentGroups,studentswill:
Takenotesontheirsource(s)usingthe
"EvaluatingConflictingEvidence"
reproducible
Sharetheirnoteswithoneanother
Discusswhattheorytheirsourcebestsupports,comingtoaconsensus.
Remindstudentstheirsourcemaycontainconflictingevidenceandtheydo
notneedtobe100%surewhichtheorytheybelieveatthispoint.
AfterstudentshaveinvestigatedtheirsourcesintheirDocumentGroups,theywill
assembleintheirHomeGroups.IntheirHomeGroups,studentswill:
SharetheirnotesaboutthesourcetheyinvestigatedintheirDocument
Groupsinordertoteachtheothermembersoftheirgroup
Takenotesonthe
"EvaluatingConflictingEvidence"
reproducible
Discusswhattheorytheybelieveisthemostprobablebasedonallthe
evidence,comingtoaconsensus.Remindstudentstheyarelookingforthe
most
probable
theory,notnecessarilyan
irrefutable
theory.
Discusswhethertheychangedtheiropiniononthebesttheoryfromtheirbest
guessintheirDocumentGroupsandwhyorwhynot.
Duringthegroupwork,encouragethestudentsto
"ThinkLikeaHistorian."
Prompt
studentstousethe3CsandanSstrategywheninvestigatingthedocumentsrelatedto
theSultanatragedy.
Sourcing:Whomadethissource?Wherediditcomefrom?
Contextualizing:Imaginethesettingsurroundingthissource:Howwasthe
worldthatmadethissourcedifferentthanourown?
Corroborating:Whatdoothersourcessayabouttheinformationinthis
document?Dotheyagreeordisagreewithwhatthisdocumentsays?
CloseReading:Whatdoesthedocumentsay?Isitbiased?Whatisthetone?
Afterstudentshaveexaminedandevaluatedtheevidence,leadadiscussionabouttheir
conclusionsbasedonthequestionsonthe
"EvaluatingConflictingEvidence"
reproducible.

 Whatdocumentdoyoufindthemostpersuasive?Whatdocumentdoyoufind
theleastpersuasive?Whyistheformermorecrediblethanthelatter?
Basedontheevidencepresented,whichtheoryregardingthesinkingofthe
Sultanaismoreplausible?
Whatevidencebestsupportsthetheoryyourgroupthinksiscorrect?Whatin
particularaboutthesepiecesofevidencedoesyourgroupfindconvincing?
Whatevidencecontradictsthetheoryyourgroupthinksiscorrect?Whydid
yougroupchoosetodiscountthisevidence?
Basedonyourexperiencesinconductingthisinvestigation,howdohistorians
cometoaconsensusaboutahistoricaleventwhenpresentedwithconflicting
evidence?

WrapUp
GivestudentsanopportunitytoanswerthequestionsinPart3ofthe
"Evaluating
ConflictingEvidence"
reproducibleindependently.Thenleadaclassdiscussionbased
ontheiranswers.
WhatdidyoulearnabouttheCivilWaranditsimmediateaftermathfrom
conductingthisinvestigation?
WhyisstudyingeventssuchasthesinkingoftheSultanaanimportant
historicalendeavor?
Whatdidyoulearnfromtheprimarysourcedocumentsthatyoudidnotor
couldnotlearninatextbook?
HowdidthisinvestigationchangeyourunderstandingoftheCivilWar?Of
AbrahamLincoln?Ofwaringeneral?

GoingFurther
Thestrategiesandjigsawstrategyandthe
"EvaluatingConflictingEvidence"
reproduciblefeaturedinthislessonplancanbeusedtodevelopanotherlessonwhere
studentsinvestigateanotherhistoricalmysterywithcompetingtheories.Some
possibilities:
TheDisappearanceofAmeliaEarhart
TheGreatChicagoFireof1871
TheLostColonyofRoanoke
Afterpullingtogetherarangeofsourcesforstudentstoexamine,youmayaskstudents
tosummarizethecompetingtheoriesaboutthemystery,findevidencethatsupportsthe
varioustheories,andthenchoosethemostplausibletheorybasedontheavailable
evidence.

MoreonHistoryDetectives
UsethefollowingepisodesorlessonplansfromHistoryDetectivestosupportthe
teachingofthislessoninyourclassroom.
Episode:
CivilWarLetters
LessonPlan:
UsingPrimarySources:NaziSpyRingBusted
DetectiveTechniqueGuide:
GoingBackinTime

Resources
RememberingSultana
NationalGeographicarticleaboutthesinkingoftheSultana
Sultana:ACaseforSabotage
ComprehensivecaseforsabotageaboardtheSultana
,includingvariousprimary
sources
LossoftheSultanandReminiscencesofSurvivors
LossoftheSultana
,FulltextofChesterD.Berrysbook,originallypublished1892,on
GoogleBooks