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Many of the victims of the Sultana disaster were buried at The Mississippi River Cemetery now the Memphis National Cemetery. After initially being buried at Elmwood the Sultana victims were moved here. The story told at the cemetery is that the names were written on the coffins as they were removed from Elmwood so that they would be properly identified at the national cemetery. While the coffins were waiting to be reinterned a rain storm came up. Unfortunately the names had been written on the coffins in chalk so all the names washed away with the rain and the Sultana victims all lie in graves marked unknown.
The Mississippi River Cemetery was a Union Cemetery. The land was purchased by the Union while Memphis was occupied. Memphis was had over 5000 hospital beds and soldiers from as far away as Vicksburg were brought to Memphis on hospital boats to Memphis hospitals and those who died onboard and in hospitals in Memphis were buried at The Mississippi River Cemetery AKA Memphis National Cemetery.