Type of incident Derailment Passengers Approx 100 Date 19 February 1863 Trains 1 | Cause Bridge failure Deaths Approx 40 Country United States of America | |
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Time About Daybreak (c. 6:00 a.m.) Location Chunky River, Mississippi, United States Location Newton County, Mississippi | ||
The Chunky Creek Train Wreck of 1863 happened during the American Civil War near the town of Chunky, Mississippi on the Chunky River. On February 19, 1863 the train left the Meridian, Mississippi depot at 3:00 am to transport Confederate soldiers and some civilians to the Battle of Vicksburg.
Severe flooding at the time caused debris to build up against the bridge. The weight of the debris caused the bridge to shift, leaving it six inches out of alignment. Attempts to warn the train failed, and the bridge collapsed as the train crossed.
The locomotive was totally submerged with the attached wooden boxcars demolished. The cargo debris of barrels, boxes, and supplies could be found floating in the winter cold stream. Over forty out of nearly one-hundred passengers were killed because of the high speed impact but others drowned after being trapped under the wreckage.
After the disastrous train wreck Choctaw Confederate Indians, who were organized days earlier, led rescue and recovery efforts. Spann describes the horrific scene, "the engineer was under military orders, and his long train of cars was filled with Confederate soldiers, who, like the engineer, were animated with but one impulse-to Vicksburg! to victory or death! Onward rushed the engineer. All passed over except the hindmost car. The bridge had swerved out of plumb, and into the raging waters with nearly one hundred soldiers the rear car was precipitated. "Help!" was the cry, but there was no help."
Boggan writes of the rescue, "help came quicker than expected. The First Battalion of Choctaw Indians, under the command of Major S. G. Spann, was based at a Confederate military training camp near the crash scene. Led by Jack Amos (a.k.a. Eahtonteube) and Elder Williams, the Indians rushed to the scene, stripped, and plunged into the flooded creek. Many of the passengers were rescued due to their heroic acts."
When daylight came the bodies, cargo, and $80,000.00 were recovered from the stream. Many of the bodies were interred along the railroad right-of-way. The investigation discovered that a winter flood caused a debris build-up which shifted the bridge trestle.