A fuel cell column includes a stack of alternating fuel cells and interconnects, where the interconnects separate adjacent fuel cells in the stack and contain fuel and air channels which are configured to provide respective fuel and air to the fuel cells, a manifold plate containing a bottom inlet hole and a bottom outlet hole located in a bottom surface of the manifold plate, top outlet holes and top inlet holes formed in opposing sides of a top surface of the manifold plate, outlet channels fluidly connecting the top outlet holes to the bottom inlet hole, and inlet channels fluidly connecting the top inlet holes to the bottom outlet hole, and a mitigation structure configured to reduce stress applied to the stack due to at least one of a shape mismatch or coefficient of thermal expansion mismatch between the stack and the manifold plate.