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Visitors to Houston today will not see the name George W. Houston on statues, streets or school buildings. Despite the lack of attention to this subject in almost all previous discussions of Dowling, slavery was an important part of the story of Sabine Pass. In September 1863, Sabine Pass, the southernmost point of the border between Texas and Louisiana, saw a battle that could best be summarized as unusual. Early in 1864, the Confederate Congress passed a resolution which included, among other complimentary language, the declaration that "this defense . During the battle, the 3rd Division of the XIII Corps, commanded by General Robert A. Cameron, arrived with approximately 1,500 men. In reality, there were other, less famous participants in the Battle of Sabine Pass men whom Yates, his descendants, and all friends So why are we starving our schools? <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents(Provide feedback)/Rect[392.1938 211.9047 476.7295 224.7953]/StructParent 8/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> Providing a meticulously researched, scholarly account of this remarkable victory, Sabine Pass at last separates the legends from the evidence. But the battle on Sept. 8, 1863, whose 150th anniversary will be observed on Saturday and Sunday at the Sabine Pass Battleground Park, kept the Union out of Texas for the remaining two years of the Civil War. Annual Message of Governor Henry Watkins Allen, to the Legislature of the State of Louisiana", Red River Campaign (Louisiana, March to May 1864), "Cornell University Library Making of America Collection", Mississippi River in the American Civil War, List of Union Civil War monuments and memorials, List of memorials to the Grand Army of the Republic, Confederate artworks in the United States Capitol, List of Confederate monuments and memorials, Removal of Confederate monuments and memorials. seeking freedom had flocked to Union naval vessels in the region for months before the battle, often escaping from Louisiana plantations like the ones that the Clifton had patrolled earlier in 1863. But imagining their courageous swim across <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents()/Rect[493.2393 594.2333 540.0 607.124]/StructParent 3/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> Even though his star has been eclipsed by time and circumstance, local Irish-American groups still commemorate his exploits on St. Patrick's Day. When they came within 1,200 yards of the fort, however, cannon fire was returned, disabling the gunboats U.S.S. For example, an 1863 note from Leon Smith describing the battle reads, "God bless the Davis Guards, one and all! Today, the Sabine Pass Battleground State Historic Site at the site of Fort Griffin is a great place to fish or picnic while exploring the rich history of the Texas coast. As remembered in the immediate aftermath of the battle, Dowling's life offered a perfect example of guileless Confederate heroism and the Union's overpowering amount of resources. The 30-foot-tall statue came down in 1939 and was stored away in a barn for nearly 20 years. Readmore, Had I prolonged my Indian grandmothers suffering with my stubborn belief in the power of medicine to fix things? endobj Eagle Pass wants border security not Abbott's boondoggle Alison Cook: Gatlin's Fins & Feathers still has some work to do, Warrant: FBI investigated man linked to alleged Ken Paxton bribes, Houston's worst restaurant health code violators of 2023 so far. Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. Nearly a decade after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and seven years after Texas slaves found out about it, the Rev. Providing a meticulously researched, scholarly account of this remarkable victory, Sabine Pass at last separates the legends from the evidence.In arresting prose, Edward T. Cotham, Jr., recounts. On the night of Sept. 7, a Monday, Union gunboats began to steam up the channel. the Sabine . The First Battle of Sabine Pass or the Bombardment of Fort Sabine was a naval and land battle during the American Civil War in Sabine Pass, Texas. Behind them, floating in the Gulf of Mexico, were about two dozen ships with 5,000 The Second Battle of Sabine Pass (September 8, 1863) was a failed Union Army attempt to invade the Confederate state of Texas during the American Civil War. [1], Coordinates: 294409N 935216W / 29.7359N 93.8711W / 29.7359; -93.8711. 8 (August 1973): 38-43. doi:Article. During the second half of March 1864, a combined force from the Union Army of the Gulf and navy led by Major General Nathaniel P. Banks, supported by Admiral David Porter's fleet of gunboats, ascended the Red River with the goal of defeating the Confederate forces in Louisiana and capturing Shreveport. The Confederates had refloated the Clifton after the battle and used the vessel in actions against Union blockade ships. But unlike the Spartans, who succumbed to overwhelming Persian forces at Thermopylae more than two thousand years before, the Confederate underdogs triumphed in a battle that over time has become steeped in hyperbole. It eventually took on the name Emancipation Park. The Confederate Congress passed a resolution calling his unlikely victory "one of the most brilliant and heroic achievements in the history of this war." The Battle of Sabine Pass was one of a handful of Civil War battles waged in Texas. Jack Yates celebrated the Unions victory, not Dowlings. 102 0 obj In 1968, at the height of the civil rights movement, city leaders opened a new middle school that still bears Dowlings name. Confederate President Jefferson Davis wrote in 1876 that he "considered the On September 8, 1863, at the Second Battle of Sabine Pass, a small Confederate force thwarts a Federal invasion of Texas at the mouth of the Sabine River on the Texas- Louisiana border. Inexorable laws of economics arent tearing us apart. [19], At around noon, the Union cavalry division, supported by one infantry brigade of Landram's division, was deployed across a small hill at the south end of the clearing. "Whether it was a backhanded slap at Emancipation Park is difficult to say," McDaniel told me the other day, "but it does seem a little too coincidental to be a coincidence.". 150 years ago, the Battle of Sabine Pass saved Texas, Donald Smart, who is the Commander of the Dick Dowling Camp as well as the weekend safety officer, test fires one of the caps in his unloaded 44 caliber army revolver underneath one of the set up tents on the Union side. <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents(cdsscholarworks@sfasu.edu)/Rect[183.5112 72.3516 299.2412 82.8984]/StructParent 10/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> The Jefferson County Fort Griffin was a Confederate fort located in the southeastern part of the county on what is now Farm Road 3322, fifteen miles south of Port Arthur. +wHaKB@DBGs> Vn>B9 5d7/Z0JEbQl.`NsGxxxArMjJ_mr#Su@K,,f~5cq:E7nh,tAZe> >:! n At 11 a.m., there will be a memorial ceremony for the 150th anniversary of the battle, which took place Sept. 8, 1863. In the century after Sabine Pass, as various white Houstonians tried to honor Dowlings memory, African-Americans worked to keep a different memory of the war alive. Battle the monstrous Strogg in blistering-fast single player and co-op shooter action or take your skills to the arena with online and local multiplayer. But I found a richer palette of melody, counterpoint and rhythm already in the air.Readmore, Four years ago, Disunion convened a panel of experts to discuss the outbreak of the Civil War. Emancipation Park, meanwhile, remains at the heart of the city. . The annual Dick Dowling Days held at the Sabine Pass battleground in Sabine Pass, will see some 300 plus re-enactors taking part this weekend in re-creating the Battle of Sabine Pass, which took place 150 years ago. USGS map of Sabine Pass. Told in this way, Dowling's story fit easily into the mythology of the "Lost Cause," which was first developed by Southern historians and former Confederate leaders such as Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee in the aftermath of Reconstruction and was later taken up by groups such as the United Confederate Veterans. They were waging a truly American fight - a fight for freedom, for themselves and for generations to come. Could Pearl Harbor be called a failure of imagination, and in that sense was it similar to the attacks of 9/11? United States President Abraham Lincoln was well aware of Confederate intentions and sent an expedition into Texas to establish a military presence and to discourage Maximilian from opening trade with the Confederacy. Taylor selected a clearing a few miles south of Mansfield as the spot where he would take a stand against the Union forces. 108 0 obj N|>[,4$`QMkL8ah+71dZLyO1CnCc ur'%1kdD2 Zx53)6Lv3b;>0 6;3YC7Q#w|_\p b "[5c"3I*! McDaniel found that both men turned up some months later on muster records for the Arizona, one of the gunboats that escaped the withering fire from Fort Griffin. Now, those experts are back to discuss the wars end, and its legacy. As Dowlings legend grew, so did the number of Yankees he had supposedly [1] It borders Jefferson County, Texas, and Cameron Parish, Louisiana. The tale of these two sites is thus a tale of two cities, each of which viewed the primary incidents and meanings of Houstons Civil War in very different ways. By April 1 Union forces had occupied Grand Ecore and Natchitoches. Soon after the city acquired Emancipation Park in 1918, it became the only municipal park open to black Houstonians, so that what had been a symbol of freedom became a landmark For these men and women, Dowling's famous victory in 1863 was a moment of defeat that delayed their freedom. 0000044635 00000 n Dowling became an instant hero. Painted Portrait of Dick Dowling by Thurston Donnellan Representating him as a Solider. Coming to Xbox Game Pass: Sea of Stars, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre so named in 1892 after a Confederate soldier, Lt. Richard Dick Dowling, who won a famous underdog victory against Union forces in September 1863. As the first Union line collapsed, Cameron's division was arriving to form a second line but it too was pushed back by the charging Confederates, with Franklin wounded as well but remaining on the field in command. Hoping to block Union threats to the upper Texas Gulf Coast, Gen. John B. Magruder dispatched Maj. Julius Kellersberg to build a fort at Sabine Pass in March 1863. Apparently, Houston and Smith had not 0000043136 00000 n The Arkansas division arrived around 3:30 pm but was sent to watch a road to the east. (Click here for an image of one of the surviving medals.). Sabine Pass | American Battlefield Trust When the city acquired Emancipation Park in 1918, it became the only municipal park in which black Houstonians could set foot. Hes the author of six books, including Hometown Texas, a collection of his weekly Native Texan columns; Hurricane Season: The Unforgettable Story of the Houston Astros and the Resilience of a City; and Sutherland Springs: God, Guns and a Small Texas Town, published in 2020 and recipient of the 2021 Carr P. Collins Award, presented by the Texas Institute of Letters in recognition of the years best work of nonfiction. All the Union Navy had to do was to get past Fort Griffin at Sabine Pass, defended by an artillery company made up of Irish dockworkers led by Lt. Richard W. Dowling, a successful saloonkeeper and liquor importer in Houston and Galveston. */i+B 0000001290 00000 n But one unfortunate result has been an assumption where black Houstonians held some of the earliest celebrations of Juneteenth, the holiday marking the abolition of slavery in Texas. n Dick Dowling Days, hosted by the Texas Historical Commission, commemorates the Civil War Battle of Sabine Pass in which an artillery company led by Lt. Dick Dowling of Galveston and about 50 men defeated an invading Union force of about 5,000 at Fort Griffin, an earthworks at the mouth of Sabine Pass. of Emancipation Park can see as heroes of their own. The Union Navy supported the effort and lost three gunboats during the battle, two captured and one destroyed. Sabine Pass sheds new light on previously overlooked details, such as the design and construction of the fort (Fort Griffin) that Dowling and his men defended, and includes the battle report prepared by Dowling himself. In the early morning hours of September 25, 1862, Union naval forces under the command of Crocker attempted to enter Sabine Pass, as Crocker made his way through the inland passage towards Beaumont, the Confederates attacked. He has served as president of the Houston Civil War Roundtable and is the author of Battle on the Bay: The Civil War Struggle for Galveston. Some of the initial stories about Dowling's victory at Sabine Pass highlighted the Irish heritage of the Davis Guard and its commander, but most contemporary accounts of the battle focused on the odds that Dowling faced and the service he provided to the Confederacy. and Emancipation meet. Second Battle of Sabine Pass, September 8, 1863. endobj The annual Dick Dowling Days held at the Sabine Pass battleground in Sabine Pass, will see some 300 plus re-enactors taking part this weekend in re-creating the Battle of Sabine Pass, which took place 150 years ago. The Dave Ryan/The Enterprise, Kelleys to mark 70th wedding anniversary Tuesday, Local SETX film "The First Step" debuts at Jefferson Theatre, Tropical Storm Harold makes landfall, Texas Gulf Coast on alert, South Texas storm means higher fire risk for Southeast Texas, We've got an update on local water restrictions, Local district gives all-clear after bomb threat, Beaumont city ambulance stolen from hospital. These troops arrived late in the afternoon, after the battle had commenced. 0000009837 00000 n Now, those experts are back to discuss the wars end, and its legacy. <]/Prev 748609>> Too many physicians think palliative care means giving up. In the 150 years following the conclusion of the Civil War, retellings of the Dick Dowling story and the Battle of Sabine Pass underwent many subtle changes, as Dowling's statue moved from Houston City Hall to an obscure corner of Hermann Park. It is a two day event and the public is invited to walk through life as it was in 1863, see period camps, witness battle reenactments with canon fire, and cavalry charges. In arresting prose, Edward T. Cotham, Jr., recounts the momentous hours of September 8, 1863, during which a handful of Texansalmost all of Irish descentunder the leadership of Houston saloonkeeper Richard W. Dowling, prevented a Union military force of more than 5,000 men, 22 transport vessels, and 4 gunboats from occupying Sabine Pass, the starting place for a large invasion that would soon have given the Union control of Texas. Dowling, Richard William - TSHA Wide natural beach near Sabine Pass. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link . The goal is to transform the historic site into a national landmark, the place to celebrate Juneteenth from 2016 onward. The next day, they were transported to Camp Groce at Hempstead (NW of Houston). With only 42 artillerymen defending the fort - most of them stevedores and "dockwollopers" from Houston and Galveston - the ragtag army captured two gunboats and disabled a third. Commissioned federal officers were sent to Camp Ford, outside of Tyler, where they were detained for the remainder of the war. On October 8, 1862, Galveston, Texas was captured. 0000003576 00000 n In the thirty years after Dowling's death, stories about the battle and the Davis Guards's heroism continued to spread, taking on mythic proportions. It has often been credited as the war's most one-sided Confederate victory. Later, he will fill the chambers with black powder, Cream of Wheat cereal, and hair spray to hold everything in place for the cap to ignite. the near plague of mosquitoes. Sabine Pass Battleground History On September 8, 1863, the battle of Sabine Pass turned back one of several Union attempts to invade and occupy part of Texas during the Civil War. Crocker was promoted to the rank of Acting Volunteer Lieutenant "for gallant conduct" in the Sabine Pass and Calcasieu Pass operations by Admiral Farragut. endobj The decisive battle at Sabine Pass allowed the Confederacy to maintain control of the Texas coastline for the duration of the war. It is a two day event and the public is invited to walk through life as it was in 1863, see period camps, witness battle reenactments with canon fire, and cavalry charges. Sabine Pass Battleground State Historic Site - THC.Texas.gov Giving fishermen a business incentive to fish sustainably can unleash their creative capacity to help solve the problem, says one expert. only survived the combat in the Pass, but had splashed to the safety of the Arizona and later enlisted in the Navy, securing both freedom and a wage. (Item 453). Sources: Edward T. Cotham Jr., Sabine Pass: The Confederacys Thermopylae and The Southern Journey of a Civil War Marine: The Illustrated Note-Book of Henry O. Gusley; Friends of Emancipation Park; Dick Dowling and Sabine Pass in History and Memory, Rice University Woodson Research Center; Dick Dowling Collection, Houston Area Digital Archives; Jaclyn Youngblood, More on Emancipation Park., W. Caleb McDaniel is an assistant professor of history at Rice and the author of The Problem of Democracy in the Age of Slavery: Garrisonian Abolitionists and Transatlantic Reform.. The Dave Ryan/The Enterprise, Donald Smart, who is the Commander of the Dick Dowling Camp as well as the weekend safety officer, cleans his 44 caliber army revolver underneath one of the set up tents on the Union side. If you were standing at the mouth of the Sabine River on the morning of Sept. 8, 1863, and you were looking out toward the Gulf, you would have seen the Civil War come to Texas. s f a s u . The lives of both Confederate and Union prisoners of war throughout the North and South were grim, with limited food, clothing, bedding and medical supplies. Indeed, Sabine Pass was the site of one of the most decisive Civil War battles fought in Texas. and meticulously researched" Civil War history vividly recounts one of the most decisive battles fought in Texas (Civil War News). Effective January 1, 2008, operational control of Sabine Pass Battleground State Historic Site was transferred to the Texas Historical Commission. Franklin. 'The number 6 was written over the number 3 at this point. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. The annual Dick Dowling Days held at the Sabine Pass battleground in Sabine Pass, will see some 300 plus re-enactors taking part this weekend in re-creating the Battle of Sabine Pass, which took place 150 years ago. Several black sailors were among the casualties, including men scalded to death when cannon fire ripped into ships' boilers. Sabine Pass Battleground. 0000001629 00000 n Lost Cause historians and writers also denied that slavery was a cause of the Civil War, arguing instead that courageous white Southerners were only defending their homes from Northern aggression. African American Labor in the Building of Fort . "[13] The Confederate Governor of Louisiana, Henry Watkins Allen, had organized two battalions of the state guard and brought them to Taylor's aid, yet the documentary record is unclear as to what role they played in the battle. For several miles the Confederates pursued the retreating Union troops until they encountered a third line formed by Emory's division. . Lh_=@P%8P%+-7 :`-*ouB"]~G>JX3+/E<6AE'@GC=2GujbQ*-;{2 ((.jGPeY9J_~"^*&sZx=M%Z+C%jh" Kq'2N $$Dk"kejj@`Jv#$v4|$[*VdK_VC\w{. After Dowling's quick and deadly kiss, Franklin's battered flotilla went, all the way back to New Orleans. If the Union had succeeded, Beaumont would have been burned to the ground, Smart said. But even after the statue was moved to its current location in Houstons Hermann Park, Dowlings memory continued to leave Recorded Texas Historic Landmark: No: Private Property: No: Marker Location: Sabine Pass Battleground State Historical Park: Marker Condition: In Situ: Marker Size: 27" x 42" Marker Text: United States Forces at the Battle of Sabine Pass Federal forces in the Civil War failed in most of their early efforts to capture Texas. The United States Navy blockaded the Texas coast beginning in the summer of 1861, while Confederates fortified the major ports. "A Yank at Sabine Pass." Civil War Times Illustrated 12, no. Dowling's Story Painted Portrait of Dick Dowling by Thurston Donnellan Representating him as a Solider Immediately after the Battle of Sabine Pass, Dick Dowling and his Davis Guard became legendary among Confederates for their military achievement, which had prevented federal troops from occupying Texas. 0 98 23 Disunion revisits and reconsiders Americas most perilous period using contemporary accounts, diaries, images and historical assessments to follow the Civil War as it unfolded. After a brief resistance, the Union army was routed by the Confederates, consisting mainly of units from Louisiana and Texas, reportedly strengthened by hundreds of men breaking parole. . Others were among those captured and paraded through the streets of Houston. Federal ships transporting men and materiel converged beyond the sandbars, and on September 8, 1863, began to steam north through the pass. n The event is free and open to the public with parking at Sabine Pass High School and bus shuttle service to and from the battleground. The Battle of Cherbourg was an intense naval battle that ended in the sinking of CSS Alabama, one of the most powerful ships in the Confederate fleet, by USS Kearsarge. On Jan. 1, 1863, Southern forces expelled Union occupiers from Galveston. Time, erosion and commerce have altered the landscape of the park in the 150 years since the battle. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, At the time of his death from yellow fever in 1867, the Houston Telegraph considered Richard Dowling "Houston's most important citizen.". Union-led emancipation as the crucial victory of the war. This page was last edited on 27 July 2023, at 05:37. Postwar Houstonians also heaped praise on their local hero. Dowling Street and Emancipation Park may intersect on the map, but a wide gap separates the memories and meanings behind them. Had Sept. 8 gone differently, they may well have done so. One-hundred-and-fifty years ago, Americans went to war with themselves. Union troops on board. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Four years after the name change, as McDaniel points out, the U.S. Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson ruled public segregation constitutional. By 1863, the rebels began to lose even as they won, squandering precious soldiers to gain battlefield dominance. (Editorial), Think 31 is too young to plan for death? On the east side of the road, Mouton was killed, while several of his regimental commanders were hit as well and the charge of his division was repulsed. It "walked" up and down, like an oil pump, connected to a steam-driven piston that transferred vertical motion to rotary motion to power the sidewheel. Even when we disguise their identities, we risk betraying them. At this location, Capt. First, Confederate officials in Texas used the labor of enslaved men to build the sophisticated fortifications that Dowling defended in the battle. The fleet actually contained no ironclad ships, and the fort Dowling defended was not a simple "mud" shelter, but Davis used this account to stress the bravery of Dowling, who supposedly told his men, "We will fight to the death!" 110 0 obj Ann Richards, a staff writer for The Washington Post and an editorial writer for the Chronicle from 2012 to 2017. Second Battle of Sabine Pass - Wikipedia <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents(Tell us)/Rect[72.0 211.9047 103.6572 224.7953]/StructParent 7/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> His obituary in 1867, after his death from yellow fever, lauded his "unparalleled boldness and intrepidity" and praised him as a "warm-hearted hero" for his activity at the Battle of Sabine Pass, but did not include his manner of death or his accomplishments in the city of Houston (Item 336). . But few places convey that fact more starkly than a little-known intersection in Houston. <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents( \n h t t p s : / / s c h o l a r w o r k s . <>/MediaBox[0 0 612 792]/Parent 95 0 R/Resources<>/Font<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageC]/XObject<>>>/Rotate 0/StructParents 0/Tabs/S/Type/Page>> This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Battle of Sabine Pass. At Gettysburg, considered the high-water mark of the Confederacy, the Union blunted the rebel invasion of the North on July 3, 1863. The Battle of Mansfield was followed immediately by the Battle of Pleasant Hill. The result is a portrait of a mythic event that is even more provocative when stripped of embellishment. hb```01 st90400X5T;p\Ql[Hdt{\GhP.KS~\.V`dE":Pqn=@Z a_QiWk\=UpAA!a -%LXH0h11001p90`uHxH[0pL< r1Qbd&2pg.@d ` ?>/Metadata 96 0 R/Outlines 51 0 R/Pages 95 0 R/StructTreeRoot 56 0 R/Type/Catalog/ViewerPreferences<>>> On the evening of September 7th, the entire Union force finally assembled off of Sabine Pass. From there, enlisted men were sent to Louisiana for exchange with Confederate prisoners. The Dave Ryan/The Enterprise, Donald Smart, who is the Commander of the Dick Dowling Camp as well as the weekend safety officer, talks about where the Yankee camp will be in relation to the Union camp. Sabine Pass State Historical Park | American Battlefield Trust The Dave Ryan/The Enterprise, Donald Smart, who is the Commander of the Dick Dowling Camp as well as the weekend safety officer, finishes cleaning his unloaded 44 caliber army revolver underneath one of the set up tents on the Union side. "Texas was saved all the destruction suffered by the rest of the South," he said. N.H. Smith's Letters from Sabine Pass, 1863 - Stephen F. Austin State 0000004417 00000 n Should convicted felons receive free health care? Later they enlisted in the Navy, thereby securing for themselves both freedom and wages. He represents the thousands of runaway slaves who joined the Union Army and Navy. [102 0 R 103 0 R 104 0 R 105 0 R 106 0 R 107 0 R 108 0 R 109 0 R 110 0 R 111 0 R] The Lost Cause referred to the idea that the South was never capable of winning the Civil War because the North had an overwhelming advantage due to their increased resources and manpower. The importance of the battle cannot be overstated, said Smart, a 1968 graduate of French High School in Beaumont. The USS Sachem was a half-mile away from the fort's guns. Meanwhile, because of Union bungling, the troops who could have landed and overwhelmed Whatever the city's motive in changing the street names, the Confederate hero moved to the city's periphery, literally and figuratively. On Jan. 1, 1863, Southern forces expelled Union occupiers from Galveston. In. Their intention was to mess with Texas and the Confederacy by disrupting rail traffic and cotton shipments. The diamond-shaped beam was taken off the wreckage in 1911. The Moviegoers pick who should and who will win at the Academy Awards and pick apart Hollywoods diversity problem. <>/Border[0 0 0]/Contents(United States History Commons)/Rect[137.2383 228.9906 279.5625 240.7094]/StructParent 6/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> Forty-five minutes later, the Union forces withdrew. ~Kellersberger, lIfemoiT8, 31, confirms Smith's constant references. First Battle of Sabine Pass - Wikipedia The story of Dowling Street began on Sept. 8, 1863, when four shallow Union gunboats steamed into Sabine Pass at the Louisiana border. The Dave Ryan/The Enterprise, Donald Smart, who is the Commander of the Dick Dowling Camp as well as the weekend safety officer, pulls some of his period clothing from his car to get dressed. In the succeeding decades after the battle, most stories about Dick Dowling continued in this vein, turning him into a legendary Confederate war hero who single-handedly saved Texas from destruction by Yankee forces. About a week later, the number of prisoners captured had "increased" to 400. begin two years before the war ended. [2] The Union Navy supported the effort and lost three gunboats during the battle, two captured and one destroyed. As day broke on Tuesday, Sept. 8, the Union vessels sent shot after shot crashing into Fort Griffin, where Dowling and his men patiently awaited the vessels reaching the aiming sticks they had set on either side of the reef. Coordinates: 294335N 935148W.