a small earthwork called fort griffin had been built by the confederates on the texas side of sabine pass at the mouth of the sabine river. it was protected by five light guns and garrisoned by the davis guards, a company from houston commanded by captain odlum. the first lieutenant of the company was dick dowling, an irishman but twenty years of age.
fort griffin, though small, was a place of much importance. sabine pass was a sort of outlet for the pent-up confederacy. blockade-runners, in spite of the federal ships stationed in the gulf, were always slipping out of the sabine river, loaded with cotton for cuba or europe, and stealing in with arms and supplies from mexico.
richard dowling.
soon after the battle of galveston, major oscar watkins, confederate states navy, was sent by general magruder with two cotton-clad steamboats, the josiah bell and the uncle ben, to annoy the blockading fleet at sabine pass. after a skirmish and an exciting chase, he succeeded in capturing two united states ships, the velocity and the morning light (january 21, 1863).
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the united states then determined to take fort griffin and land at sabine pass a force large enough to overawe that part of the country. twenty-two transports carried the land troops, about fifteen thousand in number, to the pass. four gunboats, the sachem, the clifton, the arizona, and the granite city, accompanied them, to bombard the fort and cover the landing of the soldiers. the expedition was under the command of general franklin.
when this formidable fleet appeared at sabine pass, captain odlum was absent and lieutenant dowling was in command of fort griffin. his whole force consisted of forty-two men. he ordered the “davys,” as they were called, to stay in the bombproofs until he himself should fire the first gun. then, hidden by the earthwork, he watched the approach of the gunboats.
the clifton steamed in and opened the attack from her pivot gun, throwing a number of shells which dropped into the fort and exploded. the sachem and the arizona followed, pouring in broadsides from their thirty-two-pound cannon.
no reply came from the fort, which seemed to be deserted. the gunboats came nearer and nearer. suddenly a shot from the fort clove the air and fell hissing into the water beyond the arizona. the fight at once became furious. the clifton and the arizona moved backward and forward, vomiting huge shells which tore the earthwork of the fort and filled the air with dust. ships and fort seemed wrapped in flame. the sachem meanwhile was stealing into the pass toward the unprotected rear of the fort. but a well-aimed shot from dowling’s battery struck her, crushing her iron plating and causing her to rise on end and quiver like a leaf in the wind. she was at the mercy of the fort, and her flag was instantly lowered. the clifton kept up the fight with great skill and bravery. but she soon ran aground in the shallows, where she continued to fire until a shot passed through her boiler, completely wrecking her. a white flag was run up at her bow, and the battle was over. the arizona and the granite city steamed out to the transports, whose men had watched the fight with breathless interest.
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the fleet at once retired, leaving the sachem and the clifton to the “davys.”[41]
three hundred union soldiers were taken prisoners. captain crocker of the clifton came ashore with a boat’s crew, and, mounting the parapet, asked for the commanding officer. lieutenant dowling, covered with the dust of the fort, presented himself as the person sought.
the gallant federal in his handsome uniform could hardly believe that this dirty little boy was his conqueror, or that the handful of men before him comprised the force which had so calmly awaited a hostile fleet and defeated it.[42]
eight months afterward the united states gunboats, the granite city and the wave, were captured at sabine pass.
in november and december, 1863, general banks took possession of the texas coast, protecting it with a land force from brownsville to indianola. within a short time, however, he withdrew his troops, leaving only a garrison at brownsville. but the cruel war was fast drawing to a close. the confederate army, thinned in ranks and in need of food, as well as of powder and of shot, could no longer be maintained. there were no men to take the place of those who fell in battle; the untilled fields gave no harvests; the coasts were so guarded that the most reckless blockade-runner, could no longer get in with supplies. on the 9th of april, 1865, general robert e. lee, commander-in-chief of the confederate army, surrendered to general u. s. grant at appomattox court house in virginia.
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before this news reached texas the last skirmish of the war had taken place near brownsville (april 13) between some of banks’ soldiers and a party of confederates. the scene of this skirmish was the old battlefield of palo alto.
on the 30th of may generals kirby smith and magruder went on board the united states ship fort jackson at galveston and made a formal surrender of the trans-mississippi department.
on the 19th of june general granger, united states army, took command at the island and announced the freedom of the negroes.
the great civil war was over.
several thousand texans lost their lives in the confederate states army during the four years’ war. among the distinguished dead were general john gregg, first general of hood’s brigade, colonels tom lubbock and tom green, the famous scout ben mcculloch, general granbury, colonel rogers, and many others. to these may be added general albert sidney johnston, always claimed by texas as her son, and who in death rests upon her bosom.
the war was over. the ragged, foot-sore, hungry soldiers who had so proudly worn the gray began to come home. many who had gone away round-faced boys came back lank and hollow-eyed men. many were maimed and crippled; many were sick; all were forlorn and discouraged. they saw with despair their weed-grown fields, their dilapidated houses, and rotting fences. the wives and mothers, whose husbands and sons had laid down their lives for a lost cause, looked at the more fortunate wives and mothers whose husbands and sons had been spared to them, and wept. and all wondered how they could ever take up their ruined lives again.
but time is merciful. the gloom did not last always. the blue and the gray clasped hands before many years had passed, and once more the lone star of texas blazed in a cloudless sky.
