Background Prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, Dowling had made a name for himself as an able and successful entrepreneur. Among other things, he had been involved with a predominantly Irish
militia company which served a more social than military role in Houston society. On
Secession, this militia company was mustered straight into the
Confederate Army, with Dowling himself being elected
first lieutenant. Composed primarily of Houston Irish, many of them clients from his saloons, this unit named themselves the "Davis Guards" in honor of Confederate President
Jefferson Davis, who had been in Texas as a young officer in the pre-war
United States Army and was remembered for his prowess and leadership skills. The Davis Guards were initially part of a Texas State Troops/Confederate expedition sent to take over Union Army forts and arsenals along the
border with Mexico; the expedition was successfully completed without a shot being fired. They participated in the
Battle of Galveston on New Year's Day 1863, following which they were assigned to a newly constructed artillery post near the
mouth of Sabine River called "Fort Sabine" (later named "Fort Griffin", not the same as the later
Fort Griffin established west of
Fort Worth).
Prelude Sabine Pass was important as a point of arrival and departure for
blockade runners. With the
fall of Vicksburg in July 1863, followed by the
Battle of Gettysburg, it was obvious that the Civil War was now not going well for the Confederacy, an invasion of Texas appeared to be imminent. It was suspected that the Union Army would attempt an invasion of Texas via Sabine Pass, because of its value as a harbor for blockade runners and because about 18 miles northwest was
Beaumont, on the railroad between Houston and the eastern part of the Confederacy. To negotiate Sabine Pass all vessels except small boats took one of the two river channels, both of about depth and one on each side of the Pass. These channels were separated by naturally formed "oyster-banks" known to be barely under the surface. No seagoing ship could traverse the Pass without great risk of going aground, if it did not follow one of the channels. The inevitable course of any
steam-powered warship—including shallow-draft
gunboats then common to the
U.S. Navy—would necessarily use one of the channels, both of which were within fair range of the fort's six
smoothbores. Dowling spent the summer of 1863 at the earthen fort instructing his men in gunnery. To mark the optimum distance and elevation for each of the guns, he implemented the technique of setting long slender poles (painted white, in this instance) in both channels at several places. This was an old method for guiding boats and, especially since the advent of firearms, to mark an aiming points for guns.
Defense of Sabine Pass, Texas On 8 September 1863 a
Union Navy flotilla of some 22 gunboats and transports with 5,000 men accompanied by
cavalry and
artillery arrived off the mouth of Sabine Pass. The plan of invasion was sound, but monumentally mismanaged. Four of the flanking gunboats were to steam up the pass at speed and draw the fire of the fort, two in each channel, a tactic which had been used successfully in subduing the defensive fortifications of
Mobile and New Orleans prior to this, when gunboats disabled the forts at close range with their own guns. This time, though, Dowling's artillery drills paid off as the
Confederates poured a rapid and withering fire onto the incoming gunboats, scoring several direct hits, disabling and capturing two, while the others retreated in disarray. The rest of the flotilla retreated from the mouth of the pass and returned ignominiously to New Orleans, leaving the disabled ships with no option but to surrender to Dowling. With a command of just 47 men, Lieut. Dowling had thwarted an attempted invasion of Texas, in the process capturing two gunboats, some 350 prisoners and a large quantity of supplies and munitions.
Davis Guards Medal The
Confederate States Congress offered its appreciation to Dowling, now promoted to
major, and his command, as a result of their battlefield prowess. In gratitude, the "ladies of
Houston" presented the unit with specially struck medals. The medals were actually Mexican eight
reale coins with both faces sanded down and with new information carved into them. They were inscribed "Sabine Pass, 1863” on one side, and had a
Maltese Cross with the letters D and G on the other.
After the war and death After the battle of Sabine Pass Dowling was elevated to hero status in his hometown of Houston. John Nova Lomax of the
Houston Press stated that in that city "Dowling was treated something like
Julius Caesar home from a punishing foray into
Gaul." He subsequently served as a recruiter for the Confederacy and was personally commended for his action at the battle by
Jefferson Davis. After the war Dowling returned to his saloon business in Houston and quickly became one of the city's leading businessmen. Dowling's promising future was cut short by another
yellow fever epidemic which devastated Houston in the late summer of 1867, and he died on 23 September 1867. ==Legacy==