Lt. Richard W. "Dick" Dowling
The Civil War produced a number of unlikely heroes on both sides. One of the most unlikely was a twenty-five year old, auburn-haired Houston bartender with an engaging personality and a talent for artillery. Like many of his fellow Irish immigrants, Richard W. “Dick” Dowling arrived in the United States with empty pockets and a burning ambition. With just a sibling for a companion, he sought his fortune in Houston. Luckily, he married a girl from a prominent Irish Houston family, Annie Odlum. Annie’s father was Benjamin Odlum, a veteran of the Texas Revolution who held extensive land grants. Dowling’s marriage helped raise him socially and financially within Houston’s growing Irish community. His dashing looks and well-honed social graces made him a natural in the hospitality industry. “The Shades,” the first bar he opened, was a big success. In 1860, he sold it and opened “The Bank of Bacchus” directly across from the Harris County courthouse. Houston lawyers and businessmen flocked to “The Bank,” enabling Dowling to start a bathing saloon and liquor importing business. In his spare time, he created a very popular cocktail drink, “The Kiss Me Quick and Go.” The recipe and origin of its curious name is not known. In addition to providing drinks and billiards, “The Bank” served as a meeting hall for various military, political and social organizations, most notably the “Davis Guard” named after Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The “Davies,” as they were called, were mostly Irish dockworkers with a penchant for fisticuffs, especially after they had a few. One observer recalled, “They were men of mature years-very few were young-men of brawn and muscle, quiet in manner if treated right, but woe be to you if you offended one of them, you would hear from him in true Irish style.”
President Lincoln kept a wary eye on Texas and wanted an immediate Union presence in the Lone Star State. The main reason was the worrisome presence of French troops in Mexico, who may decide to align Mexico with the Confederacy or reclaim territory lost during the Mexican War. In addition, New England textile mills wanted to get their hands on East Texas cotton fields. Lincoln stated to General Ulysses S. Grant, “I am greatly impressed with the importance of re-establishing the national authority in Western Texas as soon as possible.” Based in New Orleans, Major General Nathaniel Banks dispatched an armada of four shallow draft gunboats and transport steamers filled with 4,000 troops to land ashore near Fort Griffin. Under the command of General William B. Franklin, Union troops would capture the fort, cut off the rail line to Beaumont, and then proceed west to capture Houston and Galveston.
Numbering forty-seven men, the Guards were designated Company F, Texas Heavy Artillery. Dick Dowling was commissioned the company’s lieutenant. Far from the fighting east of the Sabine, they used their time drilling for any coastal incursions likely to come. In time they became the best drilled heavy artillery unit in the Confederate Army. Dowling and his men were assigned to an earthen fort of six guns named Fort Griffin near Sabine City, located at the mouth of the Sabine River. Reinforced with railroad iron, the fort was ingeniously designed to provide a wide range of fire from the mouth of the river to just offshore from the fort, a 90 degree angle of deadly firepower. Distance poles or markers were hammered into the river bottom to sight the guns. One the eve of battle, Dowling told his men, “The Yankees are going to attack us and while I am personally in favor of sticking here and giving them a hot reception, I don’t feel like taking the responsibility of having you all killed or captured, so leave we shall do to you.” One of the Guards replied, “Oh hell, Lieutenant, I’d rather fight than walk to Sabine City.” Dowling enthusiastically responded, “That settles it. We’ll fight!”
At On September 8, 1863, at 3:40 PM, the Union gunboat fleet entered the Sabine River and began shelling Fort Griffin, the Guards stayed behind the fort’s walls until the gunboats came closer. The gunboat fleet consisted of a former Staten Island ferry boat, U. S. S. Clifton, the propeller driven steamer, U. S. S. Sachem, and two captured blockade runners, U. S. S. Arizona and U. S. S. Granite City. Upon reaching the distance markers, the Sachem received a brutal pounding. A well placed shot took out her boiler, leaving her, and much the crew, dead in the water. The Clifton received the same treatment. A shot took out her tiller ropes, leaving her without the ability to steer. The well-drilled Guards fired one hundred seven times in thirty minutes - approximately one shot fired in just slightly over a minute. Both vessels ran aground and were forced to surrender. The Arizona and Granite City turned around the left the river. Without gunboat protection, Franklin and his troops were was forced to retreat back to New Orleans in disgrace. In a remarkable turn of events, a Union invasion force was bested by a Texas bartender and forty-seven Irish dockworkers. Without suffering a single casualty, the Guards captured two shot up gunboats and three hundred prisoners.
The Davis Guard became overnight heroes of the Confederacy, especially in the wake of Confederate defeats at Gettysburg and Vicksburg the previous summer. Major General John Bankhead Magruder, the Commander of the Department of Texas, visited Fort Griffin shortly after the battle to personally extend his congratulations. Each guard member received a medal made out of a stamped Mexican coin and supported by a green ribbon; the only medals awarded to Confederate troops during the Civil War.
After the war, Dowling returned to Houston and “The Bank.” The “Hero of Sabine Pass” became a local celebrity, drawing hundreds of customers to his establishment. Union occupation soldiers flocked to “The Bank” to catch a glimpse of the legendary Dowling. One Union officer jokingly paid Dowling for his drink with a captured Confederate bill. Without hesitation, Dowling accepted it and even gave the officer change. Dowling also engaged in numerous charitable activities in the Houston area. Unfortunately, he fell victim to a yellow fever epidemic in 1867. Before his untimely death at 29, he opened "The Bank" to suffering yellow fever victims, converting it into a hospital.
Today, the site of the Battle of Sabine Pass is memorialized with a stirring monument and historical markers outlining the battle. The City of Sabine Pass was incorporated decades ago into present day Port Arthur. No trace of the fort remains today. A statue was erected in 1905 at Houston’s Hermann Park to honor Dowling but was recently removed, crated and stored in a Houston warehouse. Port Arthur refuses to let the statue be relocated to the battlefield site. Unless it’s sold to the highest bidder at auction, placed in a cemetery, or dispatched to a museum willing to accept it, don’t expect it to surface anytime soon.
Out of sight, out of mind, so goes Texas history.
Check out Edward T. Cotham Jr.’s fine book, “Sabine Pass, The Confederacy’s Thermopylae"
Houston's Dowling Statue Before Removal
