Books Covered:
Katie Daffan, Texas Hero Stories: An historical reader for the grades. (New York: Benjamin H Sanborn & Co., 1908)
TR Fehrenbach, Lone Star: a history of Texas and the Texans. (New York: American Legacy Press, 1968)
When I began this library assignment, I was sure I was going to find a strong shift in attitudes over time towards Lt. Dowling and the Civil War in general. As we saw in the first archival assignment (link here), the Civil Rights movement appeared to change the public’s favored view of Dowling from a Civil War hero to a prominent Irish-American in early Houston history. I was anxious to see a similar progression in the printed literature (non-periodical) too. Thus I selected two books “Texas Hero Stories: An Historical Reader for the Grades” by Katie Daffan and “Lone Star: a history of Texas and the Texans” by T.R. Fehrehbach. Both,with their emphasis on “Great Men” (Carlylean) history in Texas, promised to give a portrait of Dowling pre- and post-Civil Rights.
The book by Daffan “Texas Hero Stories” was published in 1908 just after the wave of renewed interest in Dowling that culminated in his statue’s erection outside of City Hall in March 1906. In addition, Katie Daffan was five-term President of the Texas Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and a life member of its executive board. With this background in mind and coupled with the book’s title of ‘Hero Stories’, I expected to find a laudatory tale of Dowling’s defense of Sabine Pass.
Unfortunately, and unexpectedly, I found no mention of either the battle of Sabine Pass or the actions of Dick Dowling. The book chronicles 12 ‘heroes’ of Texas, of whom three lived during the Civil War: Gen. Albert Johnson, Francis Lubbock, and John Reagan. As her title suggests, Daffan’s prose drips with praise of these men and their devotion to the Confederacy. At the start of the war, she writes, “When the news that Texas had seceded from the Union reached [Gen Johnson] he resigned his command, though his surroundings were pleasant and he had grown fond of the West, and went immediately to Richmond, Virginia, where he joined the Confederacy” as a result of his devotion to the Southern cause. (Daffan, 115) She continues to describe his almost annihilation of Grant’s army at Shiloh where “victory was crowning every attempt made by the Confederates”, but his death removed “the center, the life, the very heart of the brilliant achievements”. (116)
Of Gov. Lubbock she writes “With less earnest, careful management during these dark days [of the Civil War], the people of our state would have suffered and our honor been sacrificed.”(123) John Reagan, “the Old Roman” was described as in love with “the whole great country and would have been glad for it to have remained one, with no division or strife, but he loved the South, and Texas the best of all.” (125) These three men encompass a broad view of the best of the “Lost Cause” : valiant “great men” who led the fight (literally and figuratively) against the Union, who acted as a result of loyalty to their state and for the honor (not slaves) of its inhabitants. Because the book was a “historical reader for the grades”, it acted in much the same way as the UDC’s Catechism of the Confederacy that Mercy Harper lectured about in class. These confederate men were role models –defenders of Texan pride–that young boys should emulate.
In my opinion, Dowling would have been an excellent addition to her book. His actions at Sabine Pass were in defense of his new home (Houston), and they were an example of how Confederate valiance defeated overwhelming odds (a theme Daffan reiterates constantly in her retelling of Texan independence). It is a shame that Dowling is not included. His actions were in-line with Daffan’s view of a Texan Hero. My only attempt to explain the omission was that Dowling was Irish and not a long-time Texan at the outbreak of the Civil War. Further evidence to my belief that strides made at integration during Reconstruction, the Irish were still not seen as fully “white”.
The other book I read was TR Fehrenbach’s “Lone Star”. The first edition of this book was published in 1968, after the Civil Rights movement so I expected the introduction of some of the social histories involved with the battle of Sabine Pass into the description of the battle. However, this was not the case. The book was compiled from a large array of sources dealing with the entire history of Texas and “was not written to destroy myths but so far as possible to cut through them to the reality underneath…to put things in broad perspective.” TR Fehrenbach,despite this neutral approach to history, is well-known as a scholar of Texan history and is the namesake of a book prize from the Texas Historical Commission. As a result of his neutral approach, the description about Dowling and the battle of Sabine Pass is concise and, to be honest, dry. It focuses purely on the military aspects of the Battle of Sabine Pass and not on its wider implications of the future of Texas. His only indication of bias is his transition from the Indian Wars of the period to the Civil War where he writes “Against the Yankees, however, the Texan record was outstanding.” (369) A transcript is available below.
Not only is the 1968 version a mere recounting of the events at Sabine Pass on September 8, 1863 without hardly any social or political commentary, the excerpt does not fluctuate over time to reflect possible changes in scholarly trends. The book was reissued twice in 1983 and 2000, however, they were, verbatim, the same as the 1968 edition with regards to Sabine Pass. I don’t believe this is because public and scholarly opinion was static in this time frame. On the other hand TR Fehrenbach writes in the 2000 preface “It has been said that each generation must rewrite history in order to understand it. The opposite is true.” In essence, Fehrenbach is ultra-conservative in disallowing modern trends to affect his interpretation of history. He even denies the momentous upheaval and swing towards social history caused by the Civil Rights movement. He says, in the same ed. 2000 preface “Texas, through the last half of the twentieth century, has suffered little ‘history’”. I blame this as the reason why there is no shift in the description of the Battle of Sabine Pass.
Transcript of TR Fehrenbach’s description of the Battle of Sabine Pass as seen in “Lone Star: A History of Texas and Texans.” ed. 1968 Pg 369-370
Recognizing this as a weak point, where the Federal naval supremacy could bear, Admiral David Farragut and Major General NP Banks drew up plans for a major campaign in 1863. Sabine Pass was to be seized, and 5,000 veteran troops put ashore. Farragut and Banks hoped to repeat earlier Union successes at New Orleans and Mobile.
On September 8, 1863, four U.S. gunboats, leading a flotilla of 20 transports proceeded against Sabine Pass. This was a carefully planned assault, whose ultimate objective was the capture of Houston, Beaumont, and in turn, Galveston. At the very least, it was expected to open up a sustained campaign near vital areas of Texas. Major General William B. Franklin of the U.S. Army was in over-all command.
A small Confederate post, Fort Griffin, defended the Texas side of the Pass. Here Odlum’s Company F (Davis Guards) of the 1st Texas Heavy Artillery stood on watch. Neither Odlum nor his lieutenant, Smith, was present; the company, two old 24-pounder smoothbores, two 32-pounders, and two howitzers, and forty-two men, was commanded by the junior lieutenant, Richard (Dick) Dowling. IN the vicinity, also, was the Confederate steamer Uncle Ben and a detachment of infantry from Company B, Speight’s Battalion.
While the landing force of 5,000 stood offshore with its escort warships, the four Union gunboats moved up the channel and bombarded Dowling’s command. The shelling continued for an hour and a half. The Federal boats then withdrew, let the meaning of the bombardment sink in, and came back again. In similar situation outnumbered and outgunned Confederate posts had withdrawn.
With great coolness Dowling ordered his battery to withhold its fire. He let the Federal warships come within 1,200 yards. Then, under heavy fire himself, Dowling poured fire from his old smoothbores into each Federal vessel in turn. The result was spectacular. USS Sachem was holed in the steam drum and fell out of action. Clifton’s tiller rope was carried away, and the gunboat drifted helplessly aground under Dowling’s battery. Clifton struck, running up a white flag.
Shocked and battered, the remaining flotilla raced back out to sea. The armada and its 5,000 invasion troops eventually sailed back to New Orleans.
U.S. naval forces lost two ships, 100 killed and injured, and 350 prisoners. Dowling’s battery was untouched. In a few minutes, Lieutenant Dick Dowling had fought the most brilliant and decisive small action of the Civil War. No Federal effort was ever made in the area again.
The outcome of Sabine Pass raised a great outcry abut [sic] the efficiency of the Navy in the North; coming with Bragg’s victory at Chicamauga. It gave the Union a severe psychological shock. US credit declined abroad; the dollar lost 5 percent of its value against gold.