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N0KFQ > TODAY 08.09.10 19:33l 51 Lines 2217 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 16088_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Sep 8
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Sent: 100908/1754Z @:N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA #:16088 [Branson] FBB7.00i $:16088_N
From: N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
To : TODAY@WW
Sep 8, 1863:
Second Battle of Sabine Pass, Texas
A small Confederate force thwarts a Federal invasion of Texas at
the mouth of the Sabine River on the Texas-Louisiana border.
In November 1862, Confederate General John Bankhead Magruder
assumed command of the District of Texas, New Mexico, and
Arizona. The Union controlled most of the harbors along the Texas
coast, but Magruder quickly changed that with two major assaults
on Union defenses. He captured Galveston on January 1, 1863, and
then drove off a Yankee force at Sabine Pass later that month.
After Magruder's forces drove the Union ships away, the Rebels
were left with two harbors from which to operate.
In the summer of 1863, the Union commander in the region, General
Nathaniel Banks, launched an expedition to retake Sabine Pass. He
placed General William B. Franklin in charge of an amphibious
force that included four gunboats, 18 transports, and nearly
6,000 troops. They set sail from New Orleans, Louisiana, and
arrived off Sabine Pass on September 7. The next day, Franklin
called for an invasion of the Confederate band of 47 Irish
immigrants commanded by Lieutenant Richard W. "Dick" Dowling,
which was holed up inside of Fort Griffin, a stronghold armed
with six old smoothbore cannons.
Dowling's men had one major advantage: Their guns were fixed on
the narrow channel of Sabine Pass, through which the Yankees
would have to sail in order to approach Fort Griffin. The battle
commenced in the afternoon, and the Confederate cannons quickly
cut into the Union flotilla. The first two ships to go through
the pass were badly damaged and ran aground. The troop transports
ran into trouble, and one Union ship turned around without firing
a shot. Franklin called off the attack and returned to New
Orleans.
While the Confederates did not lose a single man, 28 Yankees were
killed, 75 were wounded, and 315 were captured. The loss was
humiliating for the Union. Franklin was ridiculed, and Dowling's
Rebels became heroes. Banks nixed plans for an invasion of east
Texas and focused his attention on the Rio Grande Valley.
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