United Daughters of the Confederacy®
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4650 Collier, Beaumont, Texas Second Saturday-September through June "Or as announced"
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Richard William Dowling "Dick Dowling" The young commander of Fort Griffin during the 1863 Battle of Sabine
Pass, Richard William Dowling, was born near Tuam, County Galway, Ireland
in January of 1837. In 1846, the Dowling (originally O' Dowling ) family,
fleeing poverty and hoping for a better life, sailed for America and took
up residence in New Orleans. The all-Irish Davis Guard was mustered into Confederate service as
an independent infantry company. It was commanded by Captain Fred Odlum,
his wife's uncle, and Dowling was appointed first-lieutenant. In February
of 1861, the Davis Guard was sent to Galveston and combined with other
companies under the command of Colonel John S. "Rip" Ford. This force then
sailed to Brownsville to take over the federal garrisons on the Mexican
Border. During this time, disputes broke out between Ford and Odlum over
the treatment of his men, and, amid claims of discrimination against Irish-Catholics,
the Davis Guard returned to Houston in late March of 1861. Upon the recapture of Galveston by the Confederates, the Davis Guard
was sent to Fort Griffin, a timber-shored earthwork on the low muddy banks
of Sabine Pass, where the Neches and Sabine Rivers flow into the Gulf of
Mexico. A few days after their arrival, the guard was ordered to serve
as gunners on board two cotton-clad steamers sent out to attack two Federal
blockaders that were menacing local shipping. Of course, the result was a miraculous Confederate victory yielding
two Union gunboats and three hundred and fifty prisoners.
In 1853, a yellow fever epidemic claimed Dowling's mother and father.
Four of the five children moved to Texas and eventually settled in Houston
around 1855. Young Dick Dowling was soon to make a name for himself. By
the age of nineteen, grown handsome and charismatic, Dowling opened a two-story
saloon and billiards parlor on Main Street. Due to his progressive business
practices, "The Shades" was very successful. In 1860, he sold his interests
in it, invested in a Galveston liquor importing business, and opened the
"Bank of Bacchus" saloon on Courthouse Square. He also operated an informal
finance and pawn brokerage on the premises, cashing checks and making loans.
Dowling soon came into possession of his third public house, "Hudgepeth's
Bathing Saloon", as a result of a debt owed him.
Dowling often tended bar at his various establishments and enjoyed
inventing new cocktails. He was jovial and popular and was respected in
the community. He held membership in several civic organizations and a
Houston volunteer fire company. In 1859, he joined a local militia company,
the Houston Light Artillery. When this unit disbanded in 1860, many of
its members organized the Davis Guard, named for US Senator Jefferson Davis.
In October of 1861, the Guard was assigned to Company F, Third Texas
Artillery Battalion and manned the big seacoast guns around Galveston.
A year later they were reassigned as Company F, First Texas Heavy Artillery
Regiment, and were trained personally by Colonel Joseph J. Cook. The Irish
volunteers learned their lessons well, becoming crack artillerists.
On the first day of 1863, Dowling and his comrades were designated
as the first wave in an assault on the Forty-second Massachusetts Infantry
and a four gun battery of the Second Vermont Artillery barricaded on Kuhn's
Warf during the Battle of Galveston. The Davis Guard waded out to the wharf
under heavy fire, but the attack was unsuccessful because their scaling
ladders were too short. There were four casualties, including one fatality.
Dowling and a picked crew manned the 8-inch Columbiad on Board the
CSS Josiah H. Bell as it steamed out accompanied by the CSS Uncle Ben.
A twenty mile running artillery duel ensued, ending with the capture of
the USS Velocity, the USS Morning Light, and their cargoes of much needed
supplies.
The Davis Guard spent the next several months improving the fortifications
at Fort Griffin and at drill. Armaments at the fort were obsolete; two
32-pounder smoothbores, two 24-pounder smoothbores, and two 32-pounder
howitzers, but the boys became so proficient, that their fire could dominate
the entire two- thousand yard width of the pass.This became painfully apparent
to the Federals during the September 8th Battle of Sabine Pass. Capt. Odlum
had been assigned as district commander in Sabine City, and First-Lieutenant
Dick Dowling, now twenty-six years of age, was in command of a garrison
of less than fifty men when the United States launched the twenty- two
ship invasion fleet from New Orleans. On board were five-thousand soldiers,
sailors, and marines, plus enough livestock, munitions, and equipment for
the capture and occupation of Texas.
Dowling was promoted to major and spent the remainder of the war
as a traveling celebrity recruiting troops for the State of Texas. When
the war ended in 1865, Federal authorities paroled Major Dowling, and he
returned to his business enterprises in Houston. The Bank of Bacchus became
one of the favorite meeting places for veterans of the war. Despite hard
times in the South, Dowling's ventures flourished. By 1867, he had expanded
into Houston real estate, South Texas farm land, a bonded warehouse in
Galveston, a construction company, a Trinity River steamboat, and oil and
gas leases in three counties.
Unfortunately, the disease that took his parents came for their
son in 1867. He contracted yellow fever and died on September 23rd at age
thirty. His Houston Hook and Ladder Company carried him to his final resting
place in St. Vincents Cemetery while a soft rain fell and thousands of
hushed Texans lined the streets. Many public works and schools have been
named for him in Southeast Texas. Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 1295
in Beaumont and Camp #1305 in Houston are named for him, as well as United
Daughters of the Confederacy Chapter 404 in Beaumont.