DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — the story of Leon Smith, Confederate mariner, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, the Texas coast during the Civil War was no place for the faint of heart. Federal gunboats, blockades, supply lines stretched thin as a razored wire — and right in the middle of all of it stood one man the marker calls the Lion of Texas coastal defense.
His name was Leon Smith. Here's the thing that ought to stop you right there: Leon Smith was not born in Texas. He was not even born in the South.
He came from New England. And he went to sea at thirteen years old. Thirteen.
By the time most young men were figuring out what they wanted to be, Leon Smith was already a captain at twenty. The sea had already made him. In the 1850s he was commandin' ships on the Galveston to New Orleans run for Southern Mail Steamships — a man who knew these Gulf waters the way you know the back roads of your home county.
So when Texas seceded in February of 1861, it was Leon Smith who commanded the ship that carried Colonel John S. Rip Ford down to Brownsville to take military possession of the Rio Grande. That was the opening move on a very long board.
Then in April, Smith did something that tells you everything about the man. He volunteered — his ship, his crew, himself — into the Confederate navy. No conscription.
No order. He walked in. Now.
New Year's Day, 1863. Remember that date. January 1st.
With just two days' notice — two days — Leon Smith had prepared the waterborne part of an offensive assault on a fortified Federal position. He walled his ships with cotton bales. Cotton bales.
Against Federal cannon. And in brief, sharp fighting, those ships captured what the marker calls the pride of the Federal navy. The Battle of Galveston.
Won on the first morning of a new year, with cotton for armor and two days to get ready. But Leon Smith wasn't done. September 8th, 1863.
Sabine Pass. He ordered a Confederate ship into sea battle — and then, as if commandin' from the water wasn't enough — he personally rode through enemy fire to reach land. Rode through it.
To join Dick Dowling and his forty-odd men on the shore. Forty-odd men. And together, they won the Battle of Sabine Pass.
In between the battles, Smith and his ships were doing the quieter, grinding work that wars actually run on. They helped prevent Federal forces from landing to take food, water, and wood from the Texas coast. And they ran the Federal blockade — slipping past enemy patrols, helping other ships carry Texas cotton out to exchange overseas for the things the South was running desperately short of: guns, ammunition, shoes, coffee, cloth, medicines.
The unglamorous math of survival. The marker doesn't tell us much about the years after the war. What it does tell us is where Leon Smith ended up.
Not back in New England. Not in Galveston. He died in Alaska.
December 26th, 1869. A New England boy who'd given Texas everything he had — and then kept moving, clear to the edge of the known world. The Lion of Texas coastal defense.
Born somewhere else. Buried somewhere else. And right in the middle, a life that belongs entirely to this coast.
What the marker says
"Lion" of Texas coastal defense during the Civil War. Commanded marine department of military district. Born in New England, went to sea at 13. By age 20 was a captain. In 1850s commanded on the Galveston to New Orleans run of Southern Mail Steamships. In Feb. 1861, when Texas had seceded, commanded ship taking Col. John S. "Rip" Ford to Brownsville to take military possession of the Rio Grande. In April, with ship and crew, volunteered in Confederate navy. With 2 days' notice, prepared water-born part of offensive that won Battle of Galveston on Jan. 1, 1863. Walled his ships with cotton bales; in brief fighting captured the pride of the Federal navy. On Sept. 8, 1863, ordered a Confederate ship into sea battle. Then personally rode through enemy fire to join Dick Dowling's 47-odd-men on land, and fight in the battle that turned out to be victory of Sabine Pass. He and his ships helped prevent Federal landings to take food, water and wood from Texas coasts. They also ran Federal blockade and aided other ships in slipping past enemy patrols with Texas cotton to exchange overseas for goods scarce in the South: guns, ammunition, shoes, coffee, cloth, medicines. Died in Alaska, December 26, 1869.