Federal Fatalities at the Battle of Sabine Pass

Duane's take

The way the official marker tells it, here's what happened at Sabine Pass — and you'd best settle in, because this one earns every word. September 8, 1863. A Union fleet comes pushing toward Sabine Pass with gunboats and more than three hundred troops, expecting, one imagines, a fairly manageable afternoon.

What they find instead is Lieutenant Richard W. Dowling and his Davis Guards — fewer than fifty men. Fewer than fifty.

Holding the pass. Now, the Union had numbers and gunboats. Dowling had nerve and cannon.

The U.S.S. Clifton and the U.S.S. Arizona ran aground early in the battle — which is about the worst thing that can happen to a gunboat short of what happens next.

The Clifton and the U.S.S. Sachem were both disabled by cannon fire and surrendered. The Arizona and the U.S.S.

Granite City managed to pull back and return to federal headquarters at New Orleans. After the battle, more than three hundred federal troops became prisoners of war. And then there were the others — killed or missing.

Many of those had been aboard the Sachem when its boiler exploded as a result of a direct hit on the ship. That's the kind of detail that stops you cold. Enter John Marshall Carson, a Confederate commissary sergeant, aboard the C.S.S.

Uncle Ben — described by the marker itself as an old freight boat pressed into Confederate service. The Uncle Ben towed the two captured gunboats to shore. Carson and the other crew members then turned to the grim work of removing the dead.

The Confederates dug a long ditch near the Dorman Hotel, on the northern edge of the townsite of Sabine Pass, close to what would become the Port Arthur Canal. There, they buried a reported twenty-eight Union troops. Many others were considered missing — their bodies never recovered.

Excavations in the twentieth century confirmed the burial location, though much of it has eroded away by then. The pass itself, it seems, keeps its own kind of reckoning. Today, the marker remembers both the U.S. soldiers and sailors killed and missing at Sabine Pass, and the Confederate troops who engaged them.

Because a battlefield doesn't belong only to the victors — it belongs to everyone who was there, and to the ground that holds them still.

What the marker says

Federal Fatalities at the Battle of Sabine Pass The battle at Sabine Pass on September 8, 1863 was a victory for Lieutenant Richard W. Dowling and his troops, which numbered fewer than 50. Dowling and his Davis guards kept Union gunboats from advancing up the pass. The U.S.S. Clifton and the U.S.S. Arizona ran aground early in the battle. The Clifton and the U.S.S. Sachem, both disabled by cannon fire, surrendered. The Arizona and the U.S.S. Granite City were able to return to federal headquarters at New Orleans. After the battle, more than 300 federal troops became prisoners of war. Others were killed or missing; many of those had been aboard the Sachem when its boiler exploded as a result of the direct hit on the ship. John Marshall Carson, a Confederate commissary sergeant, was on board the C.S.S. Uncle Ben, an old freight boat used by the Confederate army. The Uncle Ben towed the two captured gunboats to shore, where Carson and the other crew members aided in removing the dead. The Confederates dug a long ditch near the Dorman Hotel on the northern edge of the townsite of Sabine Pass and near what would become the Port Arthur Canal. There, they buried a reported 28 Union troops. Many others were considered missing, their bodies never recovered. Excavations in the 20th century confirmed the burial location, much of which has eroded away. Today, the U.S. soldiers and sailors killed and missing at the pass are remembered along with the Confederate troops who engaged them in battle. (1980, 2004)