Historical Marker

Richard Dowling

Historical marker location:
Sabine Pass, Texas
( Sabine Pass State Historical Site. 1936 Texas Centennial statue by sculptor Herring Coe and architect William Ward Watkins.)
Marker installed: 1936

In memory of Lt. Richard W. Dowling and his men. Texas remembers the faithfulness and valor of her sons and commends their heroic example to future generations. The men who fought Second Lt. N. H. Smith - Dr. Geo. H. Bailey - Patrick Abbott - Michael Carr - Abner R. Carter - Pat Clair - James Corcoran - Thos. Daugherty - Hugh Deagan - Michael Delaney - Dan. Donovan - Jno. Drummond - Michael Eagan - Pat Fitzgerald - James Fleming - John Flood - William Gleason - Tom Hagerty - William Hardy - John Hassett - John Hennessey - James Higgins - Tim Huggins With Lt. Dowling were Tim Hurley - William L. Jett - Pat Malone - Alex McCabe - Pat McDonnell - Tim McDonough - John McGrath - John McKeever - Michl. McKernan - Dan McMurray - Jno. McNealis - Michl. Monoghan - Peter O' Hara - Lawrence Plunkett - Maurice Powers - Edw. Pritchard - Charles Rheins - Michl. Sullivan - Pat Sullivan - Thomas Sullivan - Mathew Walsh - John T. Westley - John W. White - Joseph Wilson Thus it will be seen that we captured with forty-seven men two gunboats mounting thirteen guns of the heaviest caliber and about three hundred and fifty prisoners. All my men behaved like heroes, not a man flinched from his post. Our motto was victory or death. Official report of Lt. Richard W. Dowling. At this site on Sept. 8th, 1863 Dick Dowling and forty-seven men comprising Company F, Texas Heavy Artillery Jefferson Davis Guards C.S.A., from a mud fort repulsed an attack made by four warships and twelve hundred men of the Federal Army thus saving Texas from invasion by the enemy. There is no parallel in ancient or modern warfare to the victory of Dowling and his men at Sabine Pass considering the great odds against which they had to contend. Jefferson Davis.