Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-06-11
Mgisfellaueulls &eading'
A BRILLIANT VICTORY.
THE SINGULAR COMBAT At SABINE PASS
IN 1868

| IN 1868.
. One of the most singular combats of the
civil war was the affair at Sabine Pass. In
September, 1868, the Federal government
determined to possess itself of Sabine City,
situated on the river of that name, about
fifty miles from Galveston. It was consid-
cred strategic point ofgreat Importance to
the Union forces, and 80 carefully were all
the plans laid and matured that General
Franklin's Nineteenth9 Corps, accompanied
by four gunboats, left New Orleans without
half a dozen persons having the least sus-
picion of their destination.
Information had been received by the gov
ernment that the Confederate defenses were
of little account, and II was confidently ex-
pected to take them BY surprise and come
into possession without much of fight.
The defenses consistedof single dirt fort,
hanks. The garrison had at no time num-
bered over sixty men, and when the advance
of the Federals was first sighted there were
only forty-four men, including officers, in
the works. The officers numbered but two,
and both were lieutenants.
Gunboats and transports reached Sabine
Pass in good shape, and after several shells
had been fired into the fort without provok-
ing an answer, arrangements were entered
into for disembarking the troops. 1t was
decided that while this was occurring the
four gunboats should move up and pound
away at the fort. If it was garrisoned the
garrison would be driven out. If it had
been abandoned, as some of the officers
seemed to believe, the heavy missiles of the
gunboats would knock it to pieces.
At o'clock in the afternoon the Clifton,
,Sachena and arizona steamed forward to en-
gage the fort at short range, and they had
only fired one shot each when the Confeder-
ates returned an answer. The ,S1chena had
the lead, and as she steamed on she used ev-
cry gun which could be broughtto bear, and
her protected sharpshooters kept up con-
stant fire at the embrasures of the fort.
The fourth shot fired at the Sdchen' struck
her amidships with terrible force, tearing OFT
her plating and crashing her timbers into
splinters. Her steampipe was cut or broken,
and in ten seconds her crew were fighting
an enemy more cruel than shot or shell.
The escaping steam blstered burned, killed.
Inside of two minutes her flag was hauled
down and the ,Sdchem lay 4 wreck on the
water.
The Arizona drew too much water to run
in close, but as soon as it was seen that the
,Sdchen1 had been disabled the Clifton steam
ed in to take her place. Itwas believed that
so long as she kept moving any shot which
|
scarcely reached clOse-range position when
she grounded on the bar and swung into
such position that the COnfederates could
bring four out of six guns to bear on her.
For ten minutes it was give and take. Real
izing that he was on the bar hard and strong,
the captain of the Clifton turned all his at
tention to the fort, changing his shell for
grape and canister whenever Confederate
sharpshooters showed their heads above the
parapet. The gunboat was struck frequent
ly, but had sustained no great damage upto
the instant the great calamity befel her. A
ponderous iron bolt struck her almost where
the ,Sachene was hit, crashed through her
side in the same manner. and again it was
the hot steam from the boilers which Tin
ished the work of wreck and surrender.
The Clifton hauled down her flag, and the
transports which had been following her in
to disembark the troops, lost no time in get
ting out of range.
The gallant action of the captain of the
Clifton in steaming up within such close
range, and of giving battle while hard and
fast staground, was tarnished by his later con-
duct. After white flag had been run up
and the Confederates had ceased firing, he
ordered all the guns spiked, and with his
own hands, fired solid shot through the
center of the craft, rendering her machinery
entirely useless. Nearly the entire crews,
together with over 100 sharpshooters, were
made prisoners by the Confederates, and
most of the guns were soon made available.
Either crew outnumbered the men in the
fort, but upon the return of the expedition
the f1owery correspondents wrote of ''3, 600
rebels behind the works." and added that
"the loss of the enemy was without prece-
dent in war;" Asa point of fact that can be
proved to-day, not a single man in the fort
was even wounded.
For more than an hour and a half the for
ty-two men were under tire which never
entirely ceased, and were given solid shot,
monster shells and liberal doses of grape and
canister, and yet not so much as drop OF
blood was drawn. At no time could all the
guns be worked, and the crew, or such as
were being used, were, more or less, targets
for the sharpshooters aboard the gunboats.
While the parapet was dug full OF holes deep
enough to bury horse, not one OF the guns
was dsmounted.
After the loss of the two gunboats the
others maintained long-range tire tor hall
an hour or so and then drew off. The force
of infantry aboard the transports, was large
enough to have taken possession OF the en-
tire district, and had come fully supplied for
determined on the abandonment of the eX-
pediton and a return to New Orleans. 1t
seemed rank coWardice to retreat from fort
mounting but six Old-fashioned cannon and
already Knocked into dirt-heap, but that
was the result. The ArizonG Outmatched
the fort in the weight and range of her guns,
and could have taken such position as would
have kept the Confederates under fire with
no chance to return it. But no such move
ment was made. She could have prevented
the Confederates from possessing themselves
of the two gunboats, but the idea was to get
back to New Orleans. She withdrew, fol-
lowed by the well-arlned Granite State, and
couple of Confederate steamers came down
the river and took possession of the surren-
dered crafts. They secured $50 prisoners,
sixteen fine cannon, a large quantity of stores
and ammunition, and the Sachem was soon
repaired and added to their strength. There
we're three prisoners to one guard, and had
there been any one to lead break for lber-
ty most of them would have made their es-
cape.
Here were from 1900 to $4,000 infantry,
four gunbOatS and twenty or thirty trans
ports driven off by less than fifty men. An
expedition costing hundreds of thousands Of
dollarsand weeks of hard work was render
ed q burlesque. A lodgment at Sabine
would have given the Union forces the key
of half of two Confederate States.
Taken in all particulars, stranger engage
ment never occurred in war. The defenders
of the fort were called the Jeff Davis Guards,
and their bravery was eventually rewarded
by silver medal to each man, suitably in
scribed, and many of the rank and file were
promoted from the ks.--DetrOh Free
Press.
ABOUT CHOOSING a HUsBAND.-NO SEN
sible man, no man whose affections are