The Philipsburg mail., 1899-10-20
The Battle OF Fort Bowling.

The Battle OF Fort Bowling.
From Democracy, of Nashville, Tenn:
Where the Gulf of Mexico comes into
the Sabine lake, on the coast of Texas,
near the Louisiana line, there is a
narrow channel of water which is
about four hundred yards wide. On
the north bank of this little channel,
today, one sees the smokestack, few
feet above the water, of a sunken boat.
Just opposite to it, on the southern
bank, there is dirt wall and over this
is painted sign that reads Fort
Dowling" That is all that now lives
as evidence of a thrilling drama the
equal Of which the world has never
seen, and that was played out at this
place back yonder in the closing days
of our civil war. Gen. Banks, with
plenty of men and boats and ammuni-
tion and supplies, had gone up the Red
River into Louisiana and was ham
mering Kirby Smith and Dick Taylor
into destruction. The Federal gov
ernment conceived the idea that Smith
rear by an expedition landed on the
shores of Sabine lake. and consisting
of some ten thousand men, who would
be transported to their landing by a
part Of the Federal feet. To reach the
banks of the lake, of course, it was
necessary to go through Sabine Pass
this narrow channel of which l have
spoken. Richard Bowling, in COM
mand of about forty men, was acting
as a scout for Smith and Taylor and
saw the evidence of the coming of this
feet of gunboats and transports, and.
with his forty men, took possession of
a little mud fort at the mouth of the
pass, in which there were three or four
six Founders and perhaps siege gun.
There he waited with guns loaded and
instructions given to his men that
they must not fire until the gunboats
came we'll abreast of him, only about
300 yards away. His plan of action
was not to shoot until they were imme-
diately opposite, and then to discharge
his whole battery at the gunboat. This
was done successfully; her boilers were
exploded, and together with hundreds
of soldiers, she sank to the spot where
she now rests. Many died from the
steam that scalded them, more from
the water that engulfed them. Load
ing his guns, he sank the next vessel
with the same disastrous result to the
enemy, and, loading yet again, he
turned his guns on the transport fol-
lowing, with thousand men aboard of
her. She, In response, ran up white
flag. The rest of the fleet turned and
sailed away, leaving the dead bodies
of the drowned soldiers and the sunken
vessels. Bowling, in dugout (this is
a followed log or a canoe, as it is vari-
ously called). padded himself out to
receive the surrender of this transport
with thousand men. The comman-
der of the vessel expressed his surprise
at such reception of his white-flag
token, and asked why the commander
of the fort didn't come in person to
receive his surrender. Bowling re-
piled: II am the commander and have
come in person." to which the captain
said: well, what do you mean by
coming this way in canoe by your
self?" Bowling answered: Il have
no other way Of getting here and hence
came in my dugout." He received
the surrender, paroled the prisoners.
for he could not take them in charge,
and went back to his comrades. OF
these forty, only one had received a
wound at all. though the gunboats had
shelled the little mud earthwork dill
gently. In the history of the world
nothing similar, unless it be the bat
tie of New Orleans, has ever happened,
and yet, such is the large carelessness
of the southern character in recording
its wonderful and numerous deeds of
heroism, that but little notice has ever
been taken of this extraordinary bat
tie.