Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1899-09-21
THE BATTLE OF FORT BOWLING.
A Remarkable Achievement of the Civil War
of Which Little Has Been Written.

Where the Gulf Of Mexico comes into
the Sabine Lake, on the coast Of Texas,
near the Louisiana line, there is a mar
row channel of water which is about
four hundred yards wide. On the
north bank of this little channel to-day
one sees the smokestack, a few feet
above the water, Of sunken boat.
Just opposite to 1t, on the southern
bank, there is dirt wall, square in its
shape, and about ten feet high, and
over this painted sign that reads
Fort Bowling" 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 plenty of ammunition and
supplies, had gone up the Red river in
to Louisiana and was hammering Kir-
by Smith and Dick Taylor into de-
struction. The federal government
conceived the idea that Smith and Tay-
lor might be attacked in the rear by an
expedition landed on the shores of Sa-
bine Lake, and consisting of some ten
thousand men, who would be trans
ported to their landing by part of
the federal fleet. To reach the banks
Of the lake, of course, it was necessary
to go through Sabine Pass-this mar
row channel of which l have spoken.
Richard Bowling, in command of
n
scout for Smith and Taylor, and saw
the evidence of the coming Of this
fleet Of gunboats and transports, and,
with his forty men, took possession of
little mud fort at the mouth Of the
pass, in which there were three or four
six-pOunders and perhaps n siege gun.
There he waited with guns loaded and
instructions given to his men that they
must not fire until the gunboats came
well abreast of him, only about 300
yards away. His plan Of action was
not to shoot until they were immedi-
ately opposite, and then to discharge
his whole battery Mt the gunboat. This
was done successfully; her boilers
were exploded, and, together with hun
dreds 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.
Loading 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 a thousand men aboard
Of her. She, In response, ran up
white flag. The rest of the fleet turn
ed and sailed away, leaving the dead
bodies of the drowned soldiers and the
sunken vessels. Bowling, in a dugout
this is a hollow log for canoe, as it
is variously called, padded himself
out to receive the surrender of this
transport with thousand men. The
commander of the vessel expressed
his surprise at such n reception of his
white-fiag token, and asked why the
commander of the fort didn't come in
person to receive his surrender. BOWL
ing replied, 81 am the commander and
have come in person." to which the
Captain said: "Well, what do you mean
bp coming this way, in a canoe by
yourself" Bowling answered.: II have
no other way of getting here, and
hence l came In my dugout." He re-
ceived the surrender, paroled the pri-
soners, for he could not take them in
charge, and went back to his comrades.
OF these forty, only one had received
a wound ut all, though the gunboats
had shelled the little mud earthwork
diligently.
In the history Of the world nothing
similar, unless 1t be the battle 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 battle.
Democracy of Nashville.