The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1905-04-02

officers of the vessel, concluding that the
fort must be manned by powerful gar
irson, with large reinforcements in the
rear. hOisted the white flag, while all the
hastily left the scene of action. As soon
as the Clifton raised the white flag
Lieutenant Bowling and four men step
ped on the breastworks and requested
that boat be sent to carry them on
board. This being done, the officers of
the ship drew up in line and offered to
surrender their swords. which Downing
refused to accept The prisoners, COM
prlslng $50 men. were conveyed ashore
The Sachem also surrendered, the Gran
lte State hoated out to sea and one of
the transports went to pieces soon after
crossing the bar, showing that she, too,
had been damaged in the engagement
The balance of the fleet disappeared rap
idly, the men bing convinced that Sabine
Pass was impregnable
1t was hard to convince the prisoners
that the entire number of their captors
was but forty-one men.
One of the mountain hoWitzers at the
fort was lost at the first or second dis
charge, as its recoil ran it off the plat
form
All the guns were mounted Ell bar
bette and in running them in and out of
the battery the men were exposed to the
Federal fire from the waist up; yet,
killed. The arm of one man was marked
by 'grapeshot but it drew no blood
The firing lasted from thirty-fve to
forty minutes, during which time 1s7
shots were fired without stopping to
swab the guns. Post Surgeon Bailey and
Lieutenant Smith took turns at the guns
with the men, The thumbstalls of two
of the gunners were burned off and their
flesh scared to the bone. The guns be-
came SO hot from the continuous rapid
fire that it was 3 o'clock the next day
before hand could be laid comfortably
upon the larger ones.
General Magruder, at Houston, was so
astonshed and grati6ed at the remark
able result Of the fight that he went i'm
|mediately in person to the scene of the
engagement to personally honor the men
who had SO gallantly defended the Tex
as border. He entered the fort with un-
covered head and co1nplimented the Of
fcers and men most heartily upon theif
glorious achievement
Lieutenant Dowling, the officer in
corfrt11and; n. H Smith, lieatenant,- of
engineers, and DR.. Bailey were each pre-
sented with a captured sword.
Thus ended the most remarkable
achievement of the civil war.
ROSTER OF THE DAVIS GUARDS.
The following is roster of the Davis
Guards, the name of every one of whom
has been placed upon the monument
erected to Dick Bowling, now on Mar
ket Square:
First Lieutenant R. w. Dowling, COM
n1anding; Sergeants, Corporals and Pri-
Yates James Corchran. Thomas Dough-
erty, John McKeeter, Tom Hegerty, Pat
Fitzgerald, Tim Hurley. Mike Sullivan,
Hugh Deagan, John Wesley, Timothy
McDcnough, Pat Abbott, Dave Fitzger-
aid, Pat Mcdonald, Jim Huggins, Tom
McKernen, John McGrath,. Tom Sulli-
van Maurice Powers, John Anderson
Mike Delaney, Mike Monohan, William
Chosen, Alex McCabe, Ed Pritcl1ard,
Matthew Walsh, Pat Clare, Abner Car
ter, John Flood, Terrence Mulhern, Jack
W. 'White, John Wasset, Mike Carr,
James Fleming, Charles Hheins, Dan
Donovan, Dick O'Hara, 1, w. >JJetts
Volunteers: Dr.. George H: Bailey and
Lieutenant N. H. Smith,
The above were enlisted men. Lleu-
tenant N. H. Smith, Louisianian, be-
longe:l to the engineer department and
volunteered to aid the gunners in the
fort
DR.. George H. Bailey was assistant
surgeon of Sabine Pass post, also vol
unteered, the two men taking their
places at the guns.
F. A. Odlum was captain of the COM
pany, but was not present at the engage
mel1t
Dr. Bailey is still living in California
Each member of the Davis Guards re-
ceived silver medal, suitably engraved,
a few weeks after the battle. A popular
Catholic priest in Houston, Father Fe-
lix, started the movement of presenting
medals to the victors of Sabine Pass,
and more than money enough was col
lected to pay for the work Mr.. Charles
Gottchalk,. a matchmaker, had the con-
tract, and it was soon completed and a
green ribbon tied to each. The medals
were made of Mexican dollars made per-
fectly smooth. One side had large Ro-
man letters "D C." {Davis Cuards1 I'm