Almost As Good As The Alamo!

Ain't that Texas flag purty?!  (Did you know that the Texas flag can be flown at an equal height to the United States flag?  That's because Texas was a nation unto itself prior to joining the Union.  Hmmm.  So was Hawaii.  I wonder if they can also fly their flag at a height equal to the U.S. flag??  All of the other states were just territories prior to joining the U.S., so they can only raise their flag below the height of the U.S. if they're flown together.)

Back to the Civil War...  The above flags are flown in front of the new Museum of the Confederacy branch in Appomattox, Virginia.  (See recent post regarding that museum.)

The Battle of Sabine Pass in 1863 was almost as good as the Alamo - only the outcome was considerably better:

"A Federal attempt to establish a foothold in southeastern Texas resulted in a classic David and Goliath battle at Sabine Pass on September 8, 1863.  (The Sabine Pass is almost on the Gulf coast in deep south East Texas on the Louisiana border.)  A force of 42 Irish-born Confederates known as the 'Davis Guards' (Company F, 1st Texas Heavy Artillery), under the command of Lt. (later Major) Richard William 'Dick' Dowling, turned back an armada of four warships and 22 transports carrying 4,000 Federal soldiers.  Aided by the shallow Sabine river and its marshy banks, the Texas artillerists captured two of the gunboats and 350 men without losing any of their own men.

"Dowling and his men won high praise and official thanks from the Confederate Congress, which called it 'one of the most brilliant and heroic achievements in the history of the war.'  The ladies of Houston, Texas, honored the men of the Davis Guards with a medal - one of the only medals created within the Confederacy.  The Sabine Pass medals were made from smoothed down Mexican silver dollars and presented to the men on the first anniversary of the battle."

(Did everyone know that during Texas' war for independence from Mexico there were bunches of Irishmen who fought?  I guess it had to do with the Catholic Church's influence in establishing missions throughout Mexico and Texas?  Guess they stuck around for the Civil War, too.)

About six months later the Federal forces again tried an invasion from the Gulf coast. 

"Confederate forces turned back a major Federal campaign up Louisiana's Red River toward Shreveport and eastern Texas in the spring of 1864.  Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor's 8,800 man Confederate army at first fell back before the combined land and naval forces commanded by Major General Nathaniel Banks.  Taylor found an opportunity to counterattack, routing the enemy at the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, on April 8-9 and driving Banks back down the Red River."