Fort Manhassett
Sabine Pass, Jefferson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
To protect Texas against Federal invasion during the Civil War, Confederate General John B. Magruder ordered the construction of a fort at this site on September 4, 1863, four days before the famous Confederate victory won by Dick Dowling and his small company against Union ships and gunboats at Sabine Pass (7 mi. NE). After the Federal retreat, the Confederate Coastal Defense program continued, since Federal blockading vessels still patrolled Gulf waters and the threat of more invasions was feared. A storm on September 19 sent the Union patrol steamers out to sea, but drove ashore their coaling ship, the "Mannahassett". Confederate troops dismantled the ship and seized its cargo. Col. Valery Sulakowski, formerly of the Austrian Army, designed Fort Manhassett, whose name evidently was adapted from that of the captured ship. Major Getulius Kellersberger, a Swiss-born engineer who had settled in America some years earlier, oversaw the construction. By October 1863, five companies garrisoned the five redoubts of the new fort and manned its ten cannons. Fort Manhassett soldiers participated in the capture of two Union ironclad ships at Calcasieu Pass, Louisiana on May 6, 1864.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
During the Civil War, Confederate General John B. Magruder ordered this fort built on September 4, 1863—just four days before Dick Dowling's small company famously repelled a Union fleet at nearby Sabine Pass. When a September storm drove the Union coaling ship Mannahassett ashore, Confederates seized its cargo and even borrowed its name for the new fort. Designed by former Austrian officer Valery Sulakowski and engineered by Swiss-born Getulius Kellersberger, the five-redoubt fort guarded the Texas coast with ten cannons.
Why it matters
Fort Manhassett is part of the Confederate coastal-defense network that kept the Union blockade at bay along the Texas Gulf, anchoring one of the South's most celebrated small victories.
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Related people
- · John B. Magruder
- · Dick Dowling
- · Valery Sulakowski
- · Getulius Kellersberger
Related events
- · Battle of Sabine Pass
- · Battle of Calcasieu Pass
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
United States Forces at the Battle of Sabine Pass
Sabine Pass, TX
In September 1863, Union forces tried to force their way into Texas through Sabine Pass, where the small earthen Fort Griffin guarded the channel. A Confederate battery held its fire until the federal gunboats came within close range, then disabled the U.S.S. Clifton and U.S.S. Sachem and forced the fleet to retreat. Captured Union troops were marched inland to prison camps at Camp Groce and Camp Ford, sharing the grim conditions endured by prisoners on both sides.
Federal Fatalities at the Battle of Sabine Pass
Sabine Pass, TX
At the Battle of Sabine Pass on September 8, 1863, Lt. Richard W. Dowling and fewer than fifty Confederate Davis Guards repelled a Union naval assault, disabling the gunboats Clifton and Sachem and taking more than 300 federal prisoners. Many Union sailors died, some killed when the Sachem's boiler exploded, and Confederate crews aboard the Uncle Ben helped recover the dead. The victors buried a reported 28 Union troops in a long ditch near the Dorman Hotel, a site later confirmed by twentieth-century excavation though much of it has eroded away.
Capture of the USS Morning Light and USS Velocity
Sabine Pass, TX
When Texas seceded, the Union blockaded its ports, and the closeness of Sabine Pass to Galveston made it a prize for both sides. In January 1863, Confederate Gen. John B. Magruder ordered an attack on the two Union sentry ships using "cottonclads"—riverboats armored with cotton bales. In a two-hour fight on January 21, forces including Lt. Richard "Dick" Dowling's all-Irish Davis Guard neutralized the frigate Morning Light and forced the Velocity to surrender, capturing both ships, $10,000 in supplies, and 109 prisoners.
Richard Dowling
Sabine Pass, TX
On September 8, 1863, Lt. Richard W. Dowling and forty-seven men of the Davis Guards held a small mud fort at Sabine Pass against a Union flotilla and hundreds of federal troops. Firing with cool precision, the tiny Confederate garrison crippled the attacking gunboats and captured hundreds of prisoners without losing a man. The lopsided victory turned Dowling and his largely Irish-immigrant company into enduring Texas legends.