The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964 Page: 33
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Notes and Documents
landed, demolished the fort, and a raiding party was sent to
Taylor's Bayou to set fire to the Eastern Texas Railroad bridge.
Later the gunboats shelled Sabine City and burned a number
of houses, the railroad depot north of town, and David R. Win-
gate's sawmill and home. After a month of harassing the Confed-
erates, the Federal ships withdrew outside Sabine Pass without
occupying the fort or Sabine City inasmuch as their objectives
apparently had been accomplished.?
The Confederates made a daring attack on the Federal gusn-
boats, Morning Light and Velocity, some twenty-seven miles off
Sabine Pass on January 21, 1863. About two hundred men from
Spaight's Battalion were volunteers on board the Confederate
cotton-clad gunboats, Uncle Ben and Josiah H. Bell, which cap-
tured the Union ships. Captain Keith and his men effectively
manned the twelve-pounder guns and Captain O'Brien com-
manded the sharpshooters from the various companies on the
Uncle Ben.'o
This Sabine Pass operation followed the successful recapture
of Galveston on New Year's Day, 1863, by troops under Major
General John B. Magruder. The command of the expedition
was assigned by Magruder to one of his staff officers, Major
Oscar M. Watkins," who was junior in rank to Lieutenant
Colonel Spaight, commander of the Sabine Post. Spaight thereupon
tendered his resignation from the army. With a caustic endorse-
ment, Magruder approved and forwarded the letter of resigna-
tion to the Confederate War Department, but the resignation
was refused.12 Afterward, Spaight received a letter of commenda-
9The official reports of this operation appear in The War of the Rebellion: A
Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (13o
vols.; Washington, 1880-1o01), Series I, Vol. XV, 143-145, 146-147, 18o-18i. Here-
after cited as Oficial Records.
"0Keith, "Sabine Pass," Burke's Texas Almanac, 67; the official reports are in
Oficial Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Re-
bellion (28 vols.; Washington, 1894-1922), Series I, Vol. XIX, 553-573.
1"The Major sent from Houston to lead this attack had imbibed so freely
of Genl. Magruder's hospital stores as to be totally unfit to command, and by com-
mon consent all parties looked to Capt. [Charles] Fowler, whose long experience
as a seaman and manager of sailors entitled him to this distinction. The Captain
proved every inch a commodore." Keith, "Sabine Pass," Burke's Texas Almanac, 67.
"Lieutenant Colonel A. W. Spaight to Captain Wm. K. Foster, January 6, 1863,
to which is affixed the following endorsement, unsigned but undoubtedly made
by direction of General Magruder: "Respectfully forwarded and recommended with
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964, periodical, 1964; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101197/m1/53/?q=%221777%22&rotate=0: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.