Visited Sabine Pass Battleground State Park today

Mosquitoes that are impervious to the copious amount of bug repellent I had too! :hot::cannon:
When did you go there? I may wait until December-February before I go again. July and September were brutal.
 
Fort Griffin's design lends itself more to a redoubt built solely for fighting off the type of attack it repelled during Sabine Pass, if the naval squadron had dropped off their infantry at the shoreline and they attacked the Fort, it wouldn't have been able to fight them off as its design is almost entirely artillery oriented and doesn't lend itself to defending against infantry.
That is sorta my point. It only had a 48 man garrison but according to this marker at the site,it was over 10' tall and nearly 370' long.

2015-07-25 10.52.39.jpg
 
I don't know it was a lot smaller than a lot of them from back East, Fort Griffin from its 1864 blueprint was no where near the size of other forts.

One of the things that probably contributed to its smaller size is that unlike most Earthen forts they didn't build it up for elevation, Fort Derussy in Marksville, LA had its walls built up to twenty feet above ground level, Fort Griffin wasn't built up hardly any above ground level, thinking back I'm not even sure it had a glacis for stalling an infantry attack. Fort Griffin's design lends itself more to a redoubt built solely for fighting off the type of attack it repelled during Sabine Pass, if the naval squadron had dropped off their infantry at the shoreline and they attacked the Fort, it wouldn't have been able to fight them off as its design is almost entirely artillery oriented and doesn't lend itself to defending against infantry.

Compared to other forts, even Fort Magruder in Galveston, Fort Griffin is more redoubt than fort, and it would be an easier proposition to rebuild cost wise, (especially if it were a more private affair, contractors get greedy when governments are making the effort), than rebuilding many other forts, as Fort Griffin was more a redoubt and a lot smaller than its contemporaries. But I could be wrong on the costs, other forts usually have the original ground to build on, Fort Griffin's ground is gone, the most cost effective way would be to direct an effort of all excess dirt being dug from a 100 mile radius be dumped there instead of normal dumping grounds.
I see your point too. Relatively speaking it was small. When I learned of it's actual dimensions on my first visit there in 2015, it was larger than I envisioned it from my limited reading about the battle beforehand.
 
The essential work is Sabine Pass: The Confederacy's Thermopylae by Ed Cotham.
I wanna take the opportunity presented by the activity in this thread to put a plug in for that book. Reread the Introduction tonight which is mostly about a speech given by Jefferson Davis in New Orleans in 1882 in which he gave special attention to the Battlefield of Sabine Pass and from which the name of the book came.

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Heck now I gotta go find the 1864 blueprint for old times sake. (It and other blueprints of fortifications were apparently prepared to back to Richmond in 1864 by one Captain R. M. Venable, Topographical Engineer, Trans-Mississippi Department, his numerous maps and "blueprints" of Trans-Miss. fortifications are a gem)

That is sorta my point. It only had a 48 man garrison but according to this marker at the site,it was over 10' tall and nearly 370' long.

View attachment 203348

Good picture, puts modern things in better perspective.
Going by that I'd say if handled right and not turned into a corruption fest like the current Alamo rebuild effort, I'd say rebuilding Fort Griffin would have the potential be cheaper to rebuild than the Alamo, and personally I'd say the Battle of Sabine Pass deserves the same amount of respect. Your right on relatively small for a fort, but for a costal Heavy Artillery Redoubt? Its just right lol.

EDIT: Thanks for the echoing endorsement of that book, I'm not familiar with it, and now its on my list for the next book shopping spree.
 
Battle anniversary today. I talked to my SCV camp brothers earlier this year about doing something for the anniversary. We just didn't have time to pull something together and a number of our Color Guard are convalescing at present. The local SCV camp didn't do anything for the anniversary last year. Next year is a leap year and the battle anniversary will be on a Tuesday.
 
Happy Anniversary Sabine Pass!
It is a wonderful thread and pictures. I really like that walking beam!
Not to take away thing from the Texans but we must have a proper framework. There are some misleading appearances and omissions. The two weak wooden gunboats, SACHEM and CLIFTON, were blown up by gunfire; but not until they both had fatally grounded in the Fort’s prepared kill zone of fire. Therefore, they were both easily presented sitting ducks waiting to have their unprotested steam boiler shot. The Texan gunners were well drilled and brave, but hitting a stationary target is not that hard to do even for an inexperienced crew. Here’s something rarely mention, the only other attacking gunboat, ARIZONA, was itself grounded further down stream. Now you have the entire attacking naval column grounded. The ARIZONA was hard aground and appeared she too would be lost. The sole remaining gunboat GRANITE CITY was assigned to cover the landing force. The situation is now very dangerous as the landing force had little protection from Confederate gunboats. It should also be stressed that the Federal troops were never allowed to land; as the incompetent Federal Commander Franklin ordered the mission aborted. This fact saved the Fort garrison as they had no defense whatsoever from a land side assault from the rear. Franklin was under orders to land the invasion force but he ignored it and went home. Truthfully, the Fort never had to defeat the Federal Army of 6,000 as they never landed and attacked. The Fort defeated two wooden gunboats grounded under their guns and these boats were too quickly surrender by their inept Commander Crocker
 
Battle anniversary today. I talked to my SCV camp brothers earlier this year about doing something for the anniversary. We just didn't have time to pull something together and a number of our Color Guard are convalescing at present. The local SCV camp didn't do anything for the anniversary last year. Next year is a leap year and the battle anniversary will be on a Tuesday.

Thanks for this anniversary posting. Somehow I missed the excellent pictures you posted last year. While your picture taking has improved, my photo skills remain mired in a sub-amateur status. Your pictures show what an excellent job they have done to restore the history at Sabine Pass. Things had not been going well for the Confederacy in the summer of 1863 and the victory by Dowling and his men were a moral boost for the entire South.
 
My source says the Federals throw overboard 200 Mules into the waters before they left Sabine Pass. Does anyone who if any Mules made it to shore to be captured? Can a Mule swim? I have a softness in my Heart for Mules!
 
With everything going on in the world and my life, battle anniversaries have been slipping by and me not remembering them until days later. Missed this one by 4 days. Sabine Pass Battleground State Park is the closest CW battle site, besides Galveston, to where I live and was the first park/site I visited. I went to Sabine Pass again on the battle anniversary 2 years ago and the heat/humidity and mosquitoes were brutal.
 
Yeah, I agree. I think those mosquitoes are so big, they must be the real Texas State bird! :hot::help:

The mosquitoes were so bad, I was being bit even though I was fairly hosed down with bug repellent! :eek:
 
Yeah, I agree. I think those mosquitoes are so big, they must be the real Texas State bird! :hot::help:

The mosquitoes were so bad, I was being bit even though I was fairly hosed down with bug repellent! :eek:
I wore boots,long pants and a thick long sleeve shirt. I was drenched with sweat but the mosquitoes couldn't pierce my armor. I changed shirts and shoes when I got out of the park.
 
I wore boots,long pants and a thick long sleeve shirt. I was drenched with sweat but the mosquitoes couldn't pierce my armor. I changed shirts and shoes when I got out of the park.

As a dearly departed Captain of my reenacting unit used to say when there was a Sabine Pass reenactment: "You can camp if you want to but we're all gonna stay at the hotel. The clouds of mosquitos will carry you out of your tent if you camp and eat you alive!"
 
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