Major Richard William Dowling Monument, Herman Park, Houston, Texas
County Galway, Ireland in 1838. His family came to New Orleans when he was a child and eventually moved to Houston, Texas. When war came in 1861 he was already a successful businessman, husband and father in Houston. The enterprising young man was described as a "handsome, muscular redhead with courage and imagination." Dowling became a lieutenant in the Davis Guards, Company F, 1st Regiment, Texas Heavy Artillery and was stationed at Sabine Pass, Texas. He and his unit took part in an action on 21 January 1863 in which two Confederate cottonclads, CSS Josiah H. Bell and CSS Uncle Ben, captured two Union blockaders off Sabine Pass, USS Morning Light and USS Velocity.
Lt. Dowling's most famous action came on 8 September 1863 when he and his 47 Irish "dock wollapers" of the Davis Guards, manning six old cannon in Fort Griffin at Sabine Pass, turned back a whole Yankee invasion fleet. They fired on and grounded two Union gunboats, forcing them to surrender. Two additional gunboats were then forced to withdraw, along with the entire invasion fleet of 22 transports carrying at least 4,000 Union soldiers. The victory gave birth to an old saying in Houston, "St Patrick ran the snakes out of Ireland, and Dick Dowling ran the Yankees out of Texas." The grateful citizens of Houston raised money to have silver medals manufactured and on 8 September 1864 presented the medals to each member of the Davis Guard. It is the only medal for valor awarded to Confederate soldiers during the war. President Jefferson Davis called the victory "without parallel in ancient or modern war." Dowling was promoted to major and spent the rest of the war on recuriting duty. After the war he resumed his career as a successful entrepreneur in Houston but his life was cut short when he died on 23 September 1863 of yellow fever.
Father Abram Joseph Ryan was born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1838. His parents were natives of Ireland. An ordained Roman Catholic priest, he was a volunteer chaplain and seems to have been mostly associated with the 8th Tennessee Infantry. His brother David was killed in action in the Confederate Army during the war and this greatly affected Father Ryan. Among his best known poems are "The Conquered Banner", "C.S.A." and "The Sword of Robert Lee." Following the war he founded a weekly magazine, "Banner of the South." He wrote most of his poems for this magazine. He also wrote a book of poety that was very popular, and still is. Father Ryan was greatly beloved as a priest as well as a poet. He died in Kentucky and is buried in Mobile, Alabama where a park is named in his honour (the location of the above life-size statue).
This magnificent statue of a Confederate color-bearer is located in the Confederate section of the historic Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina. This beautiful cemetery contains the remains of many hundreds of Confederate soldiers and veterans, including crewmen of the C.S.S. Hunley, the first submarine in history to sink an enemy warship. The monument is flanked by the flags of the Confederacy.
A life-size bronze statue of General Robert E. Lee was dedicated at Johnson Bayou High School on 29 September 1984. The sculptor, Jerry Gorum, said this was the first statue in honour of Lee to be dedicated in Louisiana in 100 years, the last being in Lee Circle in New Orleans in 1884. Gorum said he did extensive research on Lee, and portrayed him in bronze as he was in his "command portrait." The sculptor paid special attention to authenticate each detail of the six-foot bronze. The statue, mounted on a marble base, was commissioned by the Johnson Bayou High School Athletic Association. Gorum said the work of art was cast at Dell Ray Bronze in Houston. The artist-sculptor works mostly on Western Americana themes and his bronzes are issued in limited editions.
The monument honoring Brigadier General Alfred Mouton is located in front of the old city hall building in Lafayette, Louisiana. Jean Jacques Alfred Mouton was born in 1829 in Opelousas, Louisiana, the son of Alexandre Mouton, a governor, senator and president of the Louisiana Secession Convention. His was one of the pioneer Acadian families to settle in the Lafayette area during Colonial times. He attended West Point and graduated just after the end of the Mexican War, so he resigned from the U.S. Army to manage his family plantation. In 1856 he was appointed a brigadier general in the state militia and led a vigilante committee against outlaws and thieves. With the outbreak of the War for Southern Independence, he became colonel of the 18th Louisiana Infantry Regiment and was wounded on the second day of the Battle fo Shiloh. Promoted to brigadier general, he led a brigade at the battles of Bisland and Irish Bend 12-14 April 1862. Mouton was killed in action on 8 April 1864 while leading a charge that shattered the Union right at the Battle of Mansfield.