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N0KFQ > TODAY 21.01.12 19:40l 39 Lines 1670 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 16658_KB0WSA
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Jan 21
Path: IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<JH4XSY<JE7YGF<F6CDD<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 120121/1725Z 16658@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.47
Jan 21, 1863:
Rebels recapture Sabine Pass
On this day in 1863, two Confederate ships drive away two Union
ships as the Rebels recapture Sabine Pass, Texas, and open an
important port for the Confederacy.
Sabine Pass lay at the mouth of the Sabine River along the gulf
coast of Texas. The Confederates constructed a major fort there
in 1861. In September 1862, a Union force captured the fort and,
shortly after, the port of Galveston to the southwest. The
Yankees now controlled much of the Texas coast. In November,
Confederate General John Bankhead Magruder arrived to change
Southern fortunes in the area. Magruder, an early Confederate
hero in Virginia, was assigned the difficult task of expelling
the Federals from Sabine Pass and Galveston.
Magruder's efforts paid quick dividends. He recaptured Galveston
and then turned his attention to Sabine Pass. The decks of the
two Rebel ships, the Bell and the Uncle Ben, were stacked with
cotton bales. Sharpshooters were placed behind the bales and the
ships steamed towards the two Union ships, the Morning Light and
the Velocity. Some of the sharpshooters became seasick and had to
be removed, but the expedition continued. The Confederates chased
the Yankee ships into open water, and the sharpshooters injured
many Union gunners. Both Union ships soon surrendered. Magruder's
victory reopened the Texas coast for Confederate shipping.
The Union tried to recapture Sabine Pass later in the year, but
the effort was thwarted when less than 50 Confederates inside the
fort there held off a much larger Union force.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
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