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Rupert Norval Richardson

Richardson, Rupert Norval. Texas, the Lone Star State. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1943.

The first edition of Texas, the Lone Star State was written in 1943—during WWII—by an accomplished historian and veteran, Rupert Norval Richardson. In this book Richardson briefly summarizes the accomplishments of Dick Dowling and his men at Sabine Pass.  While the entry glosses briefly over the situation while making clear that the “Federals” were intending to invade Texas by first taking Sabine Pass, but Dowling heroically saved the day.  While the paragraph about Sabine Pass does mention fortifications, in this first edition it does not name a fort of any kind and makes it clear that the officials had only, “fortified it as well as their limited means would permit” (Richardson 1943, 252).  The piece on the battle was very brief, and not very specific at this stage because the author does not mention the number of gunboats or transports involved in the battle.  As we looked at some later editions already in class and only a paragraph existed on Sabine Pass, I chose to also look into the way in which the Civil War was presented by the author.  In the first edition, the Civil War segment starts with the description that ninety percent of all whites in Texas at the start of the war were migrants from other Southern states and uses this to explain that it was “natural for the state to join the proslavery movement” (Richardson 1943, 241).  While the author goes on to explain how secession was voted for and finally happened in Texas, leading with such a statement takes the blame from the state or even individuals as it was only “natural” to break from the Union.

Later editions confront this issue of the nature of Texas’ secession in different ways.  While the 3rd edition stayed with the original argument that it was only natural for a state with 90% former Southern state residents to side with the proslavery arguments the 5th and 6th editions sum up this argument in one sentence, “Mostly immigrants from southern states who were sympathetic to slavery, Texans generally supported the southern position” (Richardson, Wallace, and Anderson 1970, 206).  This argument was tied into a larger paragraph that described the dividing nation listing state rights and distribution of land as causes, but interestingly specifically listing slavery as the main cause for division.  I was particularly surprised by this argument in all of the books as Richardson does not shy away from the fact slavery was a main cause for the Civil War, which I found shocking for a Texas historian. As each edition changed little changed about the overall entry about Dowling.  Like discussed in class, the exclamation point stayed the same and the only real difference between the earlier editions (1st and 3rd) and the later editions (5th and 6th) was the drop of a New York Herald claim stating that the battle and other morale downfalls of the North had caused the credit to rise. The numbers of transports and gunboats, however, present an interesting change.  The first edition completely neglected a number except for an outrageous claim of over 5,000 Federal soldiers on the ships invading Sabine Pass, the third edition listed only 1,500 troops but listed 4 gunboats and 17 transports, the 5th listed 4 gunboats and 23 transports, and the 6th edition stayed the same as the 5th.  These changes in number are very interesting, as one cannot know if the rise in number can be attributed to better research or a kinder light on the memory of Dowling, either way an increase exists and only by seeing the earlier editions and later editions does it become clear that these numbers may not be fact.

However, given the background of Rupert Norval Richardson, they probably are fact or at least based in fact.  Richardson according to the Handbook of Texas was a well-known Texas historian and educator.  He wrote many publications on Texas history and was well known for his work with the Texas State Historical Survey Committee (now the Texas Historical Commission).  He was a well-qualified and respected individual in the field of Texas history and the President of Hardin-Simmons University in Texas for many years.  While he died in 1988, his book Texas, the Lone Star State lived on as it was a book with the distinct purpose of telling the story of Texas history. nEach of the four editions I had access to were written at very different times, but for mostly the same purpose.  The book, Texas, the Lone Star State was written to be a textbook for both high school and college students as well as an accessible book of Texas history for the greater populous.  As mentioned before, the 1st edition was published in 1943, during the Second World War.  The 3rd edition was a long time later, in 1970 when the country was going through massive changes in identity and just coming out of the Civil Rights Movement.  The 5th edition was written in 1988, once again a time of change as the walls between the Soviet Union and the United States which had been up throughout the Cold War were starting to come down (the Berlin Wall was finally torn down in 1989), yet this sheds little light on why there was a change in the wording of why Texas entered the Civil War here as opposed to in 1970 when it would have maybe been more appropriate given the recent Civil Rights Movement.  Finally, the 6th edition was written in 1993, but exhibited no considerable changes even given the fact that the authorship had changed as Richardson was deceased.

Transcription From: Richardson, Rupert Norval. Texas, the Lone Star State. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1943.

Fighting took place about Sabine Pass, the outlet for both the Sabine and the Neches rivers.  In September 1862, a Federal blockade patrol forced the Confederates to abandon it.  Early in January following, the Confederates reoccupied the place and fortified it as well as their limited means would permit.  Admiral David G. Farragut and General N.P. Banks then made plans for a major campaign against Texas which would begin with the retaking of Sabine Pass.  Four gunboats and a large collection of transports bearing more than 5,000 troops attacked it on September 8, 1863.  To meet this formidable force Lieutenant Dick Dowling and two small gunboats and a garrison of forty-seven men!  Yet he disabled and captured two enemy craft, took about 350 prisoners and turned back the entire expedition.  His victory was a severe blow to the morale of the North and augmented doubts about the efficiency of the Federal Navy.  The New York Herald credited it, together with the Federal defeat at Chickamauga, with lowering the credit of the United Sates to the extent of raising the price of gold 5 per cent.

Transcription From: Richardson, Rupert Norval, Ernest Wallace, and Adrian N. Anderson. Texas, the Lone Star State. 3rd ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Prentice-Hall, 1970.

Fighting also took place about Sabine Pass, the outlet for both the Sabine and the Neches rivers.  In September 1863 a Federal blockade patrol forced the Confederates to abandon it.  After retaking Galveston, the Confederates on January 21 reoccupied the place and fortified it as well as their limited means would permit. Admiral David G. Farragut and General N.P. Banks then made plans for a major campaign against Texas that would begin with the retaking of Sabine Pass. Four gunboats and 17 transports bearing about 1,500 troops for the initial landing attacked it on September 8, 1863.  To meet this formidable force, Lieutenant Dick Dowling had two small gunboats and a garrison of 46 men! Yet he disabled and captured tow enemy craft, took about 350 prisoners, and turned back the entire expedition.  His victory was a severe blow to the morale of the North and augmented doubts about the efficiency of the Federal Navy.  The New York Herald credited it, together with the Federal defeat at Chickamauga, with lowering the credit of the United Sates to the extent of raising the price of gold 5 percent.

Transcription From: Richardson, Rupert Norval, Ernest Wallace, and Adrian N Anderson. Texas, the Lone Star State. 5th ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Prentice-Hall, 1988.

Fighting also took place around Sabine Pass, the outlet for both the Sabine and Neches rivers.  In September 1862 a Federal blockade patrol forced the Confederates to abandon it.  After retaking Galveston, the Confederates on January 21 reoccupied and fortified the post at Sabine Pass, Fort Griffin, as well as their limited means would permit.  However, Union leaders Admiral G. Farragut and General N.P. Banks planned for a major campaign against Texas that would begin with the retaking of Sabine Pass.  Four gunboats and 23 transports, bearing about 5,00 troops for the initial landing, attacked Fort Griffin on September 8, 1863.  To meet the formidable force, Lieutenant Dick Dowling had two small gunboats and a garrison of 46 men!  Yet he disabled and captured two enemy craft, took about 350 prisoners, and turned back the entire expedition.  His victor was a severe blow to the morale of the North and Augmented doubts about the efficiency of the Federal navy.

Transcription From: Richardson, Rupert Norval, Adrian N Anderson, and Ernest Wallace. Texas, the Lone Star State. 6th ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Prentice Hall, 1993.

Fighting also took place around Sabine Pass, the outlet for both the Sabine and the Neches rivers.  In September 1862, a federal blockade patrol forced the Confederates to abandon it.  After retaking Galveston, the Confederates on January 21 reoccupied and fortified the post at Sabine Pass, Fort Griffin, as well as their limited means would permit.  However, Union leaders Admiral David G. Farragut and General N.P. Banks planned for a major campaign against Texas that would begin with the retaking of Sabine Pass.  Four gunboats and 23 transports, bearing about 5,000 troops for the initial landing, attacked Fort Griffin on September 8, 1963.  To meet the formidable force, Lieutenant Dick Dowling had two small gunboats and a garrison of 48 men!  Yet when he disabled and captured two enemy craft, took about 350 Union prisoners, and turned back the entire expedition.  His victory was a severe blow to the morale of the North and augmented doubts about the efficiency of the Union navy.

One Response to “Rupert Norval Richardson”

  1. Dr. McDaniel says:

    Nice post, Kat.

    I was going to make a quick post noting that the figure of “5,000” troops is not totally outrageous, since Franklin (the Union officer in the battle) was ordered to assemble about that many troops on the transports he took to Sabine Pass. Of course, it may still be outrageous to imply that Dowling actually engaged in combat with that many troops, since most of that number were infantrymen on transports floating far away from the action.

    But then I got to wondering about the 1,500 troop figure–where did that number come from, I wondered? As I was going back to Cotham to check on what the precise number of Union troops on the transports was, I found it more difficult to do (at least quickly) than I thought. Franklin’s original orders from Banks were to assemble about five thousand men, but after the battle the numbers attributed to the Union force varied widely. (See Cotham’s footnote 1 on p. 226.) Cotham and most historians seem to set the number at 5,000 to 6,000 troops “based on the number of transports” (basically assuming that the transports were holding their full capacity). I wonder if it’s possible to figure out more precisely how many troops there were.