Second Battle of Sabine Pass

Second Battle of Sabine Pass
Part of the American Civil War
Date September 8, 1863 (1863-09-08) Location Jefferson County, Texas Result Confederate victory
Belligerents
United States	Confederate States
Commanders and leaders
William B. Franklin Frederick Crocker	Richard W. Dowling
Units involved
West Gulf Blockading Squadron	Texan Davis Guards
Strength
5,000 infantry 4 gunboats 18 transports	36 infantry 6 artillery pieces 1 fort
Casualties and losses
~200 killed wounded or captured 2 gunboats sunk	none

The Second Battle of Sabine Pass took place on September 8, 1863, the result of a failed Union Army attempt to invade the Confederate state of Texas during the American Civil War. It has often been credited as the most one-sided Confederate victory during the War.

France was openly sympathetic to the Confederate States of America early in the Civil War, but never matched its sympathy with diplomatic or military action. After Mexican forces were defeated by French forces in summer 1863, Mexican president Benito Juárez escaped the capital, and the French installed Austrian Maximilian as "Emperor". With a de facto French government bordering Texas on the south across the Rio Grande, the Confederates hoped to establish a formal route between Texas and Mexico by way of which the Confederacy could obtain much-needed supplies.

United States President Abraham Lincoln was well aware of Confederate intentions and sent an expedition to establish a military presence in Texas and to discourage Maximilian from opening trade with the Confederacy. The military Federal force was commanded by Major General Nathaniel P. Banks, a political general with little discernible command ability. Banks's original intent was to launch a combined Army-Navy campaign in northwest Louisiana. The Union plan was to send Union Navy warships from the Mississippi up the tributary Red River, which was navigable upstream as far as where the boundaries of the Confederate states of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas came together. The Union had effected its Capture of New Orleans on May 1, 1862, and after the July 3, 1863 surrender of Confederate Vicksburg, the Union military had better control of both the east and west banks and of the mouth of the Mississippi. Unusually low water in the Red River at this time, however, prevented even relatively low-draft Union gunboats from operating effectively, and the anticipated overland Union invasion of Texas was further delayed.

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