When looking through the archives, I found myself most drawn to the newspaper articles. Most of the sources I examined carefully were stories about the statue or Dowling’s life and its significance, as well as other records and pamphlets from different members of historical societies and groups working out details for ceremonies. While Cotham’s book provides a great deal of useful background regarding Dowling and the Battle of Sabine Pass, which is helpful in contextualizing the sources about the monument. I found, though, that most of the sources in the archive dealt less with the actual battle of Sabine Pass and details of Dowling’s life than they did with the creation, relocation, and preservation of the statue. Dowling’s story was always present as a backdrop and the raison d’être of these questions, but the documents I examined most closely shed more light on contemporary history than on the battle itself.
One thing I did find interesting was how the story of Dowling was manipulated and changed and frequently misinterpreted. There is even one article in RGA33-b2f27-54 with such egregious errors that a NB has been added at the end to clarify such major details as where Dowling and his parents had lived prior to Houston and who commanded Dowling. The number of men in the battle fluctuated between 42 and 47—one newspaper article in the Art Commission records even remarked that the number was continually contested—and Dowling’s identity was also changing. Sometimes he was a great confederate war hero, other times, “Houston’s favorite Irish man.” (RGA33-b2f27-01) When talking about his personal life, some journalists and pamphlets emphasized his influential role as a businessman and in oil, while others began with his role as a charismatic and innovative saloon owner.
A recurring theme in the newspaper articles was Dowling’s importance to the Irish community of Houston. A 1939 article in the Houston Chronicle described the statue as being “held in reverence by all Irishmen.” (RGA33-b2f27-58) As can be seen in another Chronicle article in 1958, as well as several in the 1980s and 1990s, there appear to have been certain Irish men and women in Houston who would take a special interest in the statue and make sure it was preserved and taken care of. Needham was the “unofficial caretaker for the Dowling statue” and the Miggins family later makes a family tradition out of coming and caring for the statue annually by cleaning it and holding a small ceremony. (RGA33-b2f27-02, RGA33-b2f27-57) It certainly seems that, in later years, the Dowling statue took on the greatest degree of importance for the Irish community. While there was a confederate salute by Ike Turner Camp #1275, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, this was surrounded by all sorts of Irish-centric events, from a speech by an Irishman flown in from Ireland to such frivolous flourishes as a dancing leprechaun.
Looking forward, I would be very interested to see why it is that these Irish people and heritage groups took such a great interest in preserving Dowling’s memory. Houston never struck me as a city with a particularly large Irish population—although I am basing that on nothing more than personal experience—so why would such pains be taken to commemorate this particular hero? Dowling certainly has an impressive story and leaves a great legacy, but I would think that, particularly in modern times, the Irish heritage groups might want to pick a slightly less controversial Irish hero who could be completely theirs and not someone they had to share with the Sons of Confederate Veterans and proponents of the Lost Cause ideology. Was there some event that spurred this Irish interest in the statue? How did they get along with the Confederates? And why this Irish hero above any other?