Another Great and informative read from Enoch at A Memoir of the Occupation - DD
Houston declined for many years to erect a statue commemorating founder Sam Houston. Why? Because the old patriarch refused to support the secession of Texas from that compact called the “Union.” Texans were known as the most ferocious fighters of the Army of Northern Virginia. The Texas Brigade was General Lee’s favored shock formation: “Texans always move them,” he said. In this piece I pointed out the defiance expressed on a Texas state historical market in Corsicana. Additional examples abound. Texans were once considered among the more “unreconstructed” of the occupied South.
Houston has “progressed” since then, and we’re sure Houstonians are happy that the first man their city chose commemorate is forgotten. He was a Confederate hero. His name was Richard William Dowling.
U.C.V. is the United Confederate Veterans. But what’s the deal with the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Emmet Society. Huh? The AoH is the Irish Catholic fraternal organization best-known for organizing the St Patrick’s Day parade in New York. The Emmet Society is named for Robert Emmett, the Irish revolutionary who led the Uprising of 1803.
Richard, or “Dick” as he was best known, was born in…