| |
| Tombstone
Detail
TE Photo March 2007 |
Getting There
To get to Sabine Pass - Direction
At the main intersection, a small park is to your left (look for the old
lighthouse lantern and watchroom) and the cemetery is about a quarter of
a mile to the right - on the south side of the road.
On the way to the
cemetery (also on the south side of the road) you will see the granite marker
erected by the Texas Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy to commemorate
Dick Dowling's lopsided defeat of the invading Union gunships in 1863. |
Sabine
Pass Cemetery Historical Marker
TE photo, March 2007 |
Historical
Marker Text Sabine
Pass CemeteryThe
oldest continually used cemetery in Jefferson County, This graveyard has served
the citizens of the Sabine Pass area since
the 1840s. The earliest documented grave is that of a 12-year-old John A. Dashiell,
son of William V.C. and Mary Dashiell, who died on August 27, 1847. The large
site now known as Sabine Pass Cemetery represents a combination of five formerly
distinct burial grounds. Included in what was once called "The Colored Peoples
Cemetery" is the unmarked grave of 108-year-old Louis Williams. Born a slave in
Mississippi in 1813, Williams died on June 23, 1921.
Among the burials
in this historic graveyard are those of many distinguished military veterans.
Able Coffin (1792-1862) and Burwell Jackson (1783-1864) fought in the War of 1812.
Jacob Harmon Garner (1814-1887), Benjamin Johnson (1815-1872) and Niles F. Smith
(1800-1858) were Texas Revolution veterans. Soldiers and sailors from both the
Union and Confederate forces of the Civil War also are interred here. The two
Union sailors Patrick Ferlin and Albert W. Marshall, died of wounds sustained
during the offshore naval encounter on January 21, 1863, while serving on the
ship Morning Light. A number of Confederate veterans rest in the cemetery, as
does Kate
Dorman, dubbed "the heroine of Sabine Pass" for her assistance of the southern
troops. A number of graves have been specially marked with military or state historical
markers.
Maintained by Jefferson County and cared for by local volunteer
organizations, the Sabine Pass Cemetery remains in use by citizens of the area.
Its historic gravestones and monuments provide a unique component of the cultural
history of Jefferson County.
(1999)
|
 |
| Sabine
Pass Cemetery Historical Marker |
According to the historical
marker, the cemetery contains the remains of both Confederate and (at least two)
Union soldiers as well as veterans of the War of 1812, the War for Texas Independence
and the reason for our visit, the final resting place of Kate
Dorman, the "heroine of Sabine Pass."
The cemetery, which
is still in use, has a deep and wide vacant spot in the middle. Although there
are no tombstones, Mr. Block informed us that an estimated 100-150 people are
buried in several mass graves here - hastily dug during a Yellow Fever epidemic.
Among the Yellow Fever victims and fallen soldiers, there also the remains
of a young man who died in 1901 as a result of of shooting into a pit of unexploded
ordnance left in an abandoned gun emplacement. His remains were covered and a
cenotaph placed in Port Arthur's Evergreen Cemetery. |
Sabine
Pass Cemetery scene
(Small historical marker denotes the Kate
Dorman gravesite)
TE photo, March 2007 |
Several
mass graves of Yellow Fever victims appear as an open field.
TE photo, March
2007 |
Crypts
TE photos, March 2007 |
One
of the many aluminun markers made and installed by W. T. Block for graves that
were in danger of becoming unknown.
TE Photo, March 2007 |
While
the cemetery isn't fenced in black iron or rich with funereal statuary, it's a
memorable cemetery to visit for its typical coastal flora and fauna - and for
its somber timelessness. Ken
Rudine, who is an avid birder, identified a large flock of white and black Egyptian
Ibis that were wading in large puddles looking for food. |
| Ken
"Mr. Third Coast" Rudine discussing the cemetery with W.T. "Sir
Cannonball" Block. TE Photo March 2007 |
Dick
Dowling
Marker near Sabine Pass Cemetery
TE photo, March 2007 |
|
|
