Following eviction of his family from their home in 1845, the first year of the Great Famine, nine-year-old Dowling left Ireland with his older sister Honora, bound for New Orleans in the United States in 1846.

[4]: 32–49  As a teenager, young Dick Dowling displayed his entrepreneurial skills by successfully running the Continental Coffeehouse, a saloon in the fashionable French Quarter.

With rising anti-Irish feeling growing in New Orleans, following local elections which saw a landslide victory for the 'Know Nothing' party, Dowling moved to Houston in 1857, where he leased the first of a number of saloons, a two-story building centrally located on the corner of Main and Prairie Streets.

Dowling was described as a likable red-headed Irishman and wore a large moustache, possibly to make him appear older than he looked, as he was called 'The Kid' by family and friends alike at this time.

Among other things, he had been involved with a predominantly Irish militia company which served a more social than military role in Houston society.

With the fall of Vicksburg in July 1863, followed by the Battle of Gettysburg, it was obvious that the Civil War was now not going well for the Confederacy, an invasion of Texas appeared to be imminent.

It was suspected that the Union Army would attempt an invasion of Texas via Sabine Pass, because of its value as a harbor for blockade runners and because about 18 miles northwest was Beaumont, on the railroad between Houston and the eastern part of the Confederacy.

To mark the optimum distance and elevation for each of the guns, he implemented the technique of setting long slender poles (painted white, in this instance) in both channels at several places.

On 8 September 1863 a Union Navy flotilla of some 22 gunboats and transports with 5,000 men accompanied by cavalry and artillery arrived off the mouth of Sabine Pass.

This time, though, Dowling's artillery drills paid off as the Confederates poured a rapid and withering fire onto the incoming gunboats, scoring several direct hits, disabling and capturing two, while the others retreated in disarray.

The rest of the flotilla retreated from the mouth of the pass and returned ignominiously to New Orleans, leaving the disabled ships with no option but to surrender to Dowling.

Dowling had thwarted an attempted invasion of Texas, in the process capturing two gunboats, some 350 prisoners and a large quantity of supplies and munitions.

[6] The Confederate States Congress offered its appreciation to Dowling, now promoted to major, and his command, as a result of their battlefield prowess.

John Nova Lomax of the Houston Press stated that in that city "Dowling was treated something like Julius Caesar home from a punishing foray into Gaul.

Dowling's promising future was cut short by another yellow fever epidemic which devastated Houston in the late summer of 1867, and he died on 23 September 1867.

On 8 February 1864, the officers and men of Company F (Davis Guards), 1st (Cook's) Texas Heavy Artillery Regiment, Confederate States Army, received the "thanks of Congress.

[19] In 1937, the United Daughters of the Confederacy a grey granite monument dedicated to Dowling in the center of the intersection of State Highway 87 and Broadway Street in downtown Sabine Pass, TX.

Nobody seconded the motion; a Fianna Fáil councillor said the plaque commemorated Dowling's business career and Tuam had "more important things going on".