You all did some really interesting research this week. This is an especially good week for you to read each other’s posts. Check out Victor’s and Courtney’s posts on articles from 1863 in the Houston Tri-Weekly Telegraph. Examining a September 12th article, Courtney finds, “that the primary, contemporary account of the battle, published merely days after the events, did not glorify the victory as much as I may have thought.” The September 16th articles Victor examines show grander commemoration of the victory taking shape only a few days later. The battle is now being lauded as a “greatest feat of the war,” and Mr. Charles Otis is arranging a concert in honor of the “gallant” Davis Guards.
As several of you found, the articles and headlines surrounding articles on Dowling can be quite revealing. Analyzing the context surrounding an 1889 Houston Post article, Tyler argues that in this period, “The nation was repairing itself, and the South was thanking its veterans for their sacrificing.” Kat examines a 1966 Houston Chronicle article, “Texas Will Dedicate Marker to Honor Sabine Pass Victory.” She finds that the coverage surrounding the article “shed[s] light upon the changing times of a nation at war in Vietnam and facing considerable cultural change at home.”
Your research on these newspapers and magazines offers insight into the relationship between memorializers and their socio-cultural context. If any of you are interested in learning a bit more about the newspapers you looked at, check the Texas State Historical Association’s Handbook of Texas Online. Here is an overview of newspapers in Texas, but you can also search for entries on various Texas newspapers such as the Tri-Weekly Telegraph, Houston Post, or Houston Chronicle.