The Civil War began 150 years ago this month. Texas was spared much of the war’s carnage and devastation, but one battle fought in Texas goes largely overlooked, maybe because it was more of a massacre than a fair fight.
On Feb. 23, 1861, Texans voted by a margin of more than three to one for succession. Texans had no idea the horrors they were unleashing upon themselves, their neighbors, and their country. The young men of the state marched off to war leaving Texas to suffer economic devastation, American Indian attacks, forays by the Union navy, and, worst of all, the wrath of bandits disguised as the law.
Most Civil War historians list five battles that took place in Texas. At the Battle of Sabine Pass, Dick Dowling and a group of dock workers from Houston repelled an invasion on Sept. 24, 1862. A second unsuccessful Union assault came a year later.
Galveston was captured by Union forces on Oct. 4, 1862, and reclaimed by the Confederates on New Year’s Day, 1863.
More than a month after Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, Va., Confederate troops in Brownsville attacked Union soldiers at the Battle of Palmito Ranch. It was the last major battle of the Civil War.
Among the battles of the Civil War, the Battle of the Nueces is classified as a mere skirmish.
At the time of the Civil War, the Texas Hill Country was home to a sizable number of German free thinkers who opposed slavery. Gillespie County rejected secession by a vote of 400 to 17. In Kendall County the vote was 53 to 34 against. Kerr County voted in favor, 76 to 57. Narrow margins compared to other counties.
With bands of the “home guard” roving through the countryside testing people’s allegiance to the Confederacy, a group of Germans from the area headed for the safety of Mexico. More a camping trip than a military expedition, the group failed to station sentries. On the morning of Aug. 10, 1862, 94 Confederates caught up with the Unionists. Accounts put the number of Germans at 61 to 68 on the banks of the Nueces River that morning. Of the party, 19 were killed in the fight, nine were wounded and later executed, and eight were killed trying to cross the Rio Grande.
After the war, the 36 Unionists’ remains were brought back to Comfort. The German-language Treue der Union monument was installed in 1866. It is the only monument to the Union in the South, the flag waving over the obelisk is an 1866 36-star American flag, and it is the only monument besides Arlington National Cemetery where the flag is allowed to fly at half-mast year-round.
The Treue der Union monument is across High Street from the Comfort high school between Second and Third streets.
1,031st in a series. Collect them all. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of “Day Trips” 101-200, is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.
This article appears in April 22 • 2011.
