One of the darkest periods in Texas history was commemorated recently in the Texas Hill Country community of Comfort when a program was held at the town's "Treue der Union" monument located near the high school.
The gathering was to recognize the sacrifice of 68 men, mostly Germans who had immigrated to the area, who were loyal to the Union during the Civil War.
The men were massacred by Confederate militia while trying to join up with the Union Army by traveling to Mexico. The massacre was known as the Second Battle of the Nueces and happened on Aug. 10, 1862, near present-day Brackettville.
About the first of August, a bunch of German immigrants met on Turtle Creek, near Kerrville, to discuss ways to avoid conscription into the Confederate Army.
The group determined the best way would be to head straight for the Rio Grande, cross into Mexico and perhaps find passage on a cargo ship headed to one of the northern ports held by the Union.
But lady luck was not on their side. As the immigrant band openly camped on the banks of the Nueces River in Kinney County they were discovered by a Confederate militia unit hunting for deserters.
The Germans, mostly intellectuals from the Sisterdale area, were led by Maj. Fritz Tegener.
The immigrants, many of whom had fled their native Germany where an oppressive society was causing many problems, came to Texas in the thousands in the 1840s.
When Texas started down the path to secession, the Hill Country area voted overwhelmingly against Texas joining the Confederacy. When the federal army surrendered and left Texas after the Civil War started, many in the area were singled out as troublemakers. Those refusing to recognize Confederate laws were called traitors.
Despite being watched by rebel sympathizers, many of the Germans organized into loyalist leagues, thus inviting rebel terrorists who made raids on the farms and ranches and hanged some of the known loyalists. The rebs became known as the "Hangebund," or in English the hanging bunch.
Knowing they would bring added peril to their communities, the men chose to head south.
The Confederate force of about 94 men was led by Lt. C.D. McRae, who had a reputation for relentlessly searching out deserters and those seeking to avoid conscription.
The fight started just after sunrise on Aug. 10 and in a short time 19 of the Unionists were dead and nine were wounded. The nine wounded were executed a few hours after the fight. McRae and one other rebel were killed in the battle and 18 suffered wounds. Of the Unionists who escaped the fight, eight were killed by Confederates on Oct. 18 as they attempted to cross the Rio Grande. Eleven others escaped and returned home.
After the Nueces battle, the Union dead were left on the field without burial. Their bones were later collected and buried in Comfort in 1866, and the beautiful marker was placed over the gravesite. It was at one time the only Unionist memorial south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Today, the True to the Union monument has a 36-star American flag flying at half-staff every day. That was the U.S. flag during the Civil War.
Thought for the week: If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere.
I'll be seeing you Out Yonder.
Ross McSwain can be contacted at email@example.com, or check his redesigned website www.rossmcswain.com.
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