Back in the 1980s I was traveling from Austin to the border with Mexico when I came upon the 1866 Civil War monument in Comfort, Texas. This is one of the oldest Civil War monuments in Texas and even in the South. It commemorates Texas men who were executed by the Confederates in 1862. In August, 1862 sixty-one men from the Hill Country were fleeing as refugees from the Confederate troops in the area which had been targeting Abolitionists in the German villages in the hills. As the Germans slept by the Nueces River on August 10, 1862 they were attacked by Confederates in the morning hours. Many Germans were killed during the attack and a number were massacred after they surrendered.
Captain James Duff of Duff’s Rangers had been carrying out a suppressive campaign in the Hill Country which opposed Texas’s secession in the months leading up to the massacre. His actions included the hanging of two German civilians, which panicked many in the immigrant communities. Duff also imposed martial law in the Hill Country.
When the Confederates attacked the refugee camp, 19 Germans were killed. After the assault, at least twelve more Germans were killed. Two dozen Germans, some of whom were wounded, made their escape. Several settled in Mexico and others joined the Union Army after seeing their friends massacred by the Confederates,
While many Germans opposed the Confederacy before the massacre, the killings convinced even apathetic immigrants that the Confederacy was hostile to them. After the defeat of the Confederacy, many German Texans celebrated the return of the state to the United States and supported the Reconstruction government.
On three of the sides or the monument are inscribed the names of immigrants killed during the “Battle of Nueces” or the “Nueces Massacre.”
As you can see on the panel below, at least one victim was not German, F. Diaz was a Tejano, a Texan of Mexican background. Many Tejanos also opposed the Confederacy.
The recovered bodies of the massacre victims are buried on the site.
While there are many Union memorials in the former Confederacy, principally placed by Union regiments after the war, this is the first memorial placed by local residents in a Confederate state.
In front of each side is a bronze plaque with the names of the men buried there.
On August 20, 1865 there was a large gathering of German immigrants to dedicate the mass gravesite underneath where the memorial was later erected. Edward Degener gave the funeral oration. He was the father of two of the victims. He was from Prussia and he settled in Sisterdale, Texas. Early in the Civil War he was arrested by the Confederates for criticizing the government. After his sons Hugo and Hilmar were murdered by Duff;s Rangers, he bought the land where the burials took place. During Reconstruction he was elected to the United States Congress and he also served on the Texas Constitutional Convention where he urged the vote for Blacks and advocated admitting Blacks into public schools.
At the 1865 funeral Edward Degener said “The sacrifice that we, the fathers of the slaughtered, made to our country and to liberty, is great and dolorous. We shall, however, console ourselves; we shall be proud of having offered our sons to the Union.”
The names inscribed are, according to Wikipedia these men with their date of death and the place where they died:
| Leopold Bauer | August 10 | Nueces River | [10] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frederick Behrens | August 10 | Nueces River | aka Fritz Beherens | [11] |
| Ernst Beseler | August 10 | Nueces River | [12] | |
| Conrad Andreas Christian Bock | Unknown | Fredericksburg | [13] | |
| Louis Boerner | August 10 | Nueces River | [14] | |
| Wilhelm Boerner | August 10 | Nueces River | [15] | |
| Johann Peter Bonnet | October 18 | Rio Grande | [16] | |
| Theo Bruckisch | New Braunfels carpenter | [17][18] | ||
| Albert Bruns | August 10 | Nueces River | [19] | |
| Hilmar Degener | August 10 | Nueces River | [20] | |
| Hugo Degener | August 10 | Nueces River | [21] | |
| Pablo Diaz | August 10 | Nueces River | [22] | |
| Joseph Elstner | October 18 | Rio Grande River | [17][23] | |
| Edward Felsing | October 18 | Rio Grande River | [24] | |
| Herman Flick | August 20 | Medio Creek | Sources vary on when and where | [25] |
| Henry Herrmann | October 18 | Rio Grande River | [26] | |
| Valentine Hohmann | October 18 | Rio Grande River | Local cattle-rancher. | [27] |
| John George Kallenberg | August 10 | Nueces River | [28] | |
| Fritz Lange | October 18 | Rio Grande | [29] | |
| August Luckenbach | Unknown | One of the original Luckenbach family that settled in the hill country. | [30][31] | |
| Henry Markwardt | August 10 | Nueces River | [32] | |
| Adolph Ruebsamen | October 18 | Rio Grande River | [33] | |
| Louis Ruebsamen | August 10 | Nueces River | [34] | |
| Christian Schaefer | August 10 | Nueces River | [35] | |
| Louis Schierholz | August 10 | Nueces River | [36] | |
| Aime Schreiner | August 10 | Nueces River | [37] | |
| Heinrich Steves Jr. | August 10 | Nueces River | [38] | |
| Heinrich Stieler | August 10 | Comfort | [39] | |
| Frederich “Fritz” Tays | August 10 | Comfort | [40] | |
| Wilhelm Telgmann | August 10 | Nueces River | [41] | |
| Adolph Vater | August 10 | Nueces River | [42] | |
| Friedrich “Fritz” Vater | August 10 | Nueces River | [43] | |
| Michael Weirich | August 10 | Nueces River | [44] | |
| Franz Weiss | October 18 | Rio Grande River | [45] | |
| Moritz Weiss | October 18 | Rio Grande River | [46] | |
| Heinrich “Henry” Weyershausen |
I went to each side of the monument and thought that being an anti-slavery person could lead to death in the Confederacy.
The Texas Historical committee has improved the presentation of the site since the first time I visited. In the last thrity years there have been added explanatory signs about the monument, the massacre, and the burial of the immigrants, which were not present on my first visit. When I went to the monument in the 1980s, there was no online history of the killings, and today there are. Up until the 1990s, those Texans who knew about the monument saw it as a neglected memorial put up by alien people who were traitors. Now, it is fully acknowledged by the State of Texas and many people look towards these 19th Century German Americans as a harbinger of greater racial openness. Also, making the immigrant a hero in the story is not something that was highlighted before.
The park/cemetery is on a hill overlooking the Nueces River where the fight massacre took place.
The front part of the monument is inscribed Treue der Union or “Loyalty to the Union.”
A close up of the inscription. Local people refer to the monument as Treue der Union.
There is a flag pole flying the United States flag. At its base is a bronze plaque dedicated to the loyal Germans.
Ahead of the Civil War Sesquicentennial, modern historical markers were erected describing the 1865 funeral at the site and the 1866 dedication of the monument. Both of these were done by the Comfort Historical Association.
My wife, who had never heard of the site, read each one of the plaques and said that they really did make her appreciate the site.
The is protected by a chain, which of course would not keep vandals out, but it does prevent the ordinary vandalism of the people picnicking or children climbing on the site. There are several benches just a few feet beyond where you can sit and admire the monuments and have something to eat.
In the 21st Century, the monument has been cleaned and worn stone has been replaced. The monument is as good in appearance as it was in the 1860s.
Across from the monument is the white Comfort Lutheran Church.
While many people today assume that all German immigrants were Lutheran, in fact there were almost as many Catholic Germans as Lutherans coming to the United States in the decade before the Civil War. In addition, there were quite a few Calvinist Reformed Germans. Also, in Comfort and the rest of the Hill Country, there were a large number of Freethinkers. These were religiously agnostic people who looked to science and philosophy for guidance. Comfort, Texas was really the capital of Freethinkers in Texas and the Lutheran Church was not erected until three decades after the massacre.
Sources:
Texas State Historical Association
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