The descendants of those Germans are doing quite well in the Hill Country today.
Recommended reading for a background on those times ...
Posted on 08/14/2012 2:04:39 AM PDT by Lattero
A little known battle and massacre happened in the Texas Hill Country during the Civil War 150 years ago. The date was Aug. 10, 1862. On or around Aug. 1, 68 mostly German immigrants gathered at Turtle Creek near Kerrville and began what they thought was going to be a straight-forward trail to Mexico, where they could join the ranks of the Union army just across the Rio Grande. As fate would have it, they were intersected by Confederate troops on the banks of the Nueces River in Kinney County.
Just after midnight on Aug. 10,, a short, fierce battle ensued and by dawn the Confederates had overpowered the German loyalists. It was later that afternoon that the history of the battle became bathed in infamy. The German survivors were summarily executed and, to make matters worse, were not given the traditional courtesy of burial. Their bodies were stacked and left to decompose in the Texas heat.
But what led to this gruesome footnote in Texas History? German settlers, by the thousands, came to the new state of Texas beginning in the 1840s. They were leaving an oppressive society in Germany for the openness and freedoms offered in America. When here, they quickly adapted and became ardent Americans. Years later when Texas began its path to secede and join the Confederacy, the Hill Country counties overwhelmingly voted against secession. When the Federal army left after secession became law, these same counties were marked as troublemakers, and when they would not submit to the Confederacy, they were called traitors.
These were dark times in the towns of Fredericksburg, San Antonio, Kerrville, Sisterdale and Comfort. The Germans formed loyalist leagues. The Confederates responded by sending masked bands of nightriders who terrorized the surrounding farms and ranches as they began a campaign of ruthless hangings of known loyalists. They became know as the “Hangebund” or in English the Hanging bunch. Desperate and knowing they could not fight in their own towns and unwilling to compromise and join the Confederate army, they reluctantly left their farms and families and headed south to their doom.
Over the years this great American story has faded into the dusty vaults of time. Though the Alamo is the great Texas story of courage, these Union loyalists also gave their lives for the sake of the country they believed in.
In Comfort, only 45 miles west of San Antonio on I-10 stands a monument dedicated to those who died. It is one of only a few monuments dedicated to Union dead in all of the Confederate states.
Please forgive my naivete, but could someone who knows please explain to me why or how it was that one might enlist in the Union army in Mexico, of all places???
the US has a long history of a love-hate relationship with Texas.
For example, when Texas fought for it’s independance, officially the US sided with the Texicans, but in secret they were supporting the Mexican dictator, running guns (giving them) to them via the navy.
Yes, that’s right, using US Naval ships to carry guns and gunpowder to the mexican army!
How do we know? A Texican sloop out of Galveston captured the US Navy ship. When Texas joined the Union (some number of years later) one of the settlements was that Texas had to give the US government it’s ship back.
So, at/around that time, the Mexican state was a Vassal of the US, and not a nice one either. (officially they were aligned with Spain)
the US has a long history of a love-hate relationship with Texas.
For example, when Texas fought for it’s independance, officially the US sided with the Texicans, but in secret they were supporting the Mexican dictator, running guns (giving them) to them via the navy.
Yes, that’s right, using US Naval ships to carry guns and gunpowder to the mexican army!
How do we know? A Texican sloop out of Galveston captured the US Navy ship. When Texas joined the Union (some number of years later) one of the settlements was that Texas had to give the US government it’s ship back.
So, at/around that time, the Mexican state was a Vassal of the US, and not a nice one either. (officially they were aligned with Spain)
This is something you don't get in our current immigration environment. This is why English should be the only language of government and those state and local governments that receive federal funding. Illegal immigrants have no incentive to learn English or about American culture. Legal immigrants are treated worse than dirt by our American bureaucracy.
Welfare reform is desperately needed. We shouldn't give welfare to non-citizens. Secondly, there needs to be a ban on welfare to green card holders as well. 43% of legal immigrants are on welfare after 20 years. The habit is formed early on.
War profiteering has a long history.
Supporting the Mexican dictator - astonishing! I never knew that...
Hats off to Texas for fighting it through and winning out over THOSE odds.
This “more through” NY times piece is just that....a piece of pure garbage. Although the story is mostly true, the author goes into “la la land” to tell the story as if he were there.
Read the article closely and you will find absolute bias against the confederates and pure love for the traitors...and that was exactly what they were.....TRAITORS!
In his article you would think he was actually at the battle.
(...A trigger-happy Confederate fired a rifle shot that shattered the summer night stillness. One of the watchmen crumpled dead into the dry grass and caliche soil.)
He even cites two remarkable incidents: One was the fact that he knew of a “trigger happy confederate” that was too quick on the trigger during the initial face to face conflict. The other was that the “trigger happy” shooter shot the man on the banks of the Nueces river and the man fell dead on the caliche ground.
Well, for you that don’t know the territory, the banks of the river are not caliche, they are limestone!
So much with this “Yankee” author’s detailed and non-biased story.
Wait a second. These guys who just wanted to farm their land and raise their families were “traitors” because they wouldn’t join the Confederacy??? Explain the logic behind that, if you would, please?
The referenced German loyalists were made of many (or entirely) Wendish Lutherans.
These immigrants never pledged allegiance to the Confederacy. So in no way can they be considered traitors. To claim so is to use the same manipulative tactics our current administration uses against us.
Treason did never flourish. What’s the reason?These nice, newly minted Americans saw treason flourishing - and made the mistake of calling it treason. It was their last mistake.
If treason flourish, none dare call it treason.
Sam Houston was trying to make it to La, where President Jackson had stationed a large contingent of US troops. Houston then planned to annihilate Mexican forces with the aid of US troops. The US was solidly on the side of the Texans.
I don’t think you read the NY times article...only the San Antonio article.
They were traitors and were going to Mexico so that they could escape to New Orleans to join the union army.
Why would they join the Union army and kill confederates? Peaceful people yes?
The Monument IIRC is only one of two places in the US where the Colors are at half mast all the time.
These Germans just wanted to stay out of the war and the Confederates were going after them because they believed them to be Union symptathizers. So as they were escaping the Confederates they were slaughtered on the plain. (the germans did not fight back) Women Children and men all dead on the plain.. A very dark day in Texas History. And the Confederate soilders wouldn’t let the German immigrants collect thier dead for a long time almost a year IIRC.
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qfn01
Why would they join the Union army to kill Confederates?
Perhaps because their allegiance lay with the Union, not the Confederacy. It could just as cogently be argued that aligning with the Confederacy would have been treason.
In any case, these immigrants were forced to either declare for the Confederacy or face extinction. They made their choice and were murdered as a result.
The South was capable of far nobler treatment for dissenters. And there is no justification for the wholesale slaughter of civilians with whom you disagree.
The descendants of those Germans are doing quite well in the Hill Country today.
Recommended reading for a background on those times ...
you must have went to PUBLIC FOOL SCHOOL.
Read this article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Texas_Navy
Here you will find the details about the US navy ship seized by Texicans for running guns to Mexico to fight against Texians.
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