One by one, the names were read: Ludwig Bauer. Fritz Behrens. Ernst Bessler. August Luckenbach ....
One by one, the names of the 28 Hill Country area German settlers killed at the Battle of the Nueces echoed through shade trees next to the Treu der Union Monument in Comfort.
Another eight names followed — Germans who escaped the Nueces massacre but were hunted down and killed by Confederate troops on the banks of the Rio Grande.
The Comfort Heritage Foundation hosted Saturday’s memorial on the 162nd anniversary of the Aug. 10, 1862 Civil War skirmish that left three dozen area Germans dead and another two dozen wounded.
“This German language monument, erected in 1866, honors the memory of ... the German (men) from this region who were loyal to the union during the Civil War.”
Brenda Seidensticker Descendent of battle survivor
Timothy Phillips, left, and Blair Rudy represented the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War at Saturday’s memorial, commemorating the 162nd anniversary of the Battle of the Nueces.
Star photo by Jeff B. Flinn “This German language monument, erected in 1866, honors the memory of 68 mostly German (men) from this region who were loyal to the union during the Civil War,”said Brenda Seidensticker, whose great-grandfather August Hoffmann survived the battle.
Seidensticker first organized a celebration on the 150th anniversary in 2012.
The monument is one of only a handful of Union monuments in the South. The U.S. flag flies at half-mast in perpetuity, just feet from the stone monument.
“Trying desperately to reach U.S. federal troops by way of Mexico, (28) of the men were killed by vengeful Confederates ... in the Battle of the Nueces on Aug. 10, 1862,” Seidensticker said.
According to the Texas State Historical Association, the Unionists, mostly German intellectuals led by Maj. Fritz Tegener, had camped near the Nueces River without choosing a defensive position or posting a strong guard.
The 94 Confederates, led by Lt. C.D. McRae, came upon the camp on the afternoon of Aug. 9. The battle occurred on the west bank of the Nueces in Kinney County, about 20 miles from Fort Clark. Firing began an hour before sunlight the next morning; 19 of the 61 to 68 Unionists were killed; another nine who were badly wounded were executed a few hours after the battle. Two Confederates were killed and eighteen wounded, including McRae.
Of the Unionists who escaped from the battle, eight were killed by Confederates on Oct. 18, 1862, while trying to cross into Mexico, 11 reached home, and most of the others escaped temporarily to Mexico or to California.
After the Civil War came to an end, a group of Germans gathered the bones of their friends and buried them in August 1865 at the site, on High Street between Second and Third streets. The monument was erected in 1866.
Blair Rudy, past president of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, spoke briefly prior to the reading of the names.
“I first visited this monument about 20 years ago and was quite touched,” Rudy said. “It is my intention for the Sons of Union Veterans to continue this relationship with this community.
“We are gathered here to honor an amazing commitment of men in the 1860s. They really had a difficult time, culturally, what was going on — the conflict within the community, within their families, within their spirits,” Rudy said.
Rudy and Timothy Phillips, Commander of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War’s Department of Texas and Louisiana, attended dressed in clothing of the era — Rudy in a Union artillery captain’s parade or gala uniform.
“On behalf of the Department of Texas and Louisiana of the Sons of the Union veterans of the Civil War, it is my honor to recognize the men so memorialized here,” Rudy said, leading a moment of silence for the dozens in attendance.
Following the reading of the names of those who died, retired U.S. Air Force Col. Jay Baker paid Taps, bringing the ceremony to a close.
The Germans who died at the Nueces and Rio Grande — those eight bodies never recovered but memorialized at the monument with the others — are: Ludwig Bauer, Fritz Behrens, Ernst Bessler, Conrad Bock, Louis Boerner, William Boerner, Peter Bonnet, Theodor Bruckisch, Albert Bruns, Hugo Degner, Hilmar Degner, Pablo Diaz, Joseph Elstner, Edward Felsing, Herman Flick, Henry Hermann, Valentine Hohmann, J.G. Kalenberg; Fritz Lange, August Luckenbach, Heinrich Markwart, Adolph Ruebsamen, Louis Ruebsamen, Christian Schafer, Louis Schierholz, Emil Schreiner, Heinrich Steves, Heinrich Stieler, Fritz Tays, Wilhelm Telgmann, Adolf Vater, Fritz Vater, Michael Weirich, Franz Weiss, Morris Weiss and Heinrich Weyershausen.
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