Germans Massacred South Texas 1862, Many Executed. Bodies Left to Rot in the Texas Sun.

Germans Massacred South Texas at Nueces River crossing. “On August 10, 1862, several dozen Hill Country men, mostly Germans, were camped along the banks of the Nueces River. Most of them refused to fight for the Confederacy and were on the run toward Mexico. Little did they know, a group of Confederate soldiers were in hot pursuit on horseback. Shots rang out. There was an ambush. When the smoke cleared, 19 Germans lay dead. Roughly 15 were wounded, and some managed to escape. Two hours later, nine of the wounded were taken outside camp and executed. A week later, eight more were caught trying to escape across the Rio Grande. They, too, were executed. It was called the Nueces Massacre. One historian called it “a crime unjustified by even the rules of savage warfare.” It struck fear in Germans across Texas. German immigration halted. Many Germans in Texas fled north or to Mexico. The Treue der Union Monument in Comfort stands as a memorial to the 36 German men and boys killed in the Nueces Massacre. “