Nueces, Battle of the

The state of Texas was deeply divided over the issues that ultimately tipped the United States into the Civil War. Although a firm southern state with an economy based strongly on slavery and cotton, Texas on the eve of the Civil War boasted a formida­ble population of Europeans, Hispanics, and frontiersmen, whose traditional loyal­ties were pro-Union.

Despite their ultimate defeat at the hands of Texan secessionists, hotbeds of Union loyalists remained in the state throughout the war. The Texas Hill Coun­try, isolated on the remote frontier and heavily populated by recent German im­migrants, formed the most vocal base of pro-Union support. Following the pro­clivity of Germans to organize themselves into Vereine, or societies, a number of Union clubs began emerging throughout the Hill Country immediately following secession.

The best known of these was the Union Loyal League Militia, led by a young Prussian named Fritz Tegener. The stated purpose of the militia was to defend the frontier from marauding Indians in the absence of federal troops. However, the group quickly evolved into a bushwhacker organization aimed at harassing Confeder­ate forces. The militia was formed on March 24, 1862, at a meeting of Union supporters, both German and Anglo, from the counties of Gillespie, Kendall, and Kerr. A company for each county was es­tablished, officers were elected, and Tegener was named major in command of the battalion. The tenacious Jacob Kuech- ler, who would serve as commissioner of the Texas General Land Office during Rad­ical Reconstruction, was elected captain of one of the companies. An advisory panel was also formed with Eduard Degener named as chairman.

Pro-Union unrest quickly came to the notice of the Texas government in Austin. On July 20, 1862, Tegener was informed that the Hill Country had been declared in rebellion against the Confederacy. A plan was quickly hatched whereby volunteers from the militia would form together as a unit and march to Mexico to join the Union army. Tegener sent word to the mili­tiamen to rendezvous at a point on Turtle Creek near modern Kerrville on August 1, 1862, from whence they would begin the march to Mexico.

On the appointed date a group of ap­proximately sixty-eight men, all but two of them German, met Tegener at Turtle Creek with the intention of making the arduous march. The militia broke camp on August 2 and set out for Del Rio at a leisurely pace. The party was entirely unaware that they were being pursued. Under orders from Captain James M. Duff, ninety-four troops under the command of Lieutenant Colin D. McRae set out in pursuit of Major Tegener and his men on August 3. Duff had recently been tasked by the Texas Con­federate command with pacifying the Hill Country.

McRae caught up to his quarry late in the afternoon on August 9. The militia­men were camped along the Nueces River, near present-day Comfort. Most of the Unionists lacked military experience and the group chose their campsite poorly. The following morning, at first light, McRae commenced his attack. At the conclusion of the battle, nineteen Unionists were killed and nine were wounded. McRae or­dered the wounded prisoners to be exe­cuted. He hotly pursued the remaining survivors, killing another eight men as they attempted to cross into Mexico on October 18, 1862. The few survivors, in­cluding Kuechler, either made their way to Mexico to fight as Union regulars, traveled to California, or simply returned home. The Confederates took minor casualties, with two men killed and eighteen men wounded.

The brutality with which McRae pros­ecuted his assault against the Union loyal­ists has caused many to remember the Bat­tle of the Nueces as the “Nueces Massacre.” McRae suffered little ill effect to his repu­tation and was ultimately promoted for successfully managing the campaign. The remains of the fallen Unionists were col­lected after the war and interred beneath a monument at Comfort on August 10, 1866. The monument’s inscription reads “ Treue der Union” (Faithful to the Union).

Jerry C. Drake

See also American Civil War, German

Participants in; Texas; Verein

References and Further Reading

Buenger, Walter L. “Texas and the Riddle of Secession.” In Lone Star Blue and Gray: Essays on Texas in the Civil War. Ed. Ralph A. Wooster. Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1995.

McGowen, Stanley S. “Battle or Massacre? The Incident on the Nueces, August 10, 1862.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly CIV (July 2000): 64-86.

Underwood, Rodman L. Death on the Nueces. Austin, TX: Eakin, 2000.