Comfort's Treue der Union Monument

Take a leisurely stroll through downtown Comfort, Texas, and you'll begin to see and feel the history and charm of this quaint Hill Country town, established by German settlers in the mid-1800s. Committed to preserving its rich history, much of the midtown area is on the National Register of Historic Places. These original town structures are now home to welcoming shops and restaurants, not to mention our very own Hotel Giles.

One of Comfort's most notable tributes to its place in American history is the Treue der Union Monument. You'll find the monument on High Street, just a few blocks from Hotel Giles, between Third and Fourth streets. Meaning "Loyalty to the Union," this German-language monument is inscribed with the names of 36 Union loyalists captured and killed in the Battle of Nueces on August 10, 1862.

Settled by freethinkers and abolitionists, Comfort was a center for Union sentiment during the Civil War. These Union sympathizers opposed slavery and the idea of the state's succession from the Union. As friction developed with Confederate forces, a group of German immigrants fled the Hill Country, rather than fight against their adopted homeland. They were headed to Mexico, planning to cross the border  then make their way to Union-controlled New Orleans. However, the group was surprised and attacked by mounted Confederate soldiers on the west bank of Nueces River, and the settlers were captured and killed.

The bones of those lost in this massacre were retrieved and placed at this site in 1865, with the monument erected in their memory in 1866. Dedicated just four years after the tragic battle, the monument is the oldest Civil War monument in the state of Texas. Plus, it was the first and is one of only six permitted to fly the American flag at half-staff in perpetuity.

“History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” – Maya Angelou