Battle of the Nueces

Nueces Massacre
Part of the American Civil War
Date August 10, 1862 Location Nueces River Result Confederate victory, execution or flight of all German Texans
Belligerents
Confederate States	Texas-German Unionists
Commanders and leaders
Hamilton Bee, James Duff, Colin McRae	Fritz Teneger
Strength
96	61
Casualties and losses
2 dead, 18 wounded	37 dead, unknown wounded and fled

The Nueces Massacre, also known as the Massacre on the Nueces, was a violent confrontation between Confederate soldiers and German Texans on August 10, 1862, in Kinney County, Texas. Many first-generation immigrants from Germany settled in Central Texas in a region known as the Hill Country. They tended to support the Union and were opposed to the institution of slavery. Because of these sentiments, the Confederate States of America imposed martial law on Central Texas. A group of Germans, fleeing from the Hill Country to Mexico and onward after that to Union-controlled New Orleans, was confronted by a company of Confederate soldiers on the banks of the Nueces River. This ensuing German defeat represented an end to overt German resistance to Confederate governance in Texas, but it also fueled outrage among the German-Texan population. Disputes over the confrontation and the efficacy of Confederate actions after the battle, according to historian Stanley McGowen, continue to plague the Hill Country into the 21st century.

Germans immigrated to Texas as early as 1836. By 1860, the German population in Texas, predominantly first-generation immigrants, reached an approximate level of 20,000 across the entire state. They settled heavily in an area known as the Hill Country. The exact dimensions of Hill Country are not concrete, but historian Robert Shook describes it as mostly existing in a “geographic triangle” between San Antonio, Seguin, and New Braunfels in South-Central Texas. Germans settled so heavily in this area, that the counties of Gillespie,Kerr, Kendall, Medina, and Bexar comprised a “German Belt”.

During the antebellum period, Germans displayed a complex set of opinions on slavery and secession. There were several Germans who owned slaves, and some eventually supported Texas secession from the United States. Most Germans, however were apathetic to slavery. A vocal minority of Germans was actively antagonistic to the institution of slavery. These antagonistic Germans included liberal and republican-minded Germans known as Achtundvierziger or Forty-Eighters. Many Forty-Eighters remained loyal to the United States and several opposed slavery. Most secessionist Anglo-Texans found this to be an affront to their insurrection against the US. German opposition to slavery led to an animosity between the two groups throughout the 1850s. These disputes were magnified by Texas' secession from the United States in March 1861, and the start of the American Civil War on April 12, 1861.

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