Treue Der Union Monument - Comfort, TX - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

"The four faces of the main section of the monument are carved to form recessed panels, each inscribe d with different wording. This section is constructed of four pieces of stone. "True der Union" is engraved on the front panel. The panel to the right contains the names of those captured and murdered after the battle. The next, the names of those 19 men who were killed in action at the Battle of the Nueces, and the fourth panel the names of those who were killed two months late r attempting to cross the Rio Grande River. The main section is capped with two large stones, which together were carved to form four pediments, resembling Greco-Roman forms. The four corners of the pediment have simplified shapes which recall classical acanthus leaf finials.

This monument has a three-fold significance for Comfort, for German Texans, for Texas and for the Nation .

First of all, "Treue der Union" monument is the only community monument within a participant Civil War state to honor the 'other side'; and has often been referred to as "the only Union monument south of the Mason-Dixon Line."

Secondly, it stands as the single most important symbol honoring the loyalty and courage of the more than 20,000 Germans who immigrated to Texas in the mid-1800s.

Finally, it may also be the only monument in the Nation responsible for the survival of a community. Many students of the German immigration believe that this monument was the principal reason why Comfort, only 12 years old when the monument was erected in 1866, survived, while similar German settlements vanished into history. The only apparent significant difference was that Comfort had a monument symbolizing the very roots of the people in their new land. To desert the young settlement would have meant both an abandonment of those consecrated by "Treue der Union," and a symbolic rejection of the principal value for which they died, loyalty to country. This monument is dedicated specifically to 36 predominantly German-born Americans who died because of their loyalty to the United States. It was erected above - common grave, in which were interred their remains, retrieved from a tragic South Texas battle site at the war's end. Texas' secession from the Union to join the Confederacy in 18 61 was strongly opposed by the German settlers, many of whom had just sworn their allegiance to the Union as new citizens. Rather than renounce this oath by swearing the newly-required oath to the Confederacy, in frustration, some 65 young men of the German-populated counties of Kendall, Kerr and Gillespie chose instead to escape to Mexico. From there, many hoped to join Union forces and fight for their beliefs. Few succeeded."