Texans and War: New Interpretations of the State's Military History

6. “All Eyes of Texas Areon Comal County”: German Texans’ Loyalty during the Civil War and World War I

6 “All Eyes of Texas Are on Comal County” German Texans’ Loyalty during the Civil War and World War I Charles David Grear NEW BRAUNFELS, TEXAS, the seat of Comal County, has a notable history of German culture and heritage. German settlers established the city in 1845 near the eastern edge of the Hill Country along the banks of the Comal and Guadalupe Rivers and on the major transportation route between San Antonio and Austin. Until the mid-twentieth century, the city was largely composed of German immigrants and their descendants. Despite a significant non-German population boom and the decrease of its Teutonic ties, Deutsche names still dot local businesses; restaurants; annual celebrations such as Wurstfest, Saengerfest, and Wassailfest; and the world-famous Schlitterbahn Waterpark. Other remnants from the past are two statues solemnly standing in the historic square: one depicting a Civil War soldier, neither Confederate nor Union, and the other an American “doughboy” from World War I. No other conflicts are memorialized there except these two—the most controversial for German Texans. These symbols inspire questions: How did New Braunfelsers react to the Civil War and the First World War, which tested their loyalties to their adopted country? Particularly, how did residents respond to questions over ethnic origins and national loyalty? During both wars, the surrounding region questioned the loyalty of the German population of New Braunfels. Residents also raised the ire of the Anglo-Texan population because of their resistance to cultural assimilation, fiercely maintaining their language , architecture, political ideas, and culture. Additionally German Texans thrived economically, especially the people of New Braunfels because of their proximity to San 134 Charles David Grear Antonio and Austin. Texans tolerated these annoyances during peacetime, but wars created distrust of anybody outside of the conventional culture. During the Civil War, neighbors questioned the loyalty of the recently arrived immigrants and their views toward the institution of slavery and their support for and defense of the southern cause. World War I produced similar sentiment, except that the Anglo population suspected World War I Soldier Monument, New Braunfels, Texas. Courtesy Charles D. Grear. “ALL EYES OF TEXAS ARE ON COMAL COUNTY” 135 New Braunfelsers’ devotion to Germany since they maintained its culture and their connections to the country. In both conflicts the citizenry of New Braunfels asked themselves, Do we fight for our views and homeland, or do we compromise to maintain our livelihood in Texas? Questions of loyalty are never easy to answer, especially in situations where one’s loyalty is split between two factions (proslavery or antislavery) or two localities. New Braunfelsers and German Texans as a whole had multiple local attachments: to their ideals, to their current home, and to their ancestral lands. When Germans immigrated to Texas, they did not simply forget who they were, their connections to their homeland , and their culture. In their lifetimes they amassed attachments involving issues that concerned them the most, including families—both immediate and extended (even those still in Germany)—and friends; localities, where they were born and their current homestead; and a way of life, ranging from their European culture to antislavery beliefs. All of these attachments had a direct bearing on New Braunfelsers’ decisions during the Civil War and the Great War. Regardless of how one analyzes the Civil War, it was a conflict over the future of the institution of slavery. The first German immigrants, commonly called “Greys” and arriving during the 1820s through the 1840s for economic opportunities, composed the majority of the New Braunfels population. Greys viewed slavery differently from their Anglo counterparts in Texas. Most were more apathetic, not openly hostile, to the institution because of their assimilation to southern and Texas culture. An editorial in the town’s newspaper, the Neu Braunfelser Zeitung, stated: “the majority of the Germans are not against the institution of slave labor and will support this institution in every political struggle. The Republicans, of course, have maintained that the Germans own no slaves, because it is not morally right. This is not true.”1 Complicating matters was another Grey, Dr. Hermann Nagel, who wrote to his mother in Germany describing his abhorrence toward the existence of slavery in the Lone Star State. In one letter he declared, “I will never be able to reconcile myself with the belief that slavery is the actual foundation of the state, that the continued existence of slavery is not merely...