The Nueces Massacre of 1862: The Forgotten Texas Civil War Tragedy Where Wounded Unionists Were Executed

The Nueces Massacre of 1862: The Forgotten Texas Civil War Tragedy Where Wounded Unionists Were Executed

The Nueces Massacre of 1862 began on the evening of Aug. 9, when a group of mostly German Texas Unionists fleeing the Civil War toward Mexico made camp along the Nueces River. Hunting parties returning to camp reported unidentified riders following them, raising fears that Confederate troops had tracked them from the Texas Hill Country. Their leader, Fritz Tegener, dismissed the warnings and allowed the exhausted men to settle for the night on a…