At Comfort, Texas, a funeral procession of three hundred people honored German patriots who had died for the Union. The fathers of four of the victims, old men of sixty and seventy years, led the procession before a funeral car drawn by four white horses, while the remains lay under the Union banner and a detachment of Federal troops accompanied the cortege. At the grave, E. Degener, father of two victims, delivered an oration that moved the mourners to tears, declaring that the fathers' sacrifice to their country and to liberty was great and painful, but that they would be proud to have offered their sons to the Union if victory brought the fruits that the nation and all humanity justly expected. Federal troops then fired a salute over the grave. Though the burial place was little and remote, it was held to be as sacred to the nation as places where thousands were buried, for these brave and devoted Germans gave their lives far from the loyal North and surrounded by enemies of the Union.

Photo: TeamOHE

Photo: TeamOHE

Comfort, Texas · USA