Dark Blue Down South

By Voy Ernst Althaus

Dark Blue Down South is a historical novel about the Germans of the Central Texas Hill Country and other Texans who chose to fight for the North in the Civil War. The Texas Germans organized several companies of infantry and started for the Mexican border expecting to sail from Mexico to the North to join a Northern Army. They were intercepted by a Texas Cavalry unit near the Rio Grande River where a fight occurred. A small number of Germans survived the battle, and the execution of prisoners that followed the battle, and crossed into Mexico. These men managed to get to New Orleans, which had just fallen to the North, and joined the United States First Texas Cavalry which was being created from Texans who had chosen to fight for the North. This novel places two young men in this situation, has them hide from the Confederate conscription, flee to the Mexican border with the German infantry, make the voyage to New Orleans, join the U.S. First Texas Cavalry and then fight with that Northern unit for the remaining three years of the Civil War

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9781503525962

Voy Ernst Althaus

Voy Ernst Althaus is a retired petroleum exploration geologist and a retired Texas rancher who now writes history and historical fiction for the pleasure of doing the research and writing the books. He is a student of Central Texas Hill Country history and has published two books on the subject. He is also a student of Civil War history and has accumulated a considerable library on the subject. He has lived and worked in Central Texas and South Louisiana and traveled extensively along the Texas-Mexico border, so he knows the culture, history, geography, geology and biology of the areas covered in this book.

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Copyright © 2015 by Voy Ernst Althaus.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2014922043

ISBN:      Hardcover    978-1-5035-2594-8

                Softcover      978-1-5035-2595-5

                eBook           978-1-5035-2596-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 12/11/2014

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CONTENTS

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty One

Chapter Twenty Two

Chapter Twenty Three

Acknowledgements and Comments

Chapter One

"W hat time is it?" Karl asked.

Sam fished around in his pocket for his grandfather’s old watch, Eleven O’clock.

That quarter moon is about to set. It’s all the light we’ve got. Let’s find a place to camp before it gets dark.

Let’s check this stream ahead and see if we can find some water, Sam suggested.

The two young men’s clothes showed the effect of their ten days of hot, dusty, travel. Their horses showed the exhaustion of the extended night travel. They rode down into the valley and after a search found that the stream had a deeper spot that still contained water in spite of the August heat. They unsaddled their horses, watered them and staked them out to graze in a grassy spot beside the stream. Then they refilled their canteens and unpacked their remaining food.

This jerked venison and smoked sausage that we’ve been eating the last ten days is getting old to me, Sam said. Some bacon would taste good tonight, but I don’t think that we dare light a fire.

Here’s one of the biscuits your mother sent us if you want it, Karl offered. If you hold it in your mouth awhile it’ll soften enough so you can chew it.

They ate in silence until they finished their meal, then they packed the food back into their saddle bags.

Sam spread his saddle blanket for a bed. I wonder if we did the right thing leaving the Union camp back on the West Fork of the Nueces River. We could run into Indians or Mexican bandits anywhere between here and the Rio Grande. I think we had better hide during the day and travel at night until we get across the river.

I think we did the right thing to leave, Karl said. Those two riders that our hunting party saw against the skyline could be the Confederate cavalry instead of our other hunting party.

Our captain didn’t think we were being followed because we are supposed to have thirty days to get out of the country, Sam replied. I think he’s a fool. Our entire Union group should have kept riding for the Mexican border all night long.

How far is it to the Rio Grande from here?

Our guide said that the Nueces camp is forty miles from the Mexican border.

That leaves us with about thirty seven miles to go. This mesquite-cactus country is slow going. I don’t think we traveled more than three miles tonight.

They stretched out on their saddle blankets with their saddles as pillows and within minutes both were asleep.

Sam waked somewhat later with the feeling that a gunshot had disturbed his sleep. He found his watch and with the star light he could tell that it was three o’clock. He heard the noise again. It sounded like three distance gunshots to the north east, back in the direction of the Union camp. He waked Karl. The guards are jumpy at the camp we left, he said. I just heard some gunshots. They seem be shooting at everything that moves.

I hope that’s all that’s happening, Karl replied. That shooting could be the Confederates taking out our guards.

Daylight waked the men from a troubled sleep. They fished in their saddle bags for a cold breakfast and were quietly eating when the distant firing in the direction of the Union camp began again. The sound faded in and out as the wind shifted and lasted for what seemed to be a long time. The sound finally reduced to an occasional shot and then stopped.

The two listened intensely until nothing could be heard but the birds and insects that surrounded them. The Confederate cavalry found the camp all right, Sam concluded.

Do we run for Mexico or do we go back to see if we can help anybody that survived? Karl asked.

I’m for going back and checking, but we’ve got to give the Confederates plenty of time to clear out.

Let’s check the camp late this afternoon.

That sounds good to me, Sam said. Let’s move the horses to some better grazing and get as much rest as we can.

The day passed slowly for the two men. They tried to rest in the shade of a large oak tree, but occasional gunshots kept them agitated and awake and kept them speculating as to what was happening at the Union camp. They occasionally moved the horses to fresh grazing, trying to get them fed and rested and ready for the rest of the trip to the border.

As they saddled their horses around 4:00 o’clock to go back to check the Nueces campsite they heard another round of firing.

I’m getting scared to go back, but we’ve got to, Sam said.

Yeah, and we’ve got to be very careful.

The trip back to the Nueces camp was much faster than their journey by moon light had been the night before. By six o’clock they were near the Union camp. They hid their horses in the brush in a creek and advance the rest of the way on foot. Sam chose the thickest cedar-break above the bluff on the north-west side of the Nueces River to sneak into the area unobserved. They topped the last rise, being careful not to be seen against the sky, and settled behind a cedar at the edge of the bluff overlooking the campsite.

My God, Sam whispered, I’ve never seen so many buzzards in my life.

Me either. Those vultures have to be after something dead.

They stayed hidden in the cedar for a while watching for any movement in the clearing below. Nothing moved except the buzzards which shifted positions as more birds arrived. As the sun set they descended the bluff by a gully and advanced carefully to the edge of the clearing where they could see a barricade made of saddles and camp equipment.

We’ve got to check out what those birds are doing inside that barricade, Sam whispered.

O.K., I’ll follow you.

Sam advanced to the edge of the barricade. Dead bodies were strewn everywhere within the protective circle. The buzzards had already begun their work. He retched and lost his lunch. He turned and glanced at Karl who was having the same reaction.

When Sam could speak again he pointed with his rifle and whispered, There a lot more buzzards beyond those bushes over there. Let’s check them out.

They found more bodies in a group together in a small clearing. The buzzards had been busy here too. Sam retched again, but there was no more lunch to lose. Look at those guys, he said. They’ve been executed. Each one has a bullet hole in the back of his head.

We can’t do anything to help here, Karl said. The Confederates may still be nearby. Let’s head out for Mexico.

Chapter Two

Move back in time from

August 10, 1862 to April 1862

"M a, Sam called, I’m going to find Karl and do some squirrel hunting."

I hear you calling. Come in the kitchen and let me talk to you.

What’s up?

Don’t waste your time hunting squirrels. Your pa saw an unmarked sow with a litter of pigs down by the spring. Why don’t you take the dogs and see how many pigs you and Karl can catch and mark?

Good idea. If we have time we’ll still try for some squirrels for supper.

Sam got his rifle and two dogs and walked the rutted wagon road to the next valley. The dogs flushed several rabbits and Sam called them back. He found Karl chopping wood behind his parents’ house. Hi, Karl, he called.

How do you do, Sir, and how are you today?

What’s all of this formal greeting stuff that you’re pulling on me?

I’m practicing my English on you. Ma bought me a book to study. She says that I’ll never amount to anything in Texas if I can’t speak English without a German accent.

You’re a square headed Dutchman. You were born in Germany. You’ll never speak English without a German accent.

Ma thinks that if I run around with you enough I might learn.

If you learn to talk like me you’ll sound like you came from Kentucky.

Kentucky? Where’s Kentucky?

It is a long way north east of here. It took my family an entire spring and summer to get to the Texas Hill Country from there. I didn’t have a horse, and the women and children were in the wagon, so I had to walk every step of the way.

I’m finished chopping wood, Karl said. Help me carry it to the wood box, and I can go hunting with you.

As Sam dropped his wood in the box he noticed that Karl’s younger sister was in the kitchen. Hi, Anne, he said.

Anne blushed and nodded a greeting.

Karl got his rifle and they left the house. Where do you want to hunt? he asked.

We can’t hunt today. Pa saw an unmarked sow down by the spring that has a litter of pigs. If we can find her, the dogs will catch the pigs, and we can mark them with our marks.

That sounds good to me.

The dogs picked up the trail of the hogs at the spring and soon had them cornered in a cedar-break against a cliff above the spring.

Watch how my hog dogs work, Sam said. They’ve been bred for generations to catch hogs. He gave a signal, the dogs charged into the pack and caught a pig by its ears. Sam rushed in, caught the pig by a hind leg and threw it on its back.

What’s your pa’s mark? Sam asked. We’ll mark the first one for you.

It’s two overbites to the right and a crop to the left.

Sam cut the marks into the pig’s ears with his pocket knife and then turned it loose. He signaled the dogs to catch another pig, which they quickly did. Thirty minutes later all of the pigs had been marked.

That was a big litter, Sam observed. We marked four pigs for your dad and four for mine. This has been a successful afternoon.

Sure has been. Let’s go sit by the creek and cool down a little. This weather is hot for the end of April.

They found a flat rock overhanging the water in the creek, pulled off their shoes and let their feet dangle in the cool water. Sam watched the trees across the stream for any sign of a squirrel.

Is your family talking about all this secession business? Karl asked.

They certainly are. The Governor made all of the counties in Texas vote on secession. All of the frontier counties voted against it because they didn’t want the U. S. Army to abandon the forts and let the Indians come raiding.

Yeah, I heard that.

This county did one better. It voted 398 votes against secession with only 16 votes for it.

I heard that too.

My pa says the Confederates have been watching the German counties ever since that vote. He expects something bad to happen because of it.

Did you hear that a conscription law was passed by the Confederate Government earlier this month?

Yeah, that’s what Pa found out in town this week, Sam replied. You and I are both eighteen. We’re both going to be caught by it.

Not me. I pledged allegiance to the United States of America, along with the rest of my famil, when we became citizens. I’m not going to fight for the Confederates.

My Kentucky cousins aren’t going to fight for the Confederates either. We had a letter from them last month. Two of my uncles and three of my cousins have all headed north to join the Union Army.

Do you think they’ll make it there?

They should. It’s only a couple of hundred miles.

Are you going to let the Confederates draft you? Karl asked.

Not if I can help it. If I have to fight I want to fight for the Union. How about you?

I want to fight for the Union too. Most of the Germans in the Texas Hill Country feel that way too.

Say, is your family going to Fredericksburg for the dance Saturday night? Sam asked. We’re going. Pa says we have to do some socializing, or we’ll never get acquainted with our neighbors.

We’re going. My parents never miss a dance.

I have to get home now. Sam said as he put on his shoes.

Me too. See you Saturday night. Tell your sister to dress real pretty. I plan to dance with her.

You tell Anne the same thing.

Chapter Three

T he Reams family took their weekly baths on Friday night so that they would be ready to go to Fredericksburg on Saturday morning. Sam hated bathing in the wash tub so he and his father, Richard, bathed in the creek in spite of the cold water. On Saturday morning they packed the eggs, butter and cheese that they would trade for groceries into the wagon, along with a lunch, water and a change of clothes. After that was loaded they all climbed in. Richard and Mary rode on the wagon seat and Sam and his sister, Sally, wedged themselves into the corners at the back of the wagon in the room that was left. They each held one of their two younger brothers, Isaac and Bartlett, between their k nees.

Is everybody ready? Richard asked. It’s four hours to town. It’ll be getting hot by noon.

All set. Let’s go, Sam called back.

The rutted wagon road took them from one valley to the next until it finally wound down from the hills into the larger valley of the Pedernales River where Fredericksburg was located. They passed through developed farms as they neared the town. When they got to the stores where they planned to shop they stopped and tied the horses to the rail.

Mary supervised the candling of her eggs and the weighing of her butter and cheese and then did the grocery shopping. Richard bought feed and salt for the horses, chickens and milk cows. Sam and Sally keep their younger brothers and quickly became bored when they failed to locate any of their friends. When the shopping was finished, they drove to the public camping area at the abandoned Fort Martin Scott, which had a public well. They arrived