however, even surprise and planning did not favor the Confederates. Two Germans wandering from the camp encountered the force. The Confederates fired on these two Germans, which alerted the camp to the assault. Thus alerted, the Germans beat back the first Confederate charge. Several Germans were disheartened by the Confederate presence and fled the field. Numbers vary, but Stanley McGowen estimates that twenty-three to twenty-eight Germans fled throughout the early morning hours. This reduced the German contingent by over a third. A second charge closer to dawn routed the Germans and led to the flight (at least five Germans fled near the end of the battle, including Tegener), serious incapacitation, or death of all German combatants. Casualties and aftermath Out of the 96-man force, the Confederate losses counted two soldiers dead and eighteen wounded, including Lieutenant McRae. Reports on the casualties of the vanquished Germans were sparse and inconclusive. In 1962, historian Robert Shook tallied the German casualties at thirty killed and twenty wounded. A more recent conclusion in 2003, made by historian Randolph Campbell, is that 19 Germans died outright in the assaults on the camp. That was not the final tally for the German Texans' losses. Following the battle, Confederate soldiers killed nine badly-wounded Germans outright; cavalrymen pursued nine more to the Rio Grande, where they likewise killed the fleeing Germans. The complete German casualty report then comes to approximately thirty-seven killed and unknown totals for wounded among those who fled and survived. Several Germans did survive the engagement and ensuing search. These combatants hid in Texas, fled to Mexico and California, or eventually joined U.S. forces in New Orleans as members of the 1st Texas Cavalry Regiment. More critical, however, was how the incident affected the German community in Texas for the rest of the war. Though Confederate actions met with some ire and loud objections from other German Texans, the incident marked the general end to overt German Unionist resistance in Texas for the remainder of the war. Legacy After the cessation of hostilities in 1865, Germans emerged as some of the most exuberant supporters of the United States' victory. The German-language Treue der Union Monument (loyalty to the Union), in Comfort, Texas, was dedicated on August 10, 1866, to commemorate those who died at the 1862 Nueces massacre. Except for those drowned in the Rio Grande, the remains of the deceased are buried at the