DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker's got the story, and I'm just the one ridin' it down the road for you. Now, when the Civil War came knocking on Texas, not every county answered the door the same way. But Comal County — Comal County had already made up its mind.
The local newspaper had been beating that drum so hard and so long that when the 1861 vote finally came, it wasn't even close. Two hundred and thirty-nine for secession. Eighty-six against.
The cause had a loud voice in Comal County, and folks were listening. More than three hundred Confederate soldiers enlisted right here. Three hundred.
And they didn't all go to the same fight — not by a long shot. Captain Theodore Podewills led the Texas Mounted Rifles, and they rode out to join Hood's Texas Cavalry as Company F. Meanwhile, Captain Gustav Hoffmann's Company B of the 7th Texas Regiment was sent on one of the war's most ambitious gambits — the Arizona-New Mexico campaign.
The Confederacy had a dream: a nation stretching ocean to ocean. Company B fought to make that dream real. When that campaign closed, Hoffmann's men weren't done.
They were part of the recapture of Galveston — January 1st, 1863, a new year's day with gunsmoke in the harbor. And after that, the Red River Campaign, fighting to hold the federal army back from Texas soil. Then there was Captain Julius Von Bose.
His Company K served in the 3rd Regiment, Texas Cavalry, Arizona Brigade — ranging across Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana, the kind of service that put men in a different state practically every season. And Comal County itself? It became headquarters for a twenty-one county defense district.
General Robert Bechem, commanding the 31st Brigade of Texas state troops, ran that operation right here. But here's what doesn't get enough credit — what Comal County made. This place was a manufacturing and supply center, and it produced like it meant it.
Gunpowder. Flour. Lumber.
Sash and door frames. Cornmeal. Carded wool.
Cotton thread. Writing paper. The Comal Manufacturing Company was weaving wool and cotton cloth to put on soldiers' backs.
This county wasn't just sending men to the fight — it was feeding, clothing, and arming it. And then there's the story that almost happened. The Texas Paper Manufacturing Company had a vision bold enough to match any battlefield general: they ordered machinery from Europe — all the way from Europe — to make newsprint out of corn shucks.
Corn shucks. Now that is the kind of frontier ingenuity that makes you stop and blink. But losses in export funds stopped the project cold.
The machinery never arrived. The corn shucks stayed corn shucks. Sometimes the most Texas thing a story can do is get right up to the edge of the impossible — and stop just short.
Comal County, C.S.A. Three hundred soldiers, twenty-one counties, and a dream of newsprint made from nothing. That's the marker, and that's the mile.
What the marker says
Manufacturing and supply center in Civil War. The local newpaper urged southern cause so strongly that 1861 vote was 239 to 86 favoring secession. More than 300 Confederate soldiers enlisted here. The "Texas Mounted Rifles" of Capt. Theodore Podewills joined Hood's Texas Cavalry, as Co. F. Capt. Gustav Hoffmann's Co. B., 7th Texas Regiment, fought in the Arizona-New Mexico campaign to make the Confedercy an ocean-to-ocean nation; in the Jan.1.1863, recapture of Galveston; and in the Red River Campaign to prevent federal invasion of Texas. Capt. Julius Von Bose's Co. K served in the 3rd Regiment, Texas Cavalry, Arizona Brigade, in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. Headquarters for 21-county defense district under Gen. Robert Bechem, 31st Brigade, Texas state troops. Produced abundant wartime goods: gunpowder, flour, lumber, sash and door frames, cornmeal, carded wool, cotton thread and writing paper. Comal Manufacturing Co. wove wool and cotton cloth for the troops. Texas Paper Manufacturing Co. ordered from Europe machinery to make newsprint from corn shucks, but losses in export funds stopped the project.