Comal County, C.S.A.

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.