Prince uncovers 19th-century plot to make Texas German

The Scotsman ^ | Fri 5 Sep 2003 | ALLAN HALL IN BERLIN

[gd124]

AN EXTRAORDINARY 19th- century plot by German nobility to take over Texas and turn it into a German country has been uncovered by a historian looking through old records of some of Germany’s oldest families.

Prince Hans von Sachsen-Altenburg discovered that in the 1840s, when Texas was still a republic, the nobles managed to raise a small fortune from the state of Prussia under cover of an economic club known as the Adelsverein, or Association of Nobility.

The association used the money to send almost 8,000 members to Texas on the pretext they were fleeing political persecution or poverty. But, according to the historian, many were wealthy aristocrats and military officers planning to take control of the republic.

"They used the clichéd image of impoverished immigrants flooding into the New World as cover to send thousands of their nobles, generals, and soldiers to Texas, to put their scheme into action," said Prince Sachsen-Altenburg.

He claims the man who hatched the plan to turn Texas Teutonic was Prince Carl von Solms-Braunfels, a German field marshal - and a blood relation of Queen Victoria - who had been hardened by European wars.

At the time, the bankrupt republic was protected by only a few hundred Texas rangers and had fewer than 40,000 people on its land.

As part of plans to win logistical aid from Britain, Prince Solms-Braunfels courted Victoria’s favour for a new "Germany in the West", claiming British economic interests in California and Mexico were threatened by a westward- moving United States.

According to the historian, the solution was to establish a German state of Texas.

From Europe, the Adelsverein had purchased more than three million acres of Texan land. But the group soon discovered it was unsuitable for farming and was occupied by some 10,000 warring Comanche Indians.

Under Prince Solms-Braunfels’s direction, the Germans established a series of forts such as Nassau, New Braunfels and Carlshafen - cities that still bear their German names.

To complement weaponry brought with them, correspondence sent back to Germany by Prince Solms-Braunfels in 1844 urgently called for more heavy artillery and rifles.

"Arms were sent over labelled only as ‘personal baggage’," said Prince Sachsen-Altenburg. "Hence it was not always documented at the US end."

The prince added that Britain considered sending military equipment overland from California. Messages between Lord Aberdeen, the foreign secretary, and the new German community were handled by William Kennedy, the British consul in Galveston.

"Unfortunately for the venture, it was this course of communication that ultimately proved their undoing and forced the US to speed up its annexation of Texas," the prince said.

"The government messenger was instructed to hand over the correspondence personally to the British consul. But instead of that, he was met by a US spy who drank him under the table and intercepted the information that was then sent to the White House."

Within weeks, James Polk, the US president, sent forces to the Texas border and Congress voted to annex the republic.

While Adelsverein diehards still aspired to establish a colony, financial and logistical support was largely withdrawn and the venture foundered several years later.

[drjimmy]

But instead of that, he was met by a US spy who drank him under the table and intercepted the information that was then sent to the White House."
So the Bush girls were just doing a little historical re-enactment when they were doing their underage drinking in Austin!

[Romulus]

Some friends once took me to a great German restaurant in San Antonio; wish I could remember the name.

[Romulus]

At the time, the bankrupt republic was protected by only a few hundred Texas rangers and had fewer than 40,000 people on its land.

"Protected" is one word for it. The Republic of Texas was a successful land grab engineered by outside soldiers of fortune. Doesn't surprise me a bit that some Germans thought it worth the gamble to try displacing the carpetbagging Anglos.

[Squantos]

I sicheres morgens froh dieses geschahen nie.............ya'll !

Stay Safe cmsgop !

[WOSG]

Ich bin ein Texan!

LOL! Great story, never knew that ... I am glad they tried, the german influence definitely adds to central texas culture ... part-German central-Texas (Austin) Ping.

[WOSG]

"Bratwurst and Dos Equis do not mix."

try it with Shiner Bock!!

[Porterville]

William Kennedy Good old Nazi Kennedys

[donmeaker]

One of the best beers in the world: Shiner Bock. The beer that made Texas talkative. Compared to it, Lone Star is horse urine.





Ok, diluted horse urine.

[donmeaker]

I figure that if it was a land grab, it was darned slow at it. How long from the time Austin began his colony near Sealy to the Alamo? some 30 years?

[Romulus]

30 years, huh? The term "wetback" must be at least twice as old as that, and there's no shortage of folks who'll tell you a land grab is precisely what all those people are up to.

[Consort]

"The Lone Iron Cross State"

[Greybird]

The Luftwaffe (the Federal Republic of Germany's version) has been training its fliers in Texas, under NATO agreements, since 1975. Relations with the locals have been quite cordial, with many of the German officers choosing to settle later in Texas out of liking the climate and their neighbors.

That is, matters were cordial until the recent Iraq brouhaha. Some of the German officers answered the locals' questions and hostility about why they wouldn't support the war by noting that they had to follow instructions from Berlin, and that this controlled what they could do.

[cmsgop]

What You said I sicheres morgens froh dieses geschahen nie.............ya'll !

In English....."I safe gladly this never happened in the morning"

Me too Squantos,Me Too..... :*)

[12B]

Ja, der lön Shtar Staat.

LOL

[donmeaker]

The Mexican government was enthusiastic about Americans moving into what is now Texas, for they recognized that it was under populated. They promulgated local home rule, and allowed the immigrants to keep their slaves. The Texas revolt occured when the government of Santa Anna changed the constitution, banned slavery, and severely limited local perogatives. As I recall, there was a flag that called attention to the constitution of 1836, indicating that they would end the revolt if they returned to the old constitution. A significant number of Texas soldiers were what we would now call "Hispanic" or Mestizo origin.

Ah, but the Yellow Rose, she was responsible for the winning of the Battle of San Jacinto, keeping Santa Anna in his tent through the morning.

[Centurion2000]

bump .... now this would make an interesting alternative history book.

Imagine how WW1 might have gone ... or even WW2 with a second German front aimed at Oklahoma and New Orleans.

[Romulus]

The Texas revolt occured when...

Yes, the creation myths are well known. As the saying goes, any stick is good enough to beat a dog.

Look; revolutions are messy affairs; you rarely know where they're going to wind up, and who's going to come out on top. I'm sure you had folks there ranging across the political spectrum, from those wishing for a redress of grievances, all the way to others determined to pry Texas away from Mexico, the better to advance their own fortunes. I reckon a great number of the mestizo Texans who took up arms to defend their rights were as surprised as anyone to find themselves American citizens.

[Prodigal Son]

They still had to cross the ocean and wind up somewhere before they got to Texas.

[BnBlFlag]

At this time, there were very few Mexicans in Texas. Every time they would try to settle in numbers north of San Antonio the Comanches (probably the most militaristic Indian tribe in North America) would wipe them out.
The Americans were invited in to provide a buffer against them. This provoked a great bloodletting between the Anglo/Scots Irish settlers and the Comanches on the frontier which at that time was Central Texas.
The Germans came in and settled in the Hill country of Central Texas and through shrewed negotiations were able to establish good relations with the Indians.
Later, most Germans (but not all) remained loyal to the Union at the time of the WBTS. They were easily and brutally put down by Texas Confederate forces.
Having said that, the Germans of Texas are now fully assimilated and are a vibrant and conservative force in our state.
Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander of Pacific Naval Forces in WWII, was a German Texan.

[donmeaker]

That's Von Nimitz to you bub!