Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels

( Friedrich Wilhelm ) Carl ( Ludwig Georg Alfred Alexander), Prince of Solms- Braunfels, called " Texas -Carl " ( born July 27, 1812 in Neustrelitz, † November 13, 1875 at Castle Rheingrafenstein at Kreuznach ) was kuk Austro- Hungarian field marshal lieutenant and founder of the settlement New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas (USA).

Family

Solms came from the noble noble line of the Prince of Solms- Braunfels, a line of the noble family Solms, and was the youngest son of Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Solms- Braunfels (1770-1814) and Friederike of Mecklenburg -Strelitz ( 1778-1841 ).

He married in 1834 secretly in a morganatic marriage Louise Beyrich, but broke up - but in response to the family - early 1841 from her again and brought ( along with Apanage ) their collection as Louise von Schönau in the Grand Ducal Hessian nobility ( Darmstadt on March 25, 1841 ). With Louise he had three children Marie ( * 1835), Karl ( * 1837) and Melanie (* 1840). Son Charles was enrolled as Karl von Schoenau, privateer in Munich on March 20, 1912 in the Royal Bavarian nobility.

After returning from Texas, married Solms on December 3, 1845 in Bendorf on the Rhine ( Rheinland - Pfalz) Sophie Princess of Löwenstein -Wertheim -Rosenberg ( born August 9, 1814 Neustadt am Main, Lower Franconia, Bavaria, † January 9, 1876 in Kreuznach ), widowed Princess zu Salm -Salm, daughter of Prince Constantin zu Löwenstein -Wertheim -Rosenberg and Mary Kreszentia Countess of Koenigsegg -Roth rock, and had with her two sons and three daughters. Princess Sophie had previously in his first marriage on March 24, 1841 in Klein Heubach ( Landkreis Miltenberg, Bavaria ) Franz Josef Prinz zu Salm -Salm ( born July 5, 1801 in Herten, Recklinghausen, North Rhine -Westphalia, † December 31, 1842 in Bonn, North Rhine -Westphalia) married.

Life

Youth in Germany

Solms, related to the English, Prussian, Russian and Belgian royal family, learned three languages ​​and the legal system, but had to follow the officer's career. In 1839 he was sentenced to a four-month jail stay because of " the absence of the force" of a Prussian military court.

After solving his morganatic marriage with Louise Beyrich, later Louise von Schönau, in 1841 he joined - rather, he had it but in response to the royal house to avoid further family shame - immediately into the Austro- Hungarian army and became captain ( Captain ) of the cavalry. After several combat missions he was in Biebrich on the Rhine in garrison and began to be interested in Texas, especially the issue of emigration in this " Promised Land " through various books was just very timely.

Solms was a founding member of the " Association for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas ", which was founded on 20 April 1842 by 21 nobles in Biebrich and named because of its proximity to Mainz also abbreviated to " Mainzer Adelsverein ".

Stay in Texas

Solms took leave for one year from the army and went on behalf of this Association as its first Commissioner General in the United States. First, he traveled with his entourage - this included the 19 -year-old hussar officer Hans von Specht - Liverpool (England), which he left in the direction of North America on May 19. On May 31, he reached Boston in Massachusetts. Along the Ohio River and the Mississippi Rivers, the convoy came to New Orleans ( Louisiana) and finally reached on July 1, 1844 Galveston, Texas. Solms had the mandate to procure land in Texas. He founded in the Matagorda Bay an imaginary for the arrival of the settlers port called " Carlshafen " which later became known as Indianola. In December Solms there already received the first 200 families who had arrived after 10 weeks of crossing; many of the passengers had, however, did not survive the rigors of travel. To make matters worse, there was also no country. It was only on March 18, 1845 bought Solms 500 acres of land at the confluence of the Comal River and Guadalupe River on the road from San Antonio to Austin, where finally the arrival of the first settlers treks on March 21, the town of New Braunfels (New Braunfels ) was founded - in the 1850s, already the fourth largest city in Texas.

Officer of two armies

Solms returned on May 15, 1845 Germany back after it had been successfully replaced by Otfried Hans Freiherr von Meusebach, and re-entered the army. A year later (1846 ) he left the Austro- Hungarian army and joined as a lieutenant colonel to the Grand Duke of Hesse army. But in 1850 he returned to the Austrian army and in 1859 commander of a brigade of dragoons on Lake Constance. In the German War of 1866 fought as Solms of Austro-Hungarian Major General and Brigadier of the 1st Reserve Cavalry Division in the 10th Army Corps under the command of Field Marshal Ludwig Freiherr von Gablenz and adopted on June 27, 1866 the Battle of Wysokow (now Vysokov, Czech Republic ) participated.

Retirement

In 1868, Solms retired with the rank of lieutenant field marshal and colonel - proprietor of the Galician - Bukowina'sches Dragoon Regiment " Archduke Albrecht" No. 9 from the army and retired to his castle Rheingrafenstein at Kreuznach on the Nahe back.

Solms died on 13 November 1875, and was buried in the city cemetery of Kreuznach.

His companions, but also historians, gave him the nickname " Texas -Carl ", " Texas Don Quixote " or "last knight of the Middle Ages ," which his character and temperament are fully described.