Peace with the Indians

Several bands of Comanche and Lipan Apache lived in the part of Texas where Germans established Fredericksburg, making interaction between the German immigrants and Native Americans inevitable and potentially hostile. The Comanches were expert horsemen and posed a threat to inhabitants in their territory, and the Germans were the first substantial settlers in this part of Texas that the local Indians would face. The Germans and the Comanche bands in the area soon established a peaceful relationship. Early in 1847, John O. Meusebach, a German nobleman who led the first immigrants to Fredericksburg, negotiated a peace settlement between Comanche chiefs Buffalo Hump, Old Owl, and Santa Anna and the new German residents. Soon both groups realized the benefit of the other and trade flourished. As a result of the peace settlement between the German settlers and the Comanche Indians, the soldiers at Fort Martin Scott never fought a battle with Indians in the area around Fredericksburg.

Fredericksburg, Texas · United States