German-Texan Heritage Society, The Journal, Volume 22, Number 3, Fall 2000 Page: 58
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58
Antonio, and Friedrichsburg to Glen Rose (just South of present-day Fort Worth), Dr. Roemer returned to
Germany. Perhaps it was best that Dr. Roemer got himself out of the volatile local politics, which may be why he
never mentioned Schubert in any way again, as far as we know. He might have had to face him again in Germany
one day...maybe in a duel!
The Adelsverein promised the immigrants signing up for Friedrichsburg, or perhaps assigned to Friedrichsburg,
that a church, school, city hall, and fortress would be built for them. Because the funds of the Texas Verein were
quickly drying up, Meusebach approved of the idea, probably Schubert's, to build a Mehrzweckhalle, that is, one
building that would be able to serve all the functions of the various buildings promised. What Schubert came up
with was an eight-sided building with a small eight-sided tower from which rifles could be shot in all directions.
This unique 1847 building has been rebuilt faithfully to its original design and serves today as part of the
Pioneer Museum. Speculation has it that Schubert might have gotten the idea from either a similar looking church
in his hometown of Kassel or from the design of New York harbor's Castle Garden immigration receiving station.
In earlier times Castle Garden was Fort Clinton to defend New York from the British.
Schubert might have come through Castle Garden processing center on at some of the trips to from Germany.
Immigrants would first stop at a medical examination center before then being taken to Castle Garden where the
immigration procedures were completed. Today the Castle Garden site is said to be in Battery Park. The legendary
Ellis Island facilities began to be constructed in 1890, forty three years after "Dr." Schubert arrived in
Friedrichsburg. Another possibility is that Schubert remembered the round design of the Karlskirche in his
hometown of Kassel, built by Huguenot Protestant refugees from France to which his family belonged.
No doubt the people of Friedrichsburg were again disgusted with the Adelsverein for coming through with only
one building instead of the four buildings they had promised. But, by then, they had experienced other broken
promises on the part of the Adelsverein. Today, however, this little gem of a building sits proudly in the middle of
the Marktplatz Park in the heart of the city. It has become the city's cherished trademark.
Little by little Schubert did all he could to engineer the undermining of Meusebach's reputation. In the months
before Meusebach made the decision to go directly to the Comanches due north of Friedrichsburg to negotiate the
Peace Treaty, Schubert figured he would beat Meusebach to the punch.
Schubert, using his authority as city director, decides to "survey" the wilds of the countryside "northwesterly"
of Friedrichsburg. The Indians' main campground was due north. Some say he wanted the distinction of being the
first German to set foot in the Fisher-Miller Land Grant area and open the area for settling by making a treaty with
the Comanches.
The area to which they were headed was where a mixture of various nomadic Indian tribes from the high plains
and plateaus came to hunt the plenteous game in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. Schubert covers his real
motive of upstaging Meusebach by proclaiming himself in his writings (when lie returned to Germany in 1854) as
the true friend of the Indians.
As Schubert and his party entered more deeply into the wilds, a member of Schubert's scouting party, Herr
Gunst, probably to be witty or to vent inner contempt he was harboring against Schubert, refers to Schubert as a
"coward", which was exactly the wrong thing to say to a person of Schubert's ilk. A duel ensued and Gunst was
shot in the stomach. (1. MS II. 6-J) Louis Gunst came to Friedrichsburg from Bingen am Rhein as a single
person. He landed in Galveston on April 8, 1846 on the ship Hamilton, and had the honor of becoming a First
Founder of the city of Friedrichsburg exactly one month later.
Another account by another Friedrichsburg First Founder, local historian Julius Splittgerber, maintains thatSchubert had insulted Gunst about the way Gunst had packed his provisions and had mounted them on his horse.
Gunst declared that his pride has been violated and challenged Schubert to a duel, which Schubert was only too
eager to oblige. Gunst was critically wounded in his belly. Schubert was unscathed. (1. MS IL 6-K)
The group then returned quickly to Friedrichsburg with the gravely wounded Herr Gunst, who soon died. The
accusations and charges started flying. Meusebach became so incensed with Schubert that he started listening
more respectfully to Schubert's fast-growing list of detractors.
Nassau Hof, or Nassau Farm, was a profitable cotton-producing slave plantation bought out of the 'W. H. Jack
league in 1843 for the Adelsverein by Count Joseph von Boos-Waldeck. The count, also accompanied by Prince
Viktor von Leiningen was sent to Texas by the Adelsverein directors of Germany to make initial preparations for
the planned mass "entfernung" to get rid of problem-Germans in their political cleansing scheme. (Care must be
taken not to consider the entfernung as being deposed or a mandated removal. Free land was a great incentive.
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German-Texan Heritage Society. German-Texan Heritage Society, The Journal, Volume 22, Number 3, Fall 2000, periodical, Autumn 2000; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1507441/m1/64/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting German-Texan Heritage Society.