Ehrenberg, Herman, 1816-1866

Herman Ehrenberg was a German immigrant born circa 1816 in Germany, most likely in the village of Steuden, Prussia. He was a writer, surveyor, soldier, mining engineer, cartographer and early pioneer of Arizona. The former town of Mineral City along the Colorado River in Arizona was renamed Ehrenberg after his death in 1866. In 1834, Ehrenberg came to the United States. A year later in1835, at the start of the Texas Revolution, Ehrenberg came to Texas with the first company of the New Orleans Greys. Per his own statement, he was the youngest soldier in the company. He fought in the battle of Coleto in 1836, which led to the Goliad massacre. Ehrenberg was one of the few men to escape the massacre. He wrote an account of his travels and adventures in Texas and sent his writings to Germany to be published. His accounts were published under three titles. The first edition of his book was published in 1843 and titled "Texas und seine Revolution." The 1844 edition was called "Der Freiheitskampf in Texas im Jahre 1836," and the book was published again in 1845 as "Fahrten und Schicksale eines Deutschen in Texas."

Between 1840 and 1848, Ehrenberg traveled to Germany, St. Louis, Oregon, Tahiti and Hawaii. He was in California in time to participate in the "Anglo-American conquest of 1846-47", took part in the California Gold Rush in 1848-49 and helped survey and incorporate the town of Colorado City, Arizona in 1855. In 1856, Ehrenberg established the headquarters of the Sonora Exploring and Mining Company at Tubac, Arizona with another early pioneer of Arizona, Charles Poston. Ehrenberg was also appointed surveyor and mining engineer. During his lifetime, Ehrenberg sketched a number of maps which would later be found as historic and serve as "landmarks in American cartography". The areas he mapped include regions in Colorado, California, Arizona, and Honolulu, Hawaii. He also wrote articles for Mining Magazine and Journal of Geology and Arizona Weekly. Ehrenberg was shot and murdered on October 9th, 1866 in Dos Palmas, California on a road between San Bernadino and La Paz. It is unknown who shot him.

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