In case you want to catch part three and four on tv, there's a great documentary series about "Germans in America." I was able to catch episode two.

In the high tide of German immigration to the United States, between 1848 and 1890, when many were sick of high taxes, low wages due to industrialization, debt was rampant among the rural population, oppressive gentry, dried up potato harvests and the failed German revolution, every fifth Texan was a German immigrant.

They were offered large lots of land, new hopes to attain civil liberties and were hungry for new business and trade with Europe. It wasn't all that rosy. Many died en route on the Atlantic, others got sick in the humid climate on the Gulf Coast or were killed by bandits when migrating inland. Those who survived as pioneers were successful and established themselves as cattle ranchers, beer brewers, publishers, pastors or local shop owners. One of those settlements is Friedrichsburg or Fredericksburg.

The founder, John O. Meusebach, sealed the only peace contract in North America between whites and Indians that was actually upheld. Meusebach offered the Comanches $3000 so they could settle on their land. There was a culture of sharing, once the Indians needed food, Gemans helped out and vice versa. The tradition is still celebrated today.

German settlers in Fredericksburg ignored tobacco and wheat as a source of income, because of its reliance on slave labor. Many denied military service during the Civil War and paid a high price; either they were persecuted, killed or locked up in jail. And believe it or not, the Texan cowboy stems from those pacifist Meusebachs.