In the 1840s, Germany's economy was failing, and, inspired by Gottfried Duden's idyllic and adventurous picture books of America, 21 nobles devised a plan to move massive numbers of Germans to Texas. They promised comfortable travel and jobs, but high travel costs, nasty weather, and disease deterred their efforts. In order to receive land in Texas, the Germans agreed to settle the homeland of the Comanche. The Germans developed great rapport with the Comanche and struck a deal beneficial to both in the only time in American history that a private group forged a lasting treaty with a Plains Indian tribe. The Comanche were fascinated with German leader John Meusenbach's flame-red beard, nicknaming him "The Red Sun." The Germans hoped to form their own nation of Adelsverein, an ethnic enclave within the interior of Texas.
New Braunfels was the first Texas city created for German immigration.
(Lost States: True Stories of Texlahoma, Transylvania, and Other States That Never Made It by Michael J. Trinklein, 2010, Page 32-33)