Gustav Schleicher
Encyclopedia
Gustav Schleicher (November 19, 1823–January 10, 1879) was a German
-born Democratic
United States Representative from Texas
. He was an engineer
who served briefly in the Texas legislature, and was a veteran of the Confederate Army.
in the German principality of Hesse
in 1823. He attended the Giessen University and studied engineering. He assisted in the construction of early railroads in Europe
.
He, Hermann Spiess
and Dr. Ferdinand Ludwig Herff
were among the leaders in a group of intellectuals who immigrated to Texas and founded a Fisher-Miller Land Grant
commune, named Bettina after the German literary figure and social visionary Bettina von Arnim
, on the banks of the Llano River
in 1847. According to the Handbook of Texas Online,"The community was intended to prove the truth of communist ideals and light the way for relief of the troubles in Europe, which had led to sporadic attempts at revolution and were later to lead to the abortive German revolt of 1848
."
. In San Antonio, he worked with others to begin the Guadalupe Bridge Company to build a toll bridge across the Guadalupe River
on the main road between San Antonio and New Braunfels
. He also was instrumental in forming the San Antonio and Mexican Gulf Railroad and he began to build a railroad from Port Lavaca
to San Antonio with Gen. Joseph E. Johnston
who was stationed in Texas.
In 1852, Schleicher became an American citizen and in was elected to the Texas House of Representatives
, where he served one term in the Fifth Texas Legislature
. From 1854—1861 Schleicher was surveyor of the Bexar Land District, which included most of the area from San Antonio to El Paso
. During this time he acquired title to extensive land holdings on the Edwards Plateau
. In 1856, Schleicher married Elizabeth Tinsley Howard. Beginning in 1858, he and his brother-in-law, Heinrich Dresel, published the San Antonio German-language newspaper the Texas Staats-Zeitung. Schleicher was a cofounder of the San Antonio Water Company in 1858 and of Alamo College in 1860.
He was elected to the Texas Senate
in 1859 representing the 31st District
which comprised territory west of San Antonio: Gillespie, Medina, and Uvalde Counties. Like most German immigrants, Schleicher opposed Texas's secession from the Union. However, after his adopted state joined the Confederacy
, Schleicher became a captain in the Confederate Army, in charge of Gen. John B. Magruder
's Corps of Engineers.
and served as engineer for the construction of the Gulf, Western Texas and Pacific Railway, which ran from Indianola, Texas
to Cuero, Texas
. According to the Handbook of Texas Online, "He founded the latter town as a way-station and moved to it soon afterward, in 1872."
In 1874, he was elected to Congress representing the 6th District
when it was drawn for the first time. He was reelected to two additional terms and served as a member of the Ways and Means Committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee and then as Chairman of the House Canals and Railroads Committee.
His activities in support of the gold standard
gained him a challenger within the Democratic primary in the person of John Ireland
, and Schleicher had to wage a bitter campaign before being nominated and reelected in 1878. He died on January 10, 1879, two months before the start of his third term. A memorial address by the Republican
floor leader James A. Garfield was more than a courtesy for a deceased junior member of the opposition party, and attested to the depth of feeling for Schleicher.
He was buried in the San Antonio National Cemetery
.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
-born Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
United States Representative from Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. He was an engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
who served briefly in the Texas legislature, and was a veteran of the Confederate Army.
Early life
Schleicher was born in DarmstadtDarmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
in the German principality of Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
in 1823. He attended the Giessen University and studied engineering. He assisted in the construction of early railroads in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
He, Hermann Spiess
Hermann Spiess
Hermann Spiess was co-founder of the Bettina, Texas commune in 1847. He became Commissioner-General of the Adelsverein after the resignation of John O. Meusebach.-Early life:...
and Dr. Ferdinand Ludwig Herff
Ferdinand Ludwig Herff
Ferdinand Ludwig Herff was a 19th Century German-born physician who emigrated to Texas and became a medical pioneer in San Antonio. He was one of the co-founders of the Bettina commune...
were among the leaders in a group of intellectuals who immigrated to Texas and founded a Fisher-Miller Land Grant
Fisher-Miller Land Grant
The Fisher-Miller Land Grant was part of an early colonization effort of the Republic of Texas. Its 3,878,000 acres covered between the Llano River and Colorado River. Originally granted to Henry Francis Fisher and Burchard Miller, the grant was sold to the German colonization company of Adelsverein...
commune, named Bettina after the German literary figure and social visionary Bettina von Arnim
Bettina von Arnim
Bettina von Arnim , born Elisabeth Catharina Ludovica Magdalena Brentano, was a German writer and novelist....
, on the banks of the Llano River
Llano River
The Llano River is a tributary of the Colorado River, approximately 105 mi long, in central Texas in the United States. It drains part of the Edwards Plateau in Texas Hill Country northwest of Austin....
in 1847. According to the Handbook of Texas Online,"The community was intended to prove the truth of communist ideals and light the way for relief of the troubles in Europe, which had led to sporadic attempts at revolution and were later to lead to the abortive German revolt of 1848
Revolutions of 1848
The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It was the first Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a year reactionary...
."
Texas politics and American Civil War
Schleicher became disillusioned with the experiment in Bettina (he is said to have remarked that "the bigger the men, the more they talked, the less they worked and the more they ate.") and moved to San AntonioSan Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
. In San Antonio, he worked with others to begin the Guadalupe Bridge Company to build a toll bridge across the Guadalupe River
Guadalupe River (Texas)
The Guadalupe River runs from Kerr County, Texas to San Antonio Bay on the Gulf of Mexico. The river is a popular destination for rafters and canoers. Larger cities along the river include New Braunfels, Kerrville, Seguin, Gonzales, Cuero, and Victoria...
on the main road between San Antonio and New Braunfels
New Braunfels, Texas
New Braunfels is a city in Comal and Guadalupe counties in the U.S. state of Texas that is a principal city of the metropolitan area. Braunfels means "brown rock" in German; the city is named for Braunfels, in Germany. The city's population was 57,740 as of the 2010 census, up 58% from the 2000...
. He also was instrumental in forming the San Antonio and Mexican Gulf Railroad and he began to build a railroad from Port Lavaca
Port Lavaca, Texas
Port Lavaca is a city in Calhoun County, Texas, United States. The population was 12,248 at the 2010 census. The County had a 3.6% growth which brought the county population to 21,381. The city itself is bringing in more business into the area. It is the county seat of Calhoun County...
to San Antonio with Gen. Joseph E. Johnston
Joseph E. Johnston
Joseph Eggleston Johnston was a career U.S. Army officer, serving with distinction in the Mexican-American War and Seminole Wars, and was also one of the most senior general officers in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War...
who was stationed in Texas.
In 1852, Schleicher became an American citizen and in was elected to the Texas House of Representatives
Texas House of Representatives
The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Texas Legislature. The House is composed of 150 members elected from single-member districts across the state. The average district has about 150,000 people. Representatives are elected to two-year terms with no term limits...
, where he served one term in the Fifth Texas Legislature
Fifth Texas Legislature
The Fifth Texas Legislature met from 7 November 1853 to 13 February 1854 in its regular session. All members of the House of Representatives and about half of the members of the Senate were elected in 1853.-Senate:...
. From 1854—1861 Schleicher was surveyor of the Bexar Land District, which included most of the area from San Antonio to El Paso
El Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
. During this time he acquired title to extensive land holdings on the Edwards Plateau
Edwards Plateau
The Edwards Plateau is a region of west-central Texas which is bounded by the Balcones Fault to the south and east, the Llano Uplift and the Llano Estacado to the north, and the Pecos River and Chihuahuan Desert to the west. San Angelo, Austin, San Antonio and Del Rio roughly outline the area...
. In 1856, Schleicher married Elizabeth Tinsley Howard. Beginning in 1858, he and his brother-in-law, Heinrich Dresel, published the San Antonio German-language newspaper the Texas Staats-Zeitung. Schleicher was a cofounder of the San Antonio Water Company in 1858 and of Alamo College in 1860.
He was elected to the Texas Senate
Texas Senate
The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing 31 single-member districts across the state with populations of approximately 672,000 per constituency. There are no term limits, and each term is four years long. The Senate meets at the...
in 1859 representing the 31st District
Texas Senate, District 31
District 31 of the Texas Senate is a senatorial district that currently serves Andrews, Bailey, Cochran, Crane, Dallam, Deaf Smith, Ector, Gaines, Glasscock, Hansford, Hartley, Hemphill, Howard, Hutchinson, Lipscomb, Martin, Midland, Moore, Ochiltree, Oldham, Parmer, Potter, Randall, Roberts,...
which comprised territory west of San Antonio: Gillespie, Medina, and Uvalde Counties. Like most German immigrants, Schleicher opposed Texas's secession from the Union. However, after his adopted state joined the Confederacy
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
, Schleicher became a captain in the Confederate Army, in charge of Gen. John B. Magruder
John B. Magruder
John Bankhead Magruder was a career military officer who served in the armies of three nations. He was a U.S. Army officer in the Mexican-American War, a Confederate general during the American Civil War, and a postbellum general in the Imperial Mexican Army...
's Corps of Engineers.
After the war and service in Congress
Schleicher practiced law in San Antonio when the Civil War was over and resumed his work in developing railroads. He is listed as one of the incorporators of the Columbus, San Antonio and Rio Grande RailroadColumbus, San Antonio and Rio Grande Railroad
The Columbus, San Antonio and Rio Grande Railroad was a Texas railroad that was never built.-Formation and charter:Railroads were begun in Texas in the 1850s with railheads on the Gulf Coast running inland. As the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos & Colorado Railroad completed its track-laying near Columbus,...
and served as engineer for the construction of the Gulf, Western Texas and Pacific Railway, which ran from Indianola, Texas
Indianola, Texas
Indianola is a ghost town located on Matagorda Bay in Calhoun County, Texas, United States. The community, once the county seat of Calhoun County, is a part of the Victoria, Texas, Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 1875, the city had a population of 5,000, but on September 15 of that year, a...
to Cuero, Texas
Cuero, Texas
Cuero is a city in DeWitt County, Texas, United States. The population was 6,571 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of DeWitt County. It is also unofficially known as the "turkey capital of the world"...
. According to the Handbook of Texas Online, "He founded the latter town as a way-station and moved to it soon afterward, in 1872."
In 1874, he was elected to Congress representing the 6th District
Texas's 6th congressional district
Texas District 6 of the United States House of Representatives is a Congressional district that serves an area including four counties to the south of the Dallas/Fort Worth area plus the southeast corner of Tarrant County. As of the 2000 census, District 6 represents 651,620 people...
when it was drawn for the first time. He was reelected to two additional terms and served as a member of the Ways and Means Committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee and then as Chairman of the House Canals and Railroads Committee.
His activities in support of the gold standard
Gold standard
The gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed mass of gold. There are distinct kinds of gold standard...
gained him a challenger within the Democratic primary in the person of John Ireland
John Ireland (politician)
John Ireland was the 18th Governor of Texas from 1883 to 1887. During Ireland's term, the University of Texas was established, and construction on the Texas State Capitol began...
, and Schleicher had to wage a bitter campaign before being nominated and reelected in 1878. He died on January 10, 1879, two months before the start of his third term. A memorial address by the Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
floor leader James A. Garfield was more than a courtesy for a deceased junior member of the opposition party, and attested to the depth of feeling for Schleicher.
He was buried in the San Antonio National Cemetery
San Antonio National Cemetery
San Antonio National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery in the city of San Antonio in Bexar County, Texas. It encompasses , and as of the end of 2005, had 3,163 interments.- History :...
.