Nassau Plantation: The Evolution of a Texas German Slave Plantation

Introduction

1 INtroduCtIoN The idealistic and delusionary attempt by the Society for the Protection of German Emigrants in Texas to settle thousands of German emigrants on the Texas frontier in the 1840s is a story of epic proportions , which one scholar characterized as the greatest tragedy of German emigration to the New World in the nineteenth century, but ultimately the greatest triumph.1 The nineteenth century witnessed many schemes for promoting immigration in the New World; in scope and audacity, however, their program stands alone. This organization, which often goes by the shorthand name Adelsverein , or Society of Noblemen, managed to effectively settle many thousands of Germans on the Texas frontier in 1845, 1846, and 1847, emigrants who eventually made the transition to and created community in their new home in Texas. Viewed from this perspective, the Adelsverein’s program has to be considered a monumental and unparalleled success. But for the organization itself, its efforts in Texas —as judged by the goals it had set for itself, which were to reap financial reward and to gain prestige for the organization—can only be considered a catastrophic failure. Nassau Plantation, located in northern Fayette County near Round Top, Texas, was the first possession of these noblemen in Texas and was an important possession for them from beginning to end. Nassau Plantation failed miserably as an experiment in slavery by German noblemen in Texas, yet it ultimately succeeded in solidifying and enriching the German presence in South Central Texas. It did this by attracting fresh emigrants who likewise were successful in creating a 2 Introduction new home and community in the New World. In this, the plantation reflected the larger success of the Adelsverein in Texas. The main significance of the plantation, however, has been almost completely overlooked in the extensive literature about German emigration to Texas. The plantation played an absolutely essential role in supporting the thousands of emigrants introduced by the Adelsverein into the Texas Hill Country in the years 1845, 1846, and 1847. Through the plantation’s supportive role in these critical years, the newcomers gained breathing room in which to plant gardens , to fence in and cultivate their fields, and to erect rudimentary housing. Without this support, surely hundreds more would have perished, and the whole venture would have collapsed in complete chaos and disorder, leading most likely to a large withdrawal of the German settlers from the area. Disillusioned and embittered, many would have chosen to return to Germany, but for those who remained , a retrenchment to more settled areas of the state would have been necessary.2 The sheer grittiness of the Adelsverein’s program has led to much speculation: were these men simply idealistic and naïve, or was something more disturbing at play here?3 Not surprisingly, a large literature has grown up about the history of the German settlements in Texas. Indeed, fascination about it has spawned a cottage industry of Texas—German nostalgia to go along with the many solid works of historical research on the subject. The continued output led one scholar to remark that he could not read one more book about Germans in Texas.4 This is unfortunate because a wealth of original source material , largely underutilized, is available to scholars to document the Adelsverein and the plantation. This study has relied heavily on the thousands of documents in the Solms-Braunfels Archives (and related collections) to offer a fresh perspective on the formative period of the Society for the Protection of German Emigrants in Texas.5 These documents reveal significant contradictions and divisions in concept and purpose within the Society, both in Texas and in Germany, which the plantation came to symbolize. This material also deepens our appreciation for the role played by the 3 Introduction Adelsverein and the plantation in the contemporary debate about slavery and immigration. The plantation represented an organized attempt to set up a slave plantation by German noblemen in the 1840s. This fact alone renders the conventional belief that the Germans in Texas were uniformly opposed to slavery problematic. Yet, the extensive and sometimes contentious debates on this subject have uniformly ignored the role of the plantation. The path to successful assimilation for Germans of this period led unavoidably through the minefield of slavery, a challenge which lay dormant until the Civil War brought it dramatically and violently to the forefront. The anomaly of Nassau Plantation, a German slave plantation in...