The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 85, July 1981 - April, 1982 Page: 304
497 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Otfried Hans Baron von Meusebach, who was naturalized in 1845 as
a citizen of Texas and later, after the annexation, as a citizen of the
United States, was actually descended from a family in Saxony. This
correction is entered only as proof of the irresponsible manner in
which the Author of the tendentious article serves his readers fabrica-
tions as history. In the oldest published history of Germany, the
Sachsen-Spiegel,53 the account is given of the battle in 933 on the Saale
River (near the present city of Merseburg) in which the Magyars were
beaten by Emperor Henry the Fowler. All of the knights in Henry's
army who participated in this battle or who could not participate be-
cause of wounds received are listed in this account by name. Among
these names is that of John O. Meusebach's German ancestor whom
the Author of the disputed article has so ingeniously discovered cen-
turies later in Pomerania. Karl XII of Sweden arrived in Stralsund on
his flight from Turkey in 1712-more than seven centuries after the
battle near Merseburg.54
"Fisher was sent to New Orleans, but no one there wanted to extend
him credit as the Society's representative."
Wrong! Fisher was never sent by the Society to New Orleans; that
would be putting the fox to watch the geese."5
The Author's nonsense about the help and support of the Texas
Rangers shows precisely the kind of story that results when one takes
unconfirmed gossip and random reports for the truth. One must re-
member after all that a company of Rangers consisted of thirty men,
53The history von Rosenberg refers to here is not the Sachsenspiegel, written between
122o and 1230, but the Sdchszsche Weltchronik, written about 1230. The Sachsenspiegel
is a book of feudal law, written by the Low German knight Eike von Repgow. An ex-
amination of a High German translation of the Sachsenspzegel revealed no mention of
the battle near Merseburg or of Meusebach's ancestor. See Walter Koschorrek (ed.), Die
Heidelberger Bilderhandschrift des Sachsenspiegels (2 vols.; Frankfurt on the Main, 1970).
The Sachsische Weltchronik, by the same author, does mention a knight named Eckehart
von Mosbach, presumably Meusebach's ancestor. Ludwig Weiland (ed.), Siichsische Welt-
chronik, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, II (Hannover, 1877), 315.
54Karl XII, king of Sweden (1697-1718), escaped from Turkish imprisonment and in
disguise made his way through Hungary, Austria, and Germany to Mecklenburg; he
arrived in Stralsund on November 27, 1714. Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, IX (Leipzig,
1889), 534.
55In response to a letter of November 29, 184'5, from Count Castell, stating that credit
was to be increased according to need, Meusebach sent a messenger, F. H. Schladoer, to
New Orleans for that purpose. The draft on Ambrose Lanfear, the Society's banker there,
was rejected. In February, 1846, Meusebach went to New Orleans himself to ask for a loan
and to give Nassau Farm as security. This attempt failed also. King, John O. Meusebach,
79-82.304
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 85, July 1981 - April, 1982, periodical, 1981/1982; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101208/m1/350/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.