Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas Page: 471 of 894
762 p., [172] leaves of plates : ill., ports. ; 30 cm.View a full description of this book.
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394
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
GEORGE BERNHARD ZIMPELMAN,
AUSTIN.The pioneers of Texas whose coming antedates
the year 1846, are, as years pass, rapidly joining
the "great majority," and those who remain are
representatives of an historic past, whose experiences,
with the passage of time, become more and
more interesting.
George B. Zimpelman left his native home in
Germany in 1845, and came to America to seek
his fortune. He was born in the then Kingdom of
Bavaria, July 24th, 1832. His father, John J.
Zimpelman, was a life-long and influential citizen,
and by occupation a prosperous farmer. He was
also born in Bavaria, was there reared, and married
a daughter of Valentine Hochdoerffer, who was
likewise a well-to-do farmer in Bavaria.
Much had been published and circulated in Germany
and other foreign countries about this time
concerning the new Republic of Texas, and young
Zimpelman, having caught the spirit of the hour,
decided to make his way hither. He decided on
New Orleans as his first American point of destination,
landing there in January, 1845. He remained
there about one year, and served as a
salesman in a dry goods house, and in December
of the same year proceeded to Texas and to
Austin, the recently established seat of goveinment.
Austin was then on the extreme Western
frontier. Settlers had, however, taken up farms
along the Colorado and in the vicinity of the
capital city. Building operations were quite lively,
and, in lieu of something better, young Zimpelman
adapted himself to the situation, and took up carpentering
as an apprentice, and in due time became
a master carpenter. He continued in this
business until 1854. He then became interested in
and followed gunsmithing for two years. In 1856
he located on a stock farm near Austin and pursued
stockraising and agriculture until the breaking
out of the great Civil War. Upon the first call to
arms in 1861 he promptly volunteered to defend
the cause of his adopted country, and became a
member of Terry's Texas Rangers, the Eighth
Texas Cavalry, as a private, and followed his
regiment through all of the vicissitudes of that
sanguinary conflict, sharing in all of its victories
and defeats, and declining all offers of advancements
from the ranks, preferring to stand in line
of battle with his comrades. The heroic services
of Terry's Texas Rangers as an organization isalready a matter of historic record, and needs not
to be here recounted. Mr. Zimpelman, with his
regiment, participated in many of the hardest
fought battles of the conflict, and in the battles
of Murfreesboro, Shelbyville, Corinth, Shilo, and
Chickamauga, was six times wounded, and was
three times wounded in the siege of Atlanta.
After the war he returned to his farm near Austin
and resumed the peaceful avocation of stock
raising. In 1866 he was elected Sheriff of Travis
County, but the Radical reconstruction policy of
the United States Government precluded his serving
as such. This state of affairs soon, however, came
to an end and, he was again elected to the office in
1869 and re-elected in 1873, serving-until 1876.
Upon retirement from office he engaged in banking
in the city of Austin as a member of the banking
firm of Foster, Ludlow
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A history of pioneers in Texas and their confrontations with local American Indians.
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Brown, John Henry. Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas, book, 1880~; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth6725/m1/471/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.