Well, my good friend Dale just tagged me on the Book Tag that is making the rounds so here is the response.

It became summer when Meusebach persuaded D.K. Klaener to write the mayor of Bremen and tell of the verin's financial plight, the summer when the Monken family made their desperate and deadly trek from Carlshaven to New Braunfels.

As we know, Count Castell responded to Kalener's embarrassing plea by sending $60,000. to Texas.  The money came in a note carried by Castell's special agent, Phillip Cappes.  There is an air of skullduggery about Cappes; his correspondence with Castell refers to the "complicated purpose of my coming."  He was sent to gather dirt on Meusebach; Count Castell was making sure that there would be someone to blame for the colony's plight.

The above from "The German Settlement of The Texas Hill Country".  A very interesting book by Jefferson Morgenthaler first edition October 2007.  A very interesting book about the first Germans to settle in the Texas Hill Country, the hardships of the people, so many died shortly after landing in Texas.  The founding of New Braunfels, Castell and Fredericksburg and the large land grants never developed.  The first to arrive from Germany in 1845 had a very tough time in the process of landing in a new frontier.  The first eye surgery for cataracts was performed by Dr. Ferdinand Heff on a Comanche Indian in 1847 on the open land along the Llano River. 

So there you have my book.  The above does not do it justice because the history of the Hill Country is so much more than a few words can express. 

Now to tag someone that least expects it.