A Texas Pioneer by August Santleben - Personalized Limited Edition

August Santleben almost didn't make it to Texas. . . or to his first birthday.

The ship bringing the Santleben family from Germany struck the bar at Galveston Bay and broke apart. Nearly everyone was drowned. The family was cast ashore without a penny.

They settled in Castro's Colony, where young August went to work at the age of twelve. (Some people today think a twelve-year-old needs a babysitter.)

As a teen August Santleben blew like a leaf, back and forth, across the border, going wherever the magnet of opportunity pulled him.

He was just seventeen when Civil War came. He enlisted at Brownsville and was elected corporal of the First Texas Cavalry. That was a Union regiment. Isn't history full of surprises?

But what August Santleben is best known for is founding the first stagecoach line between Texas and Mexico.

For three decades he moved people and freight through some of the most dangerous and inhospitable country to be found. Dealing with hostile Indians, Mexican bandits and American stage robbers was just part of doing business.

A beautiful thing about August Santleben is he names names. Hundreds of the them. Seems he knew just about everyone from San Antonio to the border and across it.

In one section he gives the names of 392 people and the dates they were killed by Indians. He said those were just the ones he could remember.

It's 342 pages of "dirt under your nails" storytelling and detail after detail about how life was actually lived in the Texas borderlands.

The chapter headings will give you an idea of what you'll be reading:

• Chapter 1: 1845 - Castroville - Indians - Big-foot Wallace
• Chapter 2: Shenanigans - Mail to Bandera - Civil War
• Chapter 3: Employments in Mexico - Silver Mines
• Chapter 4: Service in the Civil War
• Chapter 5: Indian Depredations - Mexican Highwaymen
• Chapter 6: Smugglers - Emperor Maximilian
• Chapter 7: First Stage Service from U.S. to Mexico - Valley of Death
• Chapter 8: Mexico City - The Mexican War
• Chapter 9: 1868 - Robbers - Horse Breeding
• Chapter 10: More Robbers - Mesmeric Encounter
• Chapter 11: 1869 - Freighting From Indianola to Chihuahua - Clubbing Jackrabbits
• Chapter 12: The Ox-Wagon in Texas - Prairie Schooners
• Chapter 13: 1870 - Sister St. Stephens - Chihuahua Mines - Indian Fights
• Chapter 14: Murder in San Antonio - Comanche Attack - Mule Calamities
• Chapter 15: Pecos Salt Lake - Anastacio Gonzales - Lost Opportunity
• Chapter 16: Freighting With My Family - Gen. McKenzie - Fatal Accident - Mule Fright
• Chapter 17: Danda, Indian Fighter - Brewing Beer in Chihuahua
• Chapter 18: Accused of Smuggling
• Chapter 19: Justifiable Homicide - Dr. Paschal - Buffalo Hunt
• Chapter 20: 1875 - Hauling A Meteorite to Philadelphia - An Attempted Robbery
• Chapter 21: Cardise Killed In El Paso - Freighting Chihuahua to San Antonio
• Chapter 22: Revolution in Chihuahua - General Ord - Final Trip to Chihuahua - Chloroform
• Chapter 23: San Antonio Transfer Company - First Telephones - Ill Health - New Rules At Eagle Pass - Betrayal
• Chapter 24: Claim Against The Government - 126,000 Miles - My Family
• Chapter 25: Settlement of Castroville - First Colonists
• Chapter 26: History of Medina County - Settlements and Settlers
• Chapter 27: Indian Depredations On The Frontier
• Chapter 28: Reminiscences of Old San Antonio
• Chapter 29: The Frontier States of Mexico

It is our privilege to bring A Texas Pioneer back to life for today's Texans.

This limited edition is just 254 copies, one for each county in Texas, and the jacket is personalized with your name or that of anyone you'd like to give it to.