at becoming Commissioner-General in Texas. The two negotiated a contract for Commissioner-General: Meusebach would receive a $2,000 allowance for equipment and books, an annual salary of $790 plus 2% of the net profits of the Verein, and 500 acres of land in Texas. Before departing, he paid a courtesy call on Prince Frederick of Prussia to secure his support of the effort. Meusebach signed the contract on February 24, 1845 and paid his $2,000 membership fee. Count Castell was vague and evasive in response to Meusebach's questions about the particulars of the colonization endeavor, but gave Meusebach a $10,000 letter of credit. Meusebach added Texas Forever to Tenax Propositi (Perseverance in Purpose) on his family crest. The 32-year-old Meusebach traveled to Liverpool, England to board the steamship Cambria to Boston. As the ship departed, he renounced his title of Baron, as a symbol of his new life in a new land. Upon arrival in Boston on March 14, 1845, he headed to Pittsburgh and boarded a boat for a trip down the Ohio River and then Mississippi River. He arrived in New Orleans on April 10, 1845. From New Orleans, he arrived by boat in Galveston, Texas on May 1, 1845. Verein agent D.H. Klaener greeted Meusebach's arrival at Galveston and immediately apprised him of the desperate straits of the colonists. The finances were in disarray, due to Prince Solms' lack of business experience and his refusal to keep financial records. To a larger degree, the financial situation happened because the Adelsverein was an organization of noblemen with no practical backgrounds at running a business. They were on the other side of the world and did not witness the situation both Prince Solms and Meusebach were dealing with. Henry Fisher had not supplied transport and supplies for which the Verein advanced money to him. Fisher had also conspired in February 1845 with Dr. F. Schubbert to coerce incoming immigrants to sign legal documents disassociating themselves from the Verein and to join Schubbert's colony in Milam County. Meusebach found Carlshafen (Indianola) to be insufficient as a port of entry, and the route to New Braunfels isolated. He was told Prince Solms chose to keep the Germans from interacting with any Americans. Meusebach found Prince Solms in Galveston trying to return to Germany, detained by authorities for unpaid bills. Meusebach made a full accounting of the situation to the Verein, adding that