He was a leader of the German American community as part owner and editor of the Westliche Post, one of the most notable and well-circulated German-language newspapers in the United States.

[1] He was born in Alzey, then part of the German Confederation, and attended gymnasiums at Mainz and Darmstadt, and then the Universities of Giessen and Heidelberg.

He began the practice of law with considerable success, but in consequence of having participated in the revolutionary movements of 1848, he was obligated to leave Germany in 1850.

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he devoted his time and means to organizing German regiments and sending them to the field.

The year before his death, influenced by his son, Edward L. Preetorius, he had refused a decoration from Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.