"[1] A native of Germany, Ehrenberg joined the military volunteer unit the New Orleans Greys and fought against Mexico in the Texas Revolution.

[3][Note 1] In this version, which is supported by historian H. W. Brands but which Crisp maintains has "not a shred of evidence to suggest that [it] is true", Ehrenberg later attended the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, where he became involved in protests against the government.

[4][5] An alternative theory, held by historians Carlos Castaneda, Clarence Wharton, and Natalie Ornish, is that Ehrenberg was Jewish.

All of the local papers and many of the residents supported the actions of the American settlers in Texas against the government of Mexico.

The United States was officially neutral in the conflict, and President Andrew Jackson had publicly ordered that no armed men be allowed to cross the border.

The Texians had laid siege to the city, trapping Mexican General Martin Perfecto de Cos and his troops.

James Grant and Frank W. Johnson were lobbying the provisional government to authorize an invasion of the Mexican interior.

[18] Sam Houston, who had originally been named head of the army, and who later received a furlough of duty to the council from Governor Smith, joined the troops in Goliad and Refugio.

There he gave an impassioned speech encouraging the soldiers to remain to defend Texas from the Mexican army rumored to be returning to the province.

President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna led one group of troops through the center of the province towards Bexar.

When it was discovered that Mexican Captain Juan Jose Holzinger spoke German, Ehrenberg was asked to conduct the parley on behalf of the Texians.

[26] According to Ehrenberg, after he reached the safety of the opposite bank, he "looked back at the place where my friends lay bleeding to death.

The enemy was still shooting and yelling, and it was with a sorrowful heart that I listened to these shouts of triumph which in my fancy were mingled with the groans of pain of my dying friends.

[7] He returned to the United States in 1844,[7] and journeyed to St. Louis, Missouri, to join a group traveling to Oregon Territory.

[30] For the next two years, Ehrenberg likely operated a schooner, Louise, which brought goods from La Paz, Baja California Sur to Hawaii.

[7] Some historians report that in 1846 Ehrenberg joined the 1st Regiment of New York Volunteers in California to fight in the Mexican–American War.

According to the memoirs of one of the soldiers in that unit, Ehrenberg was a civilian and "volunteer aide" to Captain Seymour Steele of that regiment.

Charles Poston recruited prospectors, including Ehrenberg, to travel to the new area and see what mining opportunities existed in the region.

The Zoraida was shipwrecked just off the coast of Mexico, and Ehrenberg and his comrades were stranded on a small island with fresh water and wild cattle.

On the way, the men stopped near Fort Yuma, and Ehrenberg surveyed a townsite, which he called Colorado City.

[7] In 1865, Ehrenberg was a member of the convention held in Tucson in August 1856, requesting that the United States Congress organize the territory of Arizona.

[7] Ehrenberg was murdered on October 9, 1866, in Dos Palmas, California, a stage stop on the Bradshaw Trail.

[7] Barry Goldwater called Ehrenberg "one of the greatest surveyors and map makers ever to visit the Western United States".

In both, Poston claimed that Ehrenberg romanced Queen Pōmare IV of Tahiti in 1846 and 1847, leaving her to pursue further adventures.

Poston also gave Ehrenberg a larger role in the Mexican-American War than the evidence suggests he played.

Ten years later, it was translated again and edited into a book for children named With Milam and Fannin: Adventures of a German Boy in Texas' Revolution.