John H Manhold
EL TIGRE! For many years these words were the source of intense fear and respect throughout the southwestern territories of the growing United States. It was the name by which the jaguar was known. This incredibly fast, strong, fearless, resourceful animal was of almost mythical proportions because its deadly actions seldom were seen until it was too late. It was with great respect and awe that Johann Heinrich von Manfred became known as El Tigre. Johann’s saga begins in Prussia in the time when that small kingdom was the most powerful military force in Europe and it follows his journey from boyhood to maturity through half of the world. His entry to the Prussian Military Academy shortly after the Napoleonic Wars was, as all Prussian Junker children, at 10 years of age. There follows an account of how his militaristic abilities and youthful audacity, along with a little misfortune, lead to his departure to engage in conflicts in France, Spain, New Spain, Texas, Mexico, and finally Old California. It is a tale unlike that of most Europeans who migrated to America. It follows through his efforts to aid a simple band of gypsies in the Pyrenees followed by efforts on behalf of Carlos, the Royal Pretender to the Spanish Throne, and continues with his involvement in the establishment of the Republic of Texas and the State of California, while finding a love that he never could have thought possible with the militaristic training and life he had lived. His abilities in all of these activities were such that, especially to the inhabitants of the southwestern territories of his later endeavors, only one name was sufficient to describe this, and only this, one person. He was El Tigre.
