How Ehrenberg, Arizona, got its name

• Ehrenberg fought in the Mexican American war and survived a massacre.
• He was known for his mapmaking skills.
• Ehrenberg was murdered in 1866.

Herman Ehrenberg was a little like the Forrest Gump of the Old West. He turned up in a lot of places.

Born in Prussia, Ehrenberg fought in the Texas Revolution, survived a massacre of prisoners, traveled the Oregon Trail, sailed to Hawaii (and, maybe, Tahiti), played a role in the Mexican American War, took part in a gold rush or two and made the first detailed map of the land acquired by the United States via the Gadsden Purchase.

He also surveyed a town site on the Colorado River (pictured) in the early 1860s. The port town originally was known as Mineral City, but after Ehrenberg was murdered in 1866, Michael Goldwater (Barry's grandfather) suggested renaming the town to honor his friend's memory.

It's hard to imagine now, but at one time Ehrenberg was an important shipping point on the Colorado River. Thousands of travelers every day zoom past this little burg on Interstate 10 on their way to or from California. Few, it's safe to say, know much about the extraordinary man after whom the town was named.

Ehrenberg was born in the German state of Prussia in 1816 and came to New York in 1834. Before long he'd made his way to New Orleans, abuzz with the latest news from Texas, which was struggling for independence from Mexico.

Like many a young man through the ages, Ehrenberg got caught up in the excitement of a revolution and quickly enlisted in a volunteer militia company that eventually became known as the New Orleans Greys.

Ehrenberg fought with the unit in San Antonio in late 1835 and, for a few weeks, was stationed at the Alamo. (This was a couple of months before the legendary battle.)

Then he joined up with Col. James Fannin's forces at Goliad, but was taken prisoner at the Battle of Coleto, which was fought March 19-20, 1836. Mexican commander Jose de Urrea supposedly offered all foreign nationals the chance to join the Mexican army, but Ehrenberg refused.

A week later, on Palm Sunday, Col. Jose Nicolas de la Portilla, acting under a direct command from Mexican president and general Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, ordered his men to kill all the prisoners they'd taken at the battle. Historians say 350 to 400 men were killed in the Goliad Massacre; Ehrenberg was one of a few who survived.

After the war Ehrenberg returned to Germany and studied mining at Freiburg University. He also wrote a book about his experiences as a Texas revolutionary and, for a while, taught English at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg.

He came back to the U.S. in 1844 and joined up with a party of trappers as they made their way from St. Louis to Oregon. A year later he sailed to Hawaii, where he surveyed the streets and made a map of Honolulu.

Ehrenberg assisted captive Americans during the Mexican American War, but never joined the Army or any militia groups.

After the Gadsden Purchase, ratified in 1854, Ehrenberg joined entrepreneur and fellow adventurer Charles Poston to explore the new territory and assess its potential mineral wealth. Later he worked as surveyor and mining engineer with Poston's Sonora Exploring and Mining Co., headquartered in Tubac.

A rich gold strike near La Paz drew many to the area in 1862, including Ehrenberg. He also worked as an Indian agent for the Colorado River Indian tribes.

Ehrenberg was murdered in Dos Palmas, Calif. (near today's Palm Springs), on October 9, 1866. Some accounts say he had been carrying a large amount of cash and that he'd been killed during a robbery; others speculated that Indians killed him for reasons unknown.

No arrests were made, nor charges filed.

According to Ehrenberg biographer Natalie Ornish, Barry Goldwater once called the adventurer "one of the greatest surveyors and map makers ever to visit the western United States."