Rats in a Trap

In June 1849 Dr. Herman Kiefer marched as a surgeon with the revolutionary regiment from Emmendingen. He was at Philippsburg on 20 June and Ubstadt on 23 June as Prussian troops pushed the rebels back.

When the revolutionary army retreated into the fortress of Rastatt, Kiefer argued against it. He did not want to be "shut up like rats in a trap." He was right: Rastatt was besieged and fell, and many of the men inside were shot.

Kiefer escaped across the Rhine to Strasbourg. The Saga says the Church excommunicated him by papal bull. He could never safely go home.

He sailed on 18 August 1849 and landed in New York on 19 September. He meant to settle in St. Louis, but stopped in Detroit — and stayed. He opened his office on 19 October 1849.

He arrived with his sword, his diploma, and a small bag of gold coins.

For his first months in America he slept on a couch in Runnefeldt's drugstore on Gratiot Avenue.