Book on Dakota Conflict coming

Author Tolzmann will speak in New Ulm Aug. 24

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Dr. Don Heinrich Tolzmann, University of Cincinnati Adjunct Professor and German-American historian, will release his next book on the 1862 Dakota Conflict this summer.

Tolzmann, who is a native of Renville County and has relations in and around New Ulm, Tolzmann has already edited several books on the subject.

His new book will center on the uprising that resulted in the loss of at least 800 lives and caused the flight of nearly 40,000 people from their homes.

"German Pioneer Accounts of the Great Sioux Uprising of 1862" will include eyewitness accounts of themselves and their families written by two women -- Mary Schwandt-Schmidt and Wilhelmina "Minnie" Buce Carrigan -- who, as children, witnessed and suffered horrific experiences during this tragic period of our history, Tolzmann said.

Tolzmann, bibliographer for Germanic Languages and Literature and Director of the German-American Studies Program at the University of Cincinnati, will speak at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 24, at the German-Bohemian Heritage Society Picnic at Hermann Heights Park.

Brown County Historical Society Director Bob Burgess talked about Tolzmann.

"He's a prolific and well-liked author that researches exactly what New Ulmites and our visitors are interested in," Burgess said. "I'm delighted he is so ambitious. Many professors get hunkered down in academia, they aren't concerned about history like he is. He's really driven. Something is really pushing him to make contributions to history."

Burgess praised Tolzmann's work for its first-hand, personal historical accounts.

New Ulm German-Bohemian Society board member Pat Kretsch had kind words for Tolzmann.

"He's a very good speaker. We had him here last year," Kretsch said. "He's very interesting to listen to and very knowledgeable on the history of New Ulm."

Tolzmann's latest book can be ordered for $15.95 through Little Miami Publishing Co., P.O. Box 588, Milford, Ohio 45150-0588, or orders@littlemiamibooks.com and http.//www.littlemiamibooks.com.