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Meet a hero at the Battle of Beecher
Island, and two immigrants who hired
Daniel Boone.

El izabeth Applebaum
AppleTree Editor

'The Little Jew°
At Beecher Island

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When Buffalo Bill wanted to catch up on
the latest news, he often bought a paper
from a traveling salesman of sorts named
Sigmund Shlesinger.
The owner of a cigar store in Hays
City, Kan. — it wasn't much of a busi-
ness: the entire inventory was worth $5
— Shlesinger sold newspapers to pass-
ing cavalrymen to make a little extra
money. Besides Buffalo Bill, another fre-
quent customer was "Wild Bill" Hickok.
But later, Shlesinger made his name as
a brave man of war by fighting in the
Battle of Beecher Island. It's the story of a
real American — who actually was a
native of Hungary.
Born in 1848, Shlesinger came in
1864 to New York, then settled in the
wild west, a place called Kansas,
because New York was just too darn
tame for him. He tried his hand at various
businesses — the cigar shop among
them, while another was a tiny brewery.
He had to quit the brewery, though, after
discovering the beer was proving a men-
ace to the health of the ... customers.
Next, Shlesinger worked as a scout for
the Ninth Cavalry. His boss, Col.
George A. Forsyth, wasn't optimistic
about him. The colonel described
Shlesinger, 19, as "a Jew, small with nar-
row shoulders, sunken chest, quiet man-

Sigmund Shlesinger: "active
young Israelite"

ner and pipey voice." But there wasn't
exactly an overflow of recruits ready to
fight the Indians, who weren't pleased
with the railroads being built everywhere
on their land.
Shlesinger was often mocked for his
religion.
Then came the Battle of Beecher Island
in September 1868.
Indians had killed two soldiers just out-
side Sheridan, Kan. When Col. Forsyth
and his men located the Indians, a battle
ensued that lasted almost a week. Five of
the scouts were killed, but a new hero
emerged: Sigmund Shlesinger.
As Col. Forsyth exclaimed, "The Indian
that from dawn to dusk was incautious
enough to expose any part of his person

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