Comanche (horse)

For other uses of "Comanche", see Comanche (disambiguation).

Comanche in 1887

Comanche was a mixed Mustang/Morgan horse who survived General George Armstrong Custer's detachment of the United States 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Biography

He was bought by the U.S. Army in 1868 in St. Louis, Missouri and sent to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Captain Myles Keogh of the 7th Cavalry liked the 15 hand bay gelding and bought him for his own personal mount, to be ridden only in battle. In 1868, while fighting the Comanche in Kansas, the horse was wounded in the hindquarters by an arrow, but continued to let Keogh fight from his back. Thus the horse was named “Comanche” to honor his bravery. Comanche was wounded many more times, always exhibiting the same toughness.

On June 25 1876, Captain Keogh rode Comanche at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, led by Lt Col. George Armstrong Custer. The battle became famous when their entire detachment was killed. Comanche was found two days after the battle, badly wounded. After being transported to Fort Lincoln, he was slowly nursed back to health.

After a lengthy convalescence, Comanche was retired and orders were given that he should never be ridden again. As an honor, he was made “Second Commanding Officer” of the 7th Cavalry. At Fort Riley, he became something of a pet, occasionally leading parades and indulging in a fondness for beer.

Myles Keogh 1872 - By permission of Museum of the American West

The ceremonial order evoked another contribution to the Comanche saga which saw print before the legend could get out of hand. A reporter for the Bismarck Tribune went to Fort Abraham Lincoln to interview Comanche. He "asked the usual questions which his subject acknowledged with a toss of his head, a stamp of his foot and a flourish of his beautiful tail."

His official keeper, named as Farrier John Rivers of Company I, Keogh's old troop, saved "Comanche's reputation" by answering more fully. Here is the gist of what the reporter learned (Bismarck Tribune , May 10, 1878):

Comanche was a veteran, 21 years old, and had been with the 7th Cavalry since its Organization in '66.... He was found by Sergeant [Milton J.] DeLacey [Co. I] in a ravine where he had crawled, there to die and feed the Crows. He was raised up and tenderly cared for. His wounds were serious, but not necessarily fatal if properly looked after...He carries seven scars from as many bullet wounds. There are four back of the foreshoulder, one through a hoof, and one on either hind leg. On the Custer battlefield (actually Fort Abraham Lincoln) three of the balls were extracted from his body and the last one was not taken out until April '77…Comanche is not a great horse, physically talking; he is of medium size, neatly put up, but quite noble looking. He is very gentle. His color is 'claybank' He would make a handsome carriage horse...

Comanche died in 1890. He is one of only two horses in United States history to be buried with full military honors, the other being Black Jack.

His remains were sent to the University of Kansas and preserved, where they can still be seen today in the university's Natural History Museum.

Comanche is often described as the sole survivor of Custer's detachment, but like so many other legends surrounding the Little Bighorn battle, this one is false. As historian Evan S. Connell writes in Son of the Morning Star:

Comanche was reputed to be the only survivor of the Little Bighorn, but quite a few Seventh Cavalry mounts survived, probably more than one hundred, and there was even a yellow bulldog. Comanche lived on another fifteen years, and when he died, he was stuffed and to this day remains in a glass case at the University of Kansas. So, protected from moths and souvenir hunters by his humidity-controlled glass case, Comanche stands patiently, enduring generation after generation of undergraduate jokes. The other horses are gone, and the mysterious yellow bulldog is gone, which means that in a sense the legend is true. Comanche alone survived.

Songs

• Comanche (The Brave Horse) - Johnny Horton (1960)
• "Comanche (of the 7th Cavalry)", written by David John, performed by David John and the Comstock Cowboys on the album "Songs of the Old West"

See also

• Myles Keogh
• Military animal
• Horses in warfare
• Battle of the Little Bighorn

External links

• [1] Comanche display
• [2] 2000 film Comanche with Kris Kristofferson
• [3] 1958 film Tonka with Sal Mineo based on the book by David Appel
• [4] Myles Keogh Website
• Keogh Family Papers at the Autry National Center