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Comanche
When General Alfred Terry and his column arrived at the
Little Bighorn on June 27, 1876, George Armstrong Custer and over two hundred
men of the Seventh Cavalry were dead on the field. All of the
horses that survived had been taken by the Indians, except the mount of Captain
Myles Keogh, a medium sized brown horse named Comanche.
Comanche had been with the Seventh Cavalry since its
organization in 1866. Sergeant Milton J.
DeLacey found the horse in a ravine where it had gone to die. Comanche’s wounds were serious but not fatal
if properly attended. The horse had
seven bullet wounds. Four wounds back of
the foureshoulder, one in the hoof, and one in each hind leg.
Comanche was transported to Fort Lincoln, North Dakota,
where he was nursed back to health. . In April
1878, Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis issued the following order:
Headquarters Seventh United
States Cavalry, Fort A. Lincoln, D. T., April 10th, 1878. General Orders No. 7.
(1.) The horse known as
'Comanche,' being the only living representative of the bloody tragedy of the
Little Big Horn, June 25th, 1876, his kind treatment and comfort shall be a
matter of special pride and solicitude on the part of every member of the Seventh
Cavalry to the end that his life be preserved to the utmost limit. Wounded and
scarred as he is, his very existence speaks in terms more eloquent than words,
of the desperate struggle against overwhelming numbers of the hopeless conflict
and the heroic manner in which all went down on that fatal day.
(2.) The commanding officer
of Company I will see that a special and comfortable stable is fitted up for
him, and he will not be ridden by any person whatsoever, under any
circumstances, nor will he be put to any kind of work.
(3.) Hereafter, upon all
occasions of ceremony of mounted regimental formation, 'Comanche,' saddled,
bridled, and draped in mourning, and led by a mounted trooper of Company I,
will be paraded with the regiment.
When Comanche died in 1890, a taxidermist from the
University of Kansas Natural History Museum prepared the horse for permanent
exhibit. Other than being exhibited at the 1893 Columbian Exposition, Comanche
has been on permanent exhibit, in a glass case, at the University of Kansas
Natural History Museum, wearing his cavalry blanket and saddle.
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