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The Seventh Cavalry’s “sole survivor” was a horse named Comanche. Owned by Lt. Col. Myles Keough, Comanche remained with his owner on Custer Hill. While all around him soldiers slaughtered their horses to hide behind and shoot, evidence and oral tradition shows that Keough crouched between Comanche’s legs, holding onto his reins, while he was fighting. Keough was killed, but his hands still clutched Comanche’s reins. Warriors left the horse alone; it would have been bad medicine to take a horse so closely tied to his owner that the man held the reins even in death. Comanche was cherished and revered by the Seventh Cavalry and the entire nation as a symbol of survival in the face of defeat. He lived 17 years after the Battle of the Little Bighorn as a pampered pet, traveling from Seventh Cavalry post to post and loved by all. After his death, he was stuffed and kept on display at the University of Kansas, where he remains to this day. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
