Comanche

Author:  Janet Barrett 

Set against the fury of the Civil War and the challenges of securing the frontier, the intertwined stories of the tough Mustang, Comanche, and the courageous soldier of fortune, Captain Myles Keogh, move toward a climax that spells the end for one and a beginning for the other. 

Keogh was one of the many Irishmen whose profession was soldiering but who would not fight under the English flag. They took their talents elsewhere, Keogh coming to America to fight, first for the Union through more than 80 battles in the Civil War and then with the newly formed U.S. Seventh Cavalry. 

At Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, among a shipment of Mustangs just in from Indian Territory, the captain saw the horse he wanted and took the unusual step of buying Comanche with his own money. The two rode together for the next eight years, a partnership that took them to the Battle of the Little Bighorn. 

No soldier survived that fight, not one of the 210 men under General Custer's command. But the Indians remembered Keogh as the bravest man they had ever seen. He was killed as he crouched under Comanche's front legs, firing his final shots. In death he continued to hold his horse's reins. The Indians left them be, Comanche standing alone on a battlefield covered with the dead.

It was 1876, our country's 100th anniversary. As grand July 4th celebrations began, news of the Little Bighorn disaster sent shock waves across the country. Yet, people took comfort in knowing that the brave Comanche had survived. The soldiers brought him back to Fort Abraham Lincoln and nursed him back to full health. He became the most famous horse in America, Second Commanding Officer of the Seventh Cavalry, his presence helping to restore the cavalry's image of strength and courage.

Paperback: 204 pages
Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches