Myles Keogh

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Myles Walter Keogh (March 25, 1840 – June 25, 1876) was an Irish soldier who was also an American Civil War military officer and later a member of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment during the Indian Wars of the 1870s. He was killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Contents 1 Career 2 Post-bellum career 3 External links 4 Trivia

[edit] Career

Myles Keogh was born in Orchard House, Leighlinbridge, County Carlow, Ireland. One of 13 children, he was set for military life early on as his favorite childhood book was Charles O'Malley, the Irish Dragoon. He spent two years at St. Patrick's College before leaving Ireland to be a mercenary, and he fought as a second lieutenant in the Papal Army against Garibaldi's Piedmontese seeking to reunite their country. The Pope rewarded him for his service with the Pro Petri Sede Medal and also with the Cross of the Order of St. Gregory as a personal favor.

He left Europe for the United States in 1862 to fight in the American Civil War and signed up as a volunteer with the Union Army. He saw action in the Gettysburg Campaign as an aide to Brigadier General John Buford, and was breveted a major. Upon Buford's death from pneumonia in December of 1863, Keogh transferred to the Western Theater. He became Aide-de-Camp to Maj. Gen. George Stoneman with the Regular Army rank of captain. Keogh was captured in Georgia with Stoneman by the Confederate Army in July 1864. He was held for 2 1/2 months as a prisoner of war before being released. Keogh received brevets up to lieutenant colonel for his service during the Civil War.

[edit] Post-bellum career

After the war, he obtained a commission as a captain in the Regular Army as part of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment under George Armstrong Custer. He was given command of I Company, which became known as the "Wild I". He was generally well-liked by fellow officers, but not always by his men, though some of them spoke highly of him. He had a swagger stick with a silver dog's head as the handle that he used to keep his men in line when he felt it necessary. He drank heavily at times, but it is not clear whether or not he crossed the line into alcoholism, as did many of his fellow officers. Keogh was also fond of the ladies, though he never married, and carried a photograph of fellow officer Thomas McDougall's sister with him to the Little Bighorn.

Keogh and his I Company were one of only two companies that seemed to be organized in the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and the Indians interviewed after the battle told of a man matching Keogh's description who was a fierce fighter and was the last of his company to fall. Keogh was reportedly not as disfigured as most of the soldiers were; some claim that this is due to the religious medal that he wore, probably an Agnus Dei. His Papal medals are now in the possession of his family (see Myles Keogh: the Life and Legend of an "Irish Dragoon" in the Seventh Cavalry, p.157), though the story has been told that they wound up around the neck of Sitting Bull (according to Ray O'Hanlon of the New York Irish Echo (see [1]).

Keogh's horse, Comanche, is considered the only survivor of the battle, though several other badly wounded horses were found and destroyed at the scene. Keogh's remains were interred in Ft. Hill Cemetery (bio and photos) in Auburn, New York. His bloody gauntlets and the guidon of his Company I were recovered by the army three months after Little Bighorn at the Battle of Slim Buttes.

[edit] External links

• [2] Keogh's Life
• [3] Keogh Biography

• Son of the Morning Star, Evan S. Connell, 1984, ISBN 0-06-097161-4
• Classic Battles: Little Big Horn 1876, Peter Panzieri, 1995, ISBN 1-85532-458-X
• Custer and His Commands, Kurt Hamilton Cox, 1999, ISBN 1-85367-358-7
• The Custer Autograph Album, John M. Carroll, 1994, ISBN 0-932702-97-X
• The Little Bighorn Campaign, Wayne Michael Sarf, 1993, ISBN 0-938289-21-7
• Myles Keogh: The Life and Legend of an "Irish Dragoon" in the Seventh Cavalry, John P. Langellier, Kurt Hamilton Cox, Brian C. Pohanka, 1998, ISBN 0-912783-21-4
• The Honor of Arms: A Biography of Myles W. Keogh, Charles L. Convis, 1990, ISBN 0-87026-076-6
• Custer's Fall, David Humphreys Miller, Duell, Sloan and Pierce, Inc., 1957

[edit] Trivia

Keogh's name is often misspelled as Keough.

Myles Keogh is referred to in the 1949 motion picture She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, where John Wayne's character Nathan Brittles is reading a dispatch listing those killed at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.