Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-10

person IN any circumstances nor will he be put to
any kind of work. Hereafter upon all occasions
of ceremony (of mounted regimental formation),
Comanche, saddled, bridled, draped in mourn
ing, and led by mounted trooper of Troop l.
will be paraded with the regiment"
So, from 1876 till 1892 Comanche was silent
reminder of the fierce battle of the Little Big
Horn. He had received seven wounds in the
battle. He was cream colored, with black
name and tail. He was Government horse;
but had been ridden for several years by Cap
tain Myles W. keogh, who commanded Troop
and rode him the day of the fight.
When Comanche died his body prepared
by the taxidermist of the State museum at
Topeka, Kansas where all that remains of this
celebrated horse may now be seen as one of the
principal exhibits. This museum selected
on account of the fact that the Seventh Cavalry
had been organized in Kansas and the regiment
had spent much of its time serving within the
borders of that State.
Mexique, the Alabama Mule
QUITE the opposite of these celebrated war
~ steeds is a plain old Government mule,
whose name, Mexique, has a place in the
official records of the War Department at
Washington, and whose services to the Gov
eminent are well known by many officers of the
old army. The care and treatment given Mex
ique certainly disprove the old saying, treated
worse than a Government mule"
The case of this celebrated army mule is a
"ungrateful Republic" A number of years
ago, when General Sherman was at the helm of
the army at Washington, petition was sent
by officers stationed at Mount Vernon Bar
racks Alabama, near Mobile, stating that an
old white mule that had been in service at that
post for about forty-five years was about to be
sold as unserviceable, and requesting authority
to purchase him to be kept at their own ex-
pense as long as he should live account of his
long and faithful services to the Government.
<>f
official channels reached General Sherman, who
returned it to the Secretary of War with the
following Endorsement
Il have seen that mule, and whether true or
false, the soldiers believe it was left at Big
Springs, where the Mount Vernon Barracks
now are, at the time General Jacksons army
camped there about 1919 or 1920. Tradition
says it was once sorrel; but it is now white
from age. The Quartermasters Department
will be chargeable with ingratitude if that mule
is sold or the maintenance of it is thrown on the
charitable officers of the post l advise it to
be kept in the department, fed, and maintained
till DEATH | think the mule at Fort Nor
gan, Alabama, when l was there in 1912"
When the paper reached the Secretary of
War he briefly Endorsed it as follows, making
it one of the most celebrated as well as one of the
oldest papers that ever went through the
winding courses of War Department channels,
because it was all about poor, DID, worn out
army mule: Let this mule be kept and well
cared tor as long as he lives.
This order did not reach Mount Vernon Bar
racks until after Mexique had been put up at
auction and sold to the highest bidder as
worthless condemned Government property ;
but he was bought in by the officers and kept
by them until few years later, when he died.
There is no documentary evidence; but the
history of this mule was traced far enough to
show that he at least forty years old.
THE CAUSE