Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-02-08
Famous Army Horses
Retired from Service

Washington, FeD o. - Var
pleasant pastures near an army post In
Hawaii, a four-footed veteran OF more
than thirty years of honorable active
service with the colors Is kicking up
his heels In the peace and comfort due
an old soldier.
His name is "whiskers' and he
Travelled down from his Montana birth
place to Join up with the cavalry In
Texas three decades ago. He Is now
enjoying retirement with its regular
rations and assurance that he Will
never be called upon to work again.
"Whiskers" is just troop horse In
Uncle Sans cavalry. There Is long
list of these faithful mounts for whom
troopers themselves have decreed rest
full old age in reward for their long
years of hard duty. The appropriation
for this equine roll of honor comes out
of the troopers pockets If necessary.
but the deeds of hero horses of the
army have been officially recorded In
General Orders before now.
"Comanche" probably heads that.
He was the only survivor of the mas
sacre of the Little Big Horn, when
Custer and his gallant detachment
went to their death. Legend has pic
tured this big charger. found wander
ing and almost dead after the battle
with seven wounds to show the part
he played, as Clusters own mount. But
the records show otherwise. He was
a troop horse assigned to Troop j, 7th
Cavalry, and was ridden in the fight by
Capt. NJ. w. Keogh, who died at his
chiefs side. A regimental order OF
the tn, dated Fort A. Lincoln, Dako-
ia Territory, April 10, 1879, directed
that Comanche be provided with suit
able quarters land that he will not be
ridden by any person whatever under
any circumstances, nor will he be put
to any kind of work." as attribute to
comrades fallen in the fight.
"Comanche" died at the cavalry post
at Fort Riley, Kansas, in 1891 and that
order was never violated. He lived
two-thirds of his life on the retired
list.
The yellowed records Of the cavalry
show many other famous horses, COM
ing down to Pershing's "Kidron,"
bought from the French remount serv-
ice to carry the general in France, and
JEFF, the big, amiable charged pre-
scented to Pershing on his return to
the United States and on which he
headed the victory parades of the First
Division in New York and Washington.
none more striking than that Of BLACK
Tom" the might coal black on which
Colonel May. the Charles OA1alley of
the American cavalary in the forties,
set tongues awaggin by his mad
pranks. May was arrested in Balti-
more once for leaping his black thun-
derbolt over cart loaded with fire.
wood. Again he spurred BLACK Tom"
up the front stairs of a Baltimore no.
tel and down again after a Jog about
the rooms. The horse won a wager
with leap of 80 feet just after the
Mexican war, against a record of "a
feet for the greatest English steeple-
chaser. BLACK Toms greatest
achievement came in the war when
May jumped him over a Mexican field
gun to capture the entire battery and
the Mexican general. La Vaga. That
deed Is memorialized in the coat of
arms of the Second Cavalry.
"Black Tom" stood more than IT
hands, a Jet black Kentucky thorough
bred. and his dashing master was more
than a six footer.
Another amy horse of Mexican war
fame was General Zachary Taylor's
"Old Whitley" who carried his master
throughout the war and was never rid
den again. He was sent to Washing
ton to be exhibited after the war and
was we'll nigh stripped of his name and
tail on the journey by souvenir hunt
ers.
Among famous horses of the war be-
tween the states, Robt E. Lees "Trav-
cler" perhaps is best known, although
General Nathaniel P. Banks Charlie"
Is credited in a legendary way with
having shaped events of the war He
was the only horse known to have
thrown General Grant. The fall put
the general on crutches and kept him
from the battlefield at Chickamauga.
Perhaps his absence contributed to the
Union disaster in that fight.
Traveller" Lees famous gray. was
a West Virginia horse and was offered
to the great Confederate commander as
a gift by the owner, but refused The
owner. Major Thomas L. Broun. then
sold him and Traveller" served as
Lees main reliance in the war days,
and his constant companion afterward.
The general always stood beside him
when he was shod and the horse was
nervous.