Comanche ( horse ) Comanche was a mixed breed horse who survived General George Armstrong Custer ' s detachment of the United States 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn . Biography . The horse was bought by the U . S . Army in 1868 in St . Louis , Missouri and sent to Fort Leavenworth , Kansas . His ancestry and date of birth were both uncertain . Captain Myles Keogh of the 7th Cavalry liked the 15 - hand bay gelding and bought him for his personal mount , to be ridden only in battle . In 1868 , while the army was fighting the Comanche in Kansas , the horse was wounded in the hindquarters by an arrow , but continued to carry Keogh in the fight . He named the horse “ Comanche ” to honor his bravery . Comanche was wounded many more times , but always exhibited the same toughness . On June 25 , 1876 , Captain Keogh rode Comanche at the Battle of the Little Bighorn , led by Lt Col . George Armstrong Custer . The battle was notable as their entire detachment was killed . US soldiers found Comanche , badly wounded , two days after the battle . After being transported to Fort Lincoln , he was slowly nursed back to health . After a lengthy convalescence , Comanche was retired . In April 1878 , Colonel Samuel D . Sturgis issued the following order : The ceremonial order inspired a reporter for the " Bismarck Tribune " to go to Fort Abraham Lincoln to interview Comanche . He " asked the usual questions which his subject acknowledged with a toss of his head , a stamp of his foot and a flourish of his beautiful tail . " His official keeper , the farrier John Rivers of Company I , Keogh ' s old troop , saved " Comanche ' s reputation " by answering more fully . Here is the gist of what the reporter learned ( " Bismarck Tribune , " May 10 , 1878 ) : Comanche was a veteran , 21 years old , and had been with the 7th Cavalry since its Organization in ' 66 . . . He was found by Sergeant [ Milton J . ] DeLacey [ Co . I ] in a ravine where he had crawled , there to die and feed the Crows . He was raised up and tenderly cared for . His wounds were serious , but not necessarily fatal if properly looked after . . . He carries seven scars from as many bullet wounds . There are four back of the foreshoulder , one through a hoof , and one on either hind leg . On the Custer battlefield ( actually Fort Abraham Lincoln ) three of the balls were extracted from his body and the last one was not taken out until April ' 77 … Comanche is not a great horse , physically talking ; he is of medium size , neatly put up , but quite noble looking . He is very gentle . His color is ' claybank ' He would make a handsome carriage horse . . . In June 1879 , Comanche was brought to Fort Meade by the Seventh Regiment , where he was kept like a prince until 1887 . He was taken to Fort Riley , Kansas . As an honor , he was made " Second Commanding Officer " of the 7th Cavalry . At Fort Riley , he became something of a pet , occasionally leading parades and indulging in a fondness for beer . Comanche died of colic on November 7 , 1891 , around 29 years old . He is one of only two horses in United States history to be buried with full military honors , the other being Black Jack . His remains were sent to the University of Kansas and preserved , where they can still be seen today in the university ' s Natural History Museum . Comanche was restored by museum conservator Terry Brown in 2005 . Comanche is often described as the sole survivor of Custer ' s detachment , but like so many other legends surrounding the Little Bighorn battle , this one is false . As historian Evan S . Connell writes in " Son of the Morning Star " : Comanche was reputed to be the only survivor of the Little Bighorn , but quite a few Seventh Cavalry mounts survived , probably more than one hundred , and there was even a yellow bulldog . Comanche lived on another fifteen years , and when he died , he was stuffed and to this day remains in a glass case at the University of Kansas . So , protected from moths and souvenir hunters by his humidity - controlled glass case , Comanche stands patiently , enduring generation after generation of undergraduate jokes . The other horses are gone , and the mysterious yellow bulldog is gone , which means that in a sense the legend is true . Comanche alone survived .