Our Past Is Present December 26, 2018

December 26, 2018

            You are reading “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.

            The Fort Riley Mounted Honor Guard was established in 1992 to provide a link to the post’s historic past.  This unit was motivated in part by a commanding officer’s wife who loved to ride.  Old cavalry stables were once again equipped so that personal mounts could be kept on the reservation.

            Fort Riley Public Affairs Office has stated that the troopers and horses of the honor guard are outfitted in the uniforms and equipment of the Civil War era.  The soldiers, who are detailed from the ranks of the units assigned to Fort Riley, receive instruction from the same manuals that were used by Civil War cavalrymen.  As a ceremonial team, the unit performs at reenactments and parades.

            Until the formation of this group, horses had been officially absent from Fort Riley since the death on May 24, 1968 of “Chief”, the last cavalry horse on the rolls of the United States Army.  “Chief” had entered the Army in 1932 and in 1949 he was placed in retirement when the cavalry was officially disbanded.  He was kept on the post to live out his life with the best care and comfort due a horse that had served the country well.  “Chief” is the horse that is buried below and in front of the “Old Trooper” monument on the Cavalry parade field.  According to accounts of the simple burial ceremony, the old horse was placed “in his last stall” – a large wooden casket – standing upright as a measure of respect and dignity.  The service concluded with an appropriate goodbye by Major General R. Wetherill.  “And now we bid farewell to “Chief” as he leaves us for “Fiddler’s Green”, the final resting place for all great cavalrymen and their mounts. And… that’s our story today on “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.