Our Past Is Present January 3, 2019

January 3, 2019

            This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.

            Today’s story is about a famous cavalry horse by the name of “Comanche”. 

            When the 7^th Cavalry was posted at Fort Riley in 1888, Comanche returned with them.  He remained in good health until late 1890 when Trooper Korn, who was Comanche’s ride, was killed at Wounded Knee. Comanche seemed to lose interest in life.  Veterinarians tried to keep the horse alive, but Comanche died of colic in November of 1891 after having lived 31 years.

            The story of Comanche doesn’t end here, however.  After his death the officers of the 7^th Cavalry moved quickly and asked Kansas University zoologist, Dr. L.L. Dyche, to preserve Comanche.  In 1893, Dyche gained permission to take the horse and display it at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago.  The preserved horse was later returned to KU following the World’s Fair. 

            However, in 1947, General Jonathan Wainwright, hero of Bataan and an old cavalryman and Geary County resident led a movement to persuade authorities at KU to return Comanche to Fort Riley.  Chancellor Deane Malott refused and stated that Comanche “was almost an alumnus of the institution!”

            In 1953, the museum at the Custer Battlefield requested that the mounted horse be moved to that location and both the KU Chancellor and the Governor of Kansas got into the fray and succeeded in winning in favor of keeping the horse at the University.  Comanche remains displayed at the Museum of Natural History. His tattered and moth-eaten coat is now sealed behind glass and the climate is controlled by a humidifier that operates 24 hours a day.

And… that’s today’s story on “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.