Janet Barrett presents “Comanche and His Captain: The Warhorse and the Soldier of Fortune”
Set against the Civil War and the fight to secure the western frontier, the story of the soldier of fortune, Captain Myles Keogh, and the tough Mustang, Comanche, is a tale of bravery, partnership, survival, and healing.
Keogh was one of many Irishmen who were professional soldiers, but who refused to fight under the English flag. He brought his talents to America to fight for the Union in the Civil War, and then with the newly formed U.S. Seventh Cavalry.
Given command of Company I, he took his men across Kansas to Fort Wallace, a hot bed of Indian fighting on the edge of the frontier. Soon, the shrewd choice of Comanche gave him the horse he wanted and an extraordinary partnership that would last for eight years, eventually taking them to the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
The outcome of that clash was disastrous for the cavalry. But, when rescuers arrived on the battlefield, they found Comanche standing alone among the fallen, wounded and exhausted, but still alive – and whinnying to the men.
On our country's 100th anniversary, the Little Bighorn debacle sent shock waves across the country. Yet, people were comforted in knowing that the brave Comanche had survived. He became the most famous horse in America, honorary Second Commanding Officer of the Seventh Cavalry. Preserved at the end of his long life, he stands at the University of Kansas, to this day still a bold, resilient symbol of America.
Janet Barrett remembers her father first telling her about Comanche when she was about eight years old, a simple story then about a horse that survived a battle. When she revisited it as an adult, a few years ago, she found an intriguing, complex story--of a horse and rider whose legacy grew beyond anything that was apparent in their lives. Through her experiences as a horsewoman she found herself particularly fascinated with the connection between Comanche and Keogh, as well as times when the horse was central to life.
Her other books are On The Fence: A Parent's Handbook of Horseback Riding and They Called Her Reckless--A True Story of War, Love And One Extraordinary Horse. With the success of the latter, about another famous warhorse, Barrett knew it was time to go back to that earlier era and tell the whole story of the tough Mustang that brought fame to himself and his rider, and the U.S. Cavalry. She was raised in New York, graduated from Indiana University with a B.S. in Communications, and now makes her home in Connecticut.