Myles Keogh

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Myles W. Keogh
Myles W. Keogh

Myles Walter Keogh (March 25, 1840 – June 25, 1876) was an Irish soldier who was also an American Civil War military officer and later a member of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment during the Indian Wars of the 1870s. He was killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Contents

[edit] Career

Myles Keogh was born in Orchard House, Leighlinbridge, County Carlow, Ireland. One of 13 children, he was set for military life early on as his favorite childhood book was Charles O'Malley, the Irish Dragoon.

He spent two years at St. Patrick's College before leaving Ireland in 1860 following a call to arms by the Catholic clergy in Ireland to rally to the defense of Pope Pius IX. By the Feast of St. Gregory Grassi, in July, Keogh was appointed lieutenant of his unit in the Battalion of St. Patrick, Papal Army under the command of General Christophe Léon Louis Juchault de Lamoricière. He was posted at Ancona, a central port city of Italy. The Papal forces were defeated in September in the Battle of Castelfidardo, and Ancona was surrounded. The soldiers, although having admirable defense, were forced to surrender and Keogh was imprisoned at Genoa. After his quick release by exchange, Keogh went to Rome and was invited to wear the spirited green uniforms of the Company of St. Patrick as a member of the Vatican Guard. During his service, the Holy See awarded him the Medaglia for gallantry - the Pro Petri Sede Medal - and also the Cross of the Order of St. Gregory - Ordine di San Gregorio.[1]

Now that the fighting was over and duties of the Vatican Guard were more mundane, Keogh saw little purpose in remaining at Rome. With Civil War raging in America, Secretary of State William H. Seward began seeking experienced European officers to serve the Union, and called upon a number of prominent clerics to assist in his endeavor. John Hughes, Archbishop of New York, traveled to Italy to recruit veterans of the Papal War, and met with Keogh and his comrades. Thus in March of 1862 Keogh resigned his commission in the Company of Saint Patrick, and with his senior officer – 30-year-old Daniel J. Keily of Waterford - returned briefly to Ireland, then boarded the steamer 'Kangaroo' bound from Liverpool to New York, where the vessel arrived April 1. Another Papal comrade, Joseph O'Keeffe – 19-year-old nephew of the Bishop of Cork - met with Keogh and Keily in Manhattan.

Through Secretary Seward's intervention, the three were given Captains' rank and on April 15 assigned to the staff of Irish-born Brigadier General James Shields, whose forces were about to confront the Confederate army of Stonewall Jackson. They notably stormed after Jackson’s army in the Shenandoah Valley and nearly captured the furious leader. Jackson may have slipped into the hills, but Keogh’s courageousness with the mounted patrol didn’t go unnoticed. George B. McClellan, the commander of the Potomac Army, was impressed with Keogh, describing the young Captain as "a most gentlemanlike man, of soldierly appearance," whose "record had been remarkable for the short time he had been in the army."[2]

If you looked for a particular style of a cavalier, Keogh fit the bill to a tee, having a well-groomed uniform, moustache and small goatee. In addition, the admirable traits identified by General McClellan came to the fore when he and O’Keeffe were assigned to General John Buford’s staff.[3]

Myles Keogh and O’Keeffe served Buford with obedience and gallantry through the campaigns of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and the enormous battle on June 9th at the Brandy Station, which was practically all cavalry. O’Keefe, raised by his uncle a Jesuit priest, would be killed at the Battle of Five Forks leading the 2nd New York Cavalry. Keogh went on to pursue Confederate general Robert E. Lee’s army into Pennsylvania at the side of Buford.[1]

In the beginning of July 1863 at the three-day Battle of Gettysburg, Keogh would be Buford’s right hand man by creating a defense against the Confederate advance—despite Lee’s barrage attack of 140 cannons and a final infantry attack. The cannons overshot while the Union army outflanked the infantry thus ending the battle. Keogh’s efforts were recognized by being conferred to the rank of Major.[2]

The battle was over and so were over 50,000 men’s lives with it. However this was a turning point in the war, and Buford’s health. By the winter Buford would succumb to typhoid. Keogh would stay by his side and care for him, while they rested in Washington at the home of an old friend General George Stoneman. Bufford was buried at West Point Cemetery, as Keogh attended his funeral at Washington and rode with his body on the train.

Keogh was now appointed as aide de camp to General George Stoneman. In July 1864, Stoneman raided to the south and southeast, destroying railroads and industrial works. Their risky raids behind Confederate lines were also designed to free federal prisoners held at Macon, Georgia, and liberate the nearly 30,000 captives at Andersonville prison.[2]

Although Stoneman's Union cavalry did destroy the railroads, the onslaught on Macon failed from the beginning and on July 31st, 1864, Keogh and Stoneman’s command were surrounded in Georgia. They were captured after their horses were shot out from under them. Keogh was held for 2 1/2 months as a prisoner of war before being released through Union general William Tecumseh Sherman’s efforts. Keogh received brevets up to Lieutenant Colonel for his service during the Civil War.[2]

At the war’s end, although he had the brevet rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the union army, he accepted a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the 4th Cavalry on May 4th, 1866. He never served with that unit and was promoted to Captain, 7th Cavalry, on July 28th, 1866 and assigned to Ft. Riley in Northeast Kansas to become the Captain of Company “I” under the command of George Armstrong Custer.[1]

[edit] Post-bellum career

Officers of the 7th Cavalry - Myles W. Keogh, seated front
Officers of the 7th Cavalry - Myles W. Keogh, seated front

After the war, he obtained a commission as a captain in the Regular Army as part of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment under George Armstrong Custer and was given command of I Company. He was generally well-liked by fellow officers although the isolation of military duty on the western frontier often weighed heavily upon him. When depressed he occasionally drank to excess, though he seems not to have fallen prey to the chronic alcoholism that destroyed the careers of many fellow officers of the frontier Regular Army. There was more than a tinge of melancholy in Keogh's nature, which seemed somehow at odds with his handsome, dashing persona. While he was not given to self-analysis, Keogh once noted, "A certain lack of sensitiveness is necessary to be successful. . . . This lack of sensitiveness I unfortunately do not inherit." Keogh was also fond of the ladies, though he never married, and carried a photograph of fellow officer Thomas McDougall's sister with him to the Little Bighorn.[3]

In the summer of 1874, Keogh was on leave to visit his homeland on a seven-month leave of absence, while Custer was leading a controversial expedition through the Black Hills. During this second visit home he deeded his inherited Clifden estate in Kilkenny to his sister Margaret. He enjoyed his stay in his homeland, feeling the necessity to support his sisters after the death of both parents.[1]

Telegram informing of the death of Myles Keogh
Telegram informing of the death of Myles Keogh

In October, Keogh returned to Fort Abraham Lincoln for his old duty with Custer, and it would be his last days. As a precaution, he purchased a $10,000 life insurance policy and wrote a letter of warning to his close friends in the Throop-Martin family, Auburn, New York, outlining his burial wishes. “We leave Monday on an Indian expedition & if I ever return I will go on and see you all. I have requested to be packed up and shipped to Auburn in case I am killed, and I desire to be buried there. God bless you all, remember if I should die — you may believe that I loved you and every member of your family — it was a second home to me.” He gave out copies of his will to comrades, and left behind personal papers which instructions that they be burned if he was killed.[2]

Perhaps the strongest testimony to Keogh's bravery and leadership ability came at Custer's Last Stand - the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. The senior captain among the five companies wiped out with Custer that day, and commanding one of two squadrons within the Custer detachment, Keogh died in a "last stand" of his own, surrounded by the men of Company I. When the sun-blackened and dismembered dead were buried three days later, Keogh's body was found at the center of a group of troopers that included his two sergeants, company trumpeter and guidon bearer. The slain officer was stripped but not mutilated, perhaps because of the "medicine" the Indians saw in the Agnus Dei ("Lamb of God") he wore on a chain about his neck. Keogh's left knee had been shattered by a bullet that corresponded to a wound through the chest and flank of his horse, indicating that horse and rider may have fallen together prior to the last rally.

Keogh Battlefield Marker 1879
Keogh Battlefield Marker 1879

The badly injured animal was found on the fatal battlefield, and nursed back to health as a regimental mascot.[4] This horse, Comanche, is considered the only military survivor of the battle, though several other badly wounded horses were found and destroyed at the scene. His bloody gauntlets and the guidon of his Company I were recovered by the army three months after Little Bighorn at the Battle of Slim Buttes.

His Papal medals are now in the possession of his family (see Myles Keogh: the Life and Legend of an "Irish Dragoon" in the Seventh Cavalry, p.157), though the story has been told that they wound up around the neck of Sitting Bull (according to Ray O'Hanlon of the New York Irish Echo (see [1]).

Keogh's remains were interred in Fort Hill Cemetery (bio and photos) in Auburn, New York on October 26th, 1877, an occasion marked by city-wide official mourning and an impressive military procession to the cemetery.


                               Funeral of Myles Keogh

                  (copied from the New York Army & Navy Journal)

We extract from the Auburn papers the following accounts of the burial of the late Col. Myles W. Keogh, at Fort Hill Cemetery, Auburn, NY. Oct 26: Promptly at 2pm the funeral procession moved from the St James Hotel, where the pallbearers had assembled, and marched in the following order: The Pall-Bearers; Auburn City Band; Military, Lt. Judge, commanding; Post Crocker, G.A.R.; Post Seward G.A.R.; Hearse, draped with the National colors; Carriages bearing the family of E. T. Throop Martin and Army officers. A detail from Post Seward fired minute guns during the march and the ceremonies at the grave. The flag at the State Armoury was flown at half-mast, as were numerous other flags about the city. Volunteers from the several Auburn organisations of the 49th NY Militia were formed into a company, charged with the duties of escort and firing party, according to military etiquette. At the receiving vault the casket was draped with the American flag, upon which were placed some beautiful floral designs. The bearers then placed the casket in the hearse and the line moved to the grave on the lot of E.T. Throop Martin Esq. The pall-bearers were Gen. W. H. Seward, Col. C.C. Dwight, Col. J. E. Storke, Col. E.D. Woodruff, Surgeon Theo. Dimon, Major L.E. Carpenter, Major W.G. Wise and Capt. W.M. Kirby. The following officers of the regular army were present: Gen. L.C. Hunt, Col. R.N. Scott, Surgeon R.N. O'Reilly, Gen. A. J. Alexander, Lieut. J.W. Martin. The grave was laid with evergreens and flowers, and at its head, the base of a handsome monument to be erected in memory of this dead soldier, was strewn with other floral tributes. The remains were lowered into the grave, when the solemn burial service was read by Rev. Dr. Brainard. A dirge was then executed by the band, after which three volleys of musketry were fired by the military, and the procession marched from the cemetery in the same order as on its entry, the immediate friends remaining until the grave was closed. The obsequies were most solemn and imposing, and in every way befitting the rank and record of the fallen brave in whose honour they were held.


The prominent Throop-Martin family, with whom Keogh had become friendly after his comrade General A.J. Alexander married Evelina Martin, was responsible for his burial in their Fort Hill plot and the design of his monument, which bears the inscription taken from the poem - The Song of the Camp - by Bayard Taylor([2]).

"Sleep soldier still in honored rest, Your truth and valor wearing; The bravest are the tenderest, The loving are the daring."

The marble cross atop his grave was added later at the request of his sister in Ireland.

[edit] U.S. Military Career & Ranks

On arrival in America, 1862, Keogh accepted a majority in the volunteers. He was promoted to Captain on April 9, 1862, then Major of volunteers, April 7, 1864; brevet Lieutenant Colonel volunteers on March 13, 1865, and was honorably mustered out September 1, 1866. In the meantime, he accepted a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the 4th Cav on May 4, 1866, being promoted to Captain, 7th Cav, on July 28, 1866.

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

Keogh's name is often misspelled as Keough.

Keogh was enrolled in his first school under the spelling 'Miles Kehoe'.[5]

Myles Keogh's name is mentioned in the 1949 motion picture She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, where John Wayne's character Nathan Brittles is reading a dispatch listing those killed at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Carlow singer songwriter Richie Kavanagh has a song about Myles Keogh on one of his albums.

Due to his Irish origins, Keogh is often credited with having introduced the Irish drinking song Garryowen, which eventually became the official regimental song, to the Seventh Cavalry. This connection is apocryphal.

Myles Keogh is also mentioned in the HBO television series "Deadwood" in episode 12 of the first season ("Sold Under Sin").

Myles was baptised 'Myles Tomás Keogh' although he was known as Myles Walter for most of his life. Anecdotally, it is believed that the reason for Tomás (Irish language spelling of Thomas) at baptism is due to the Catholic clergy's requirement that only a saint's name may be adpoted at this religious ceremony.[5]

The farming carried out at Keogh's home place in Leighlinbridge was mainly arable, barley being the main crop.[5] This meant that the Keogh family were largely unaffected by the hunger and poverty that accompanied the Irish Potato Famine and ravaged the country between 1845 and 1850 - Keogh's childhood days.[5] However, two, or possibly three, of Keogh's siblings did die young, apparently from typhoid - a disease associated with the famine and an illness that Myles also suffered as a boy.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Myles Keogh: The Life and Legend of an "Irish Dragoon" in the Seventh Cavalry, John P. Langellier, Kurt Hamilton Cox, Brian C. Pohanka, 1998, ISBN 0-912783-21-4.
  2. ^ a b c d e f The Honor of Arms: A Biography of Myles W. Keogh, Charles L. Convis, 1990, ISBN 0-87026-076-6.
  3. ^ a b Son of the Morning Star, Evan S. Connell, 1984, ISBN 0-06-097161-4
  4. ^ http://www.thewildgeese.com/pages/plains.html - Brian C. Pohanka.
  5. ^ a b c d http://www.littlebighorn.info/Articles.htm" - "A Visit to Orchard", Kimber, Doyle 2008

[edit] External links

[edit] Further reading

  • Myles Keogh: The Life and Legend of an "Irish Dragoon" in the Seventh Cavalry, John P. Langellier, Kurt Hamilton Cox, Brian C. Pohanka, 1998, ISBN 0-912783-21-4
  • The Honor of Arms: A Biography of Myles W. Keogh, Charles L. Convis, 1990, ISBN 0-87026-076-6
  • Custer's Fall, David Humphreys Miller, Duell, Sloan and Pierce, Inc., 1957