I guess I should have known that officers could purchase Remounts directly from the Army, but I didn't. Interesting to know that.Calendar wrote:May 10
1868 A Remount arrives at Ft. Leavenworth from St. Louis, where it will be named Comanche. It received the U.S. brand upon its arrival, but it would be soon sold for $90.00 to an officer of the 7th Cavalry, Miles Keogh.
Comanche is repeatedly, if inaccurately, claimed to be the "sole survivor" of the Custer's command at the Little Big Horn, which ignores of course that many of the men in Custer's command served with Reno and Benteen that day, and only the men under his direct field command were killed in the battle. It further ignores that many 7th Cavalry horses were just carted off by the Sioux and Cheyenne who used them, with the presence of many 7th Cavalry horses being noted by the Northwest Mounted Police after the Sioux crossed into Canada. Inquires by the NWMP as to whether the U.S. Army wished for the NWMP to recover the horses were met with a negative reply, although at least one of the horses was purchased by a Mountie and owned privately.
Did this continue until the end of the horse cavalry era?