Outside of Ireland, the largest collection of personal documents related to Myles Keogh can be found at the Autry National Center of the American West in Los Angeles, California (above). As described on the Autry's website (www.autrynationalcenter.org), the Museum of the American West, formerly known as the Museum of Western Heritage, was co-founded by Gene and Jackie Autry and Monte and Joanne Hale. With the opening of the Museum in 1988, Gene Autry realised his dream "to build a museum which would exhibit and interpret the heritage of the West and show how it influenced America and the world." Famed around the globe for his music and acting, Gene Autry - The Singing Cowboy - had an illustrious career which spanned some 60 years in the entertainment industry. His achievement in establishing this institution, dedicated to preserving America's rich history for future generations, is a wonderful chapter of his enduring legacy.
In 1989, Mr. Noel Kehoe of Clifden, County Kilkenny and occupant of the house deeded to Myles Keogh by his Aunt Blanchfield, donated a number of family albums and correspondence to the Autry's Museum of the American West. Among the documents entrusted to the museum were Keogh's commission papers, his 1869 passport and citizenship certificate, photographs related to Keogh and a large number of newspaper clippings, both American and Irish in origin. The papers and photographs of Keogh had been returned to his family in Ireland after his death, mainly by the Throop Martin family of Auburn, New York and by Keogh's close friend, Captain Henry Nowlan of the 7th Cavalry. The family in Carlow then assembled two albums to honour the memory of Myles, the first containing original documents and photographs and the second comprising a letter book relating to his service record.
The first album is in the form of a scrapbook, its brown leather cover embossed with the words "Colonel M. W. Keogh" in gold colored writing. Inside the first page and surrounded by a somber black ribbon is a copy of Keogh's 1872 photograph where he proudly displays his newly allocated formal cavalry uniform (left). Following on from that are page after page of newspaper cuttings relating to Keogh, the Battle of the Little Big Horn and its reputed "sole survivor" Comanche, Keogh's horse. Photographs include six of Keogh in uniform and civilian dress, one of his grave, and one of Cornelia Martin with a child.
The second album is a leather bound notebook with written correspondence in the first few pages and a front cover embossed with the title “Myles’s Letters.” There were a number of letters from Cornelia (Nelly) Martin to Myles' sister Margaret in Ireland relating to the burial arrangements in 1877 and ongoing for some years after regarding Keogh's grave and Ms. Martin's grief at Keogh's death. There is nothing in the letters to hint at a romantic tryst between Nelly and Myles as some researchers have theorised although Nelly signs all her letters to Margaret as "your sister". However, it is obvious from the language and tone of correspondence that Ms. Martin is distraught at Keogh's death. Nelly's sister, Evelina (Evy), also writes a letter of sympathy to Ireland and outlines her fondness for Keogh. Evy was married to Keogh's close friend, General A.J. Alexander and all had shared quarters in Knoxville, Tennessee. According to this letter, Myles gave Evy a ring "enclosing his hair and marked with his crest" before he parted Knoxville which she wore next to her wedding ring after his death. She also wrote - "I used to call him my youngest and adopt playfully the role of 'mother to him'". Evy was also the one who sent the clipping of her husband's 'Army & Navy Journal' tribute to Carlow which was pasted into the large scrapbook.
More pertinent to America's Civil War era are the letters from United States government and military officials (1865-1866) supporting Keogh's application for a commission after the Civil War. Correspondents include Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, and Generals George Stoneman, George McClellan, John Schofield, Alvin Gillem, George Thomas and George Meade. As this collection of letters was to form a type of 'curriculum vitae' of its day, Keogh wrote a brief summary on the back of each commendation outlining what the correspondent said within about his service. For example, on the back of the Meade letter, Keogh writes: "Testifies to the high military character Bvt Lt. Col. M.W. Keogh presented in the Army of the Potomac whilst under his command."
Keogh's 7th Cavalry kepi and spurs on display in the museumOther letters include war-time correspondence from Buford reporting to the War Department on Keogh's gallantry in battle (Oct 3rd, 1862) and a letter from November 1864 where Stoneman wrote to the Governor of New Jersey seeking Keogh's appointment to the vacated post of Lieutenant Colonel in the 3rd New Jersey Cavalry Regiment - "It is the desire of some of my officers that my ADC, M. W. Keogh, should be appointed to...[the vacant post]." The 3rd New Jersey Cavalry were popularly known as 'The Butterflies' due to their hussar-style uniforms including an orange lined cloak called a talma. The Butterflies were part of Custer's Cavalry Division and, although the promotion did not occur, Custer had also written to his wife on the impending assignment of an officer who "served in the European armies of the late Italian War."
Two of Keogh's commission certificates are also part of the collection - one certifying Myles Keogh, of the U.S. Volunteers, the rank of Lieutenant Colonel by Brevet on March 13, 1865, signed at bottom by Secretary of State Edwin Stanton and President Andrew Johnson. A second commission paper bestows the rank of Captain in the 7th Regiment of Cavalry to Myles Keogh, dated July 26, 1866, again signed at bottom by Secretary of State Edwin Stanton and President Andrew Johnson.
A year after Keoghs' death in the Little Big Horn valley, arrangements were put in place by the U.S. army to recover the remains of all the 7th's fallen officers. Assuming responsibility for this procedure was 'Little Phil' Sheridan's brother, Michael. A number of letters in the collection relate to the removal of the officer's bodies. Colonel Michael Sheridan writes a glowing tribute to Keogh in his letters to Nelly Martin. He recorded that Lt. Nave was responsible for tending to Keogh's remains - Captain Nowlan directed Nave to do so - while they were held at Fort Lincoln and for arranging their transport to Auburn, as per Keogh's final wish. In the fall of 1877, his remains were removed to New York in a metallic casket but, interestingly, the Throop Martin family had to pay for the transport costs once it left military property. M.V. Sheridan also reassures Nelly that:
"We had no difficulty whatever in identifying poor Keogh's remains and they were carefully exhumed so you will have the satisfaction of knowing that all that is left of him on earth will be entrusted, in accordance with his request, at Willowbrook."Of all the documents in the collection, perhaps the most decorative is Keogh's 1869 passport - a single page detailing personal information such as physical features and pertinent dates. The A3 size paper has a full page water mark detailing the Great Seal of the United States and is in near perfect condition. On the left of the page is a description of his physical features - Forehead High, Eyes Blue, Nose Ordinary, Mouth Small, Chin ditto, Hair Brown, Complexion Florid, Face Full.
The collection also includes the original Colonel Samuel Sturgis' General Orders No. 7 (April 10, 1878) which famously decreed that Myles Keogh's horse, Comanche - reputed to be the "sole survivor" of 'Custer's Last Stand' - be provided with "...a special and comfortable stall... and he will not be ridden by any person whatsoever under any circumstances, nor will he be put to any kind of work."
Among the few photographs, both loose and pasted into the scrapbook, is a copy of a carte de visite taken in 1860 of Keogh when he was a Second Lieutenant in the Pope's Battalion of St. Patrick. According to soldiers testimonies, this image of Keogh was recovered by the U.S. Army at the Battle of Slim Buttes soon after the Little Big Horn engagement. What is interesting is whether the photograph in the possession of the Autry National Center's Museum of the American West is the actual photograph that Keogh carried into combat that June day, 1876 or a copy of the recovered photograph. The image was sent to Ireland by Captain Nowlan, who inscribed on the back of the cardboard frame:
Col. M.W. Keogh decs'd. When a Lieutenant in the Pontifical Zouaves taken at (or in) Rome 1860. Copied from a carte de viste, taken from his person by the "Sioux" at the battle of the "Little Big Horn," afterwards recovered from them. HJN (signed with Nowlan's initials)
Keogh's Papal carte-de-visite copy in the possession of the Autry National Center's Museum of the American WestWe do know that Keogh had previously copied some of his photographs, making use of Fort Lincoln's resident photographer, O.S. Goff, and his in-situ studio. The Pontifical carte de visite would have been 17 years old by the time of Custer's last fight so it is not inconceivable that Keogh may have wished to preserve it through a copy. However, it is also possible that Nowlan copied the retrieved photograph through Goff's studio as he later sent a Goff photograph of Comanche to Keogh's family in Ireland. In the absence of definitive proof, an argument can be made for both theories. Regardless, the photograph, now in the museum's collection, remains a fascinating link between Myles Keogh and the events that occurred beside the banks of the Little Big Horn River, June 25th, 1876.
"In his death, America has lost a gallant officer, Ireland a brave and faithful son, and society an honest, fearless and upright man."_________________________
A warm debt of appreciation is due to Marva Felchlin, Director of the Autry Library, for her permission to view the collection and for her generosity of time during the visit.
