One man is directly related to two popular trivia questions: "Name the only survivor of Colonel Custer's command at the Battle of the Little Big Horn" and "During the time of Custer, what was the name of the regimental song of the Seventh Cavalry?"

Comanche, the war horse, was the only survivor, and the regimental tune was "Garryowen." Capt. Myles Keogh owned Comanche, and he reportedly introduced "Garryowen" to Custer. However, there is much more about Keogh that is fascinating.

Although born in Ireland, he was an active participant in the Papal wars in Italy, the Civil War in the U.S. and the Indian campaigns in the American West. Keogh was known for his bravery and was acknowledged for his courage by his military superiors and by his foes on the battlefield. Like Custer, Keogh also was killed at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

Myles Walter Keogh was born March 25, 1840, in Carlow County, Ireland, to John and Margarete (Blancheville) Keogh. His family was affluent and not affected by the potato famine that swept the country in the late 1840s. Myles attended a "national school" in Leighlinbridge and reportedly enrolled in college classes at Carlow.

In 1860, Pope Pius IX asked for volunteers from Ireland and Western Europe to help defend the Catholic Church's holdings against forces led by Garibaldi. In August, Keogh enlisted and was appointed second lieutenant. He was sent to Ancona, a port city in eastern Italy. In September, outnumbered six to one, the unit in which he served was defeated at the Battle of Castelfidardo, and Keogh was taken prisoner.

After his release from prison in Genoa, Keogh was awarded numerous medals for gallantry and invited to join the Vatican Guard. With the guard not involved in any action, Keogh became bored and resigned his commission in March 1862.

Meanwhile, the Civil War was raging in America, and Secretary of State William Seward sent the Archbishop of New York to Italy to recruit seasoned officers for the Union army.

On April 15, 1862, Keogh was given the rank of captain and assigned to the staff of Brig. Gen. James Shields. Keogh quickly saw action.

On June 9, as Keogh's unit pursued Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, the opposing forces met at the Battle of Port Republic. Jackson was forced to retreat, and Keogh's actions on the battlefield were noticed by Gen. George McClellan, the commander of the Potomac Army. At McClellan's request, Keogh was transferred to his personal staff.

Under McClellan, Keogh took part in the bloody Battle of Antietam. When McClellan was removed from his command in November 1862, Keogh was reassigned to Gen. John Buford's staff. After several skirmishes with the elusive Confederate forces under Jeb Stuart, Buford and Keogh were involved in successfully holding the high ground at Gettysburg. For his action, Keogh was promoted to major. Buford and Keogh then continued their pursuit of Stuart.

In the winter of 1863, Buford died, and Keogh was appointed aide de camp to Gen. George Stoneman. One of their major objectives was to free the 30,000 prisoners held at the infamous prison at Andersonville in Georgia. On July 31, 1864, Keogh, Stoneman and the rest of the federal troops were surrounded and taken prisoners. After his release two and a half months later, Keogh was promoted to lieutenant colonel.

When the Civil War ended, Keogh accepted a commission as second lieutenant in the U.S. Army on May 4, 1866. He was originally assigned to the Fourth Cavalry but was reassigned to the Seventh Cavalry under George Custer on July 28, 1866. Keogh was promoted to captain and placed in charge of Company I. In October, the Seventh Cavalry was ordered to Fort Riley in Kansas, where they were to protect railroad construction crews as they laid the rails westward.

Keogh and Custer became good friends and enjoyed each other's company. Keogh, known as the "Irishman with smiling eyes," helped the morale of the Seventh by turning it into a pseudo-Irish regiment. It has been claimed that he introduced the soldiers to the tune "Garryowen," which was an Irish drinking song. Custer liked it so much that he made it the regimental song of the Seventh Cavalry.

Late in 1866 until the summer of 1867, Company I, under Keogh, had the main responsibility of protecting the Smoky Hill Road, a stage trail from Fort Riley to Denver. Keogh was then put in charge of Fort Wallace, the westernmost post in Kansas. The fort came under constant attacks from Cheyenne and Sioux warriors. Keogh left Fort Wallace in March 1868 and was reunited with the rest of Seventh Cavalry at Fort Leavenworth. However, Custer was gone, having been suspended from the Army for a year because of his failure in a campaign against the Cheyenne Indians.

On April 4, Captain Keogh and his company left Fort Leavenworth for Fort Larned. En route, they stopped at Ellis Station, a place where the Kansas Pacific Railroad crosses the Big Creek. Tom Custer, brother of George, had selected 41 horses in St. Louis that he had transported for the soldiers. There was a large brown gelding that Keogh selected that he later named Cheyenne. From that time on, the horse and Keogh were inseparable.

Keogh then became Gen. Alfred Sully's inspector general at Fort Harker in Kansas. In 1872, Keogh and the rest of Company I were sent to Fort Totten, near Devils Lake, to provide protection for the workers sent out to survey the boundary between northern Dakota Territory and Canada. His commanding officer on this project was Maj. Marcus Reno. The project proved long and tedious as the survey crew moved into Montana, not finishing until 1875.

Keogh rejoined Custer and the rest of Seventh Cavalry at Fort Abraham Lincoln in October of 1875. One of his duties was to establish a trail from the fort to the Yellowstone River in eastern Montana that could be used for mail delivery and the movement of soldiers. This became known as the Keogh Trail and was later used by state engineers when they laid out highway 10.

Orders came from Washington to Gen. Alfred Terry to prepare to launch an assault against Sitting Bull and the other hostile Sioux and drive them back to their reservations. On May 17, 1876, the Seventh Cavalry left Fort Lincoln. As they began their journey down the Keogh Trail, the regimental band played "Garryowen" with Keogh mounted on Cheyenne.

On the morning of June 25, Custer's regiment stumbled upon the Indian encampment. Not realizing the strength of the Indians, Custer split his regiment into three groups. With five companies, including Company I, under Keogh, Custer ordered an attack. When the Battle of the Little Big Horn was over, Keogh, Custer and over 260 others from the Seventh were dead. When the rescue party arrived, only Cheyenne and a few other horses were still alive. The other horses were too badly wounded and were destroyed.

Following the defeat, Gen. William Sherman ordered that a fort be established in the heart of Indian country to subdue hostile activities in the area. Col. Nelson Miles was put in charge of locating the site and building the fort. The site chosen was at the end of the Keogh Trail and was named Fort Keogh in honor of the brave Irish officer who had served with Custer.

(Written by Curt Eriksmoen and edited by Jan Eriksmoen. Reach the Eriksmoens by e-mail at cjeriksmoen@;cableone.net.)