Page "Myles Keogh" Paragraph 23

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.