Distinctly Montana Magazine

48 D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R 2 0 2 6 treatment and comfort." "Though wounded and scarred," he wrote, "his very silence speaks in terms more eloquent than words of desperate struggle against overwhelming odds, of the hopeless conflict, and heroic manner in which all went down that day." Sturgis made provisions that a "special and comfortable stall" be prepared for the horse, and that he would no longer "be ridden by any person whatever under any circumstances, nor will he be put to work." Comanche, for his part, grew attached to his blacksmith savior Gustav Korn. He was said to follow Korn everywhere and to dote on him especially. He even, according to one tale, followed Korn into town, even onto the lawn of the home of the lady he was courting. When Korn was away, Comanche would neigh repeat- edly until Korn would return and accompany the horse back to his stall. In 1890, fears over the Ghost Dance—a spiritual movement some believed would restore traditional life and drive out white settlers for good—led the 7th Cavalry to detain Big Foot's band at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota. There, 153 Native American men, women, and children were massacred. In the rain of fire and bullets, some twenty-five American soldiers died as Natives fought back against the unwarranted attack. One of the American soldiers who lost his life was Gustav Korn. Comanche may have known enough of war to understand why Korn never came back, or perhaps not. But in his beloved black- smith's absence, his health began to fail, and he died on Novem- ber 6th, 1891. Comanche was stuffed and mounted at the behest of a natural- ist at the University of Kansas who thought the animal would make a nice display. He was skinned, and his coat mounted on a dummy artfully arranged to look real, carefully mutilated and reassembled in the verisimilitude of his wartime glory. He went on display at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair before ultimate- ly being ensconced inside a large humidity-controlled display case at the Museum of Natural History at Dyche Hall in Law- rence, Kansas. COURTESY OF THE KU NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM Comanche on display at Kansas University

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