Series 15 - Keogh family letters

170pp

Kerby A. Miller created his transcripts of the Keogh Letters from the original manuscripts held in the National Library of Ireland [call number MS 3885].

The Keogh (sometimes spelled Kehoe) family letters are a set of 28 letters written between 1863 and 1869 and sent to the Thomas F. Keogh family in Park, County Carlow. Most of the letters are written by Myles Walter Keogh, Captain of Cavalry, Army of the Potomac; later Colonel with the United States Army on the frontier. Keogh had left Carlow in 1860 to join the Papal army in its war against Sardinia. Following the Papal loss, Keogh went to America. A member of General Sheridan's staff during the American Civil War, Keogh fought alongside Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn during the Great Sioux War of 1876. Keogh was killed; his horse Comanche is considered to have been the only United States military survivor of the battle.
The series consists of: a staple-bound copy of G.A. Hayes-McCoy (1965) Captain Myles Walter Keogh, United States Army 1840-1876 (O'Donnell Lecture delivered at University College, Galway, 19 October 1965); Kerby A. Miller’s notes, abstracts, and transcripts of the Keogh letters; and National Library of Ireland transcripts of some of the letters; and email correspondence regarding the United States Army’s 7th Cavalry Regiment’s use of the Irish tune ‘Garryowen’ as its official march, which military lore states was brought into the regiment by Myles Keogh.