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His Very Silence Speaks
Comanche—the Horse That Survived Custer's Last Stand

Elizabeth Atwood Lawrence		 The mount of Captain Miles W. Keogh, Comanche was the legendary sole survivor of Custer's Last Stand. As such, the horse makes an electric connection between history and memory. In exploring the deeper meaning of the Comanche saga, His Very Silence Speaks addresses larger issues such as the human relationship to animals and nature, cross-cultural differences in the ways animals are perceived, and the symbolic use of living and legendary animals in human cognition and communication.
More than an account of the celebrated horse's life and legend existence, this penetrating volume provides insights into the life of the cavalry horse and explores the relationship between cavalrymen and their mounts. Lawrence illuminates Comanche's significance through the many symbolic roles he has assumed at different times and for various groups of people, and reveals much about the ways in which symbols operate in human thought and the manner in which legends develop.		 "This volume will stand as one of the most comprehensive and well researched interpretations of Comanche and the mystique that surrounds him."
—Western Historical Quarterly

"A work that overshadows all the others." —True West

"A fascinating historiographical and anthropological study."
—Medical History
 
$26.95s paper / ISBN 0-8143-2197-6

360 pages
Illustrated

1989