Grave of Chief, Last Cavalry Mount in the U.S. Army

Fort Riley, Kansas

Chief died in 1968, the last cavalry horse to be carried on Army rolls. He is buried standing in a special casket constructed by Fort Riley's engineers. The fiberglass statue of Old Trooper, based on a Frederic Remington work, was dedicated in 1961.

Also of interest at Fort Riley is a monument to our Civil War Horse dead [photo shown here]. "In memory of the one and one half million horses and mules of the Union and Confederate armies who were killed, were wounded, or died from disease in the Civil War." On top of a pedestal, the bronze sculpture is one of the sadder depictions of a war horse we've seen -- with military saddle but no rider, scrawny, panting, head drooping, lame...