General Custer's Body Recovered

Subscribing to newspapers.com is one of the smartest things I've ever done. I originally signed up for the trial period to check some things out. But I find myself returning to those "musty, old newspapers" on a regular basis. The cost is roughly the same as a streaming video service and you don't feel guilty if you spend an entire evening hunting around.

The following was stumbled upon while looking up a totally different subject. When that happens, and it happens a lot, I drop it into a file folder. When I'm struggling for something to post in an update, like now, I'll go looking through that folder and I always find something interesting.

This little tidbit is from the BLACK HILLS CHAMPION newspaper out of Deadwood, South Dakota. This is from the July 16, 1877 edition.

Black Hills Champion, Deadwood, South Dakota, July 16, 1877

Elizabeth Bacon Custer

“As the sun broke through the mist a mirage appeared, which took up about half of the line of cavalry, and thenceforth for a little distance it marched, equally plain to the sight on the earth and in the sky. The future of the heroic band, whose days were even then numbered, seemed to be revealed, and already there seemed a premonition in the supernatural translation as their forms were reflected from the opaque mist of the early dawn.” 

― Elizabeth Bacon Custer, Boots and Saddles: Or, Life in Dakota with General Custer

Elizabeth Bacon Custer

When George Custer was killed at the Little Big Horn in 1876, he was fortunate to leave behind his greatest advocate, his wife Elizabeth. Libbie promoted his image and fought off all naysayers who had anything but the best to say about the celebrated "Boy General." She kept this up until her death in 1933, by which time many of Custer's critics had already passed on. She wrote letters, editorials, and gave lectures on her gallant husband. Fortunately, for us and for history sake, she also wrote three wonderful books based on her experiences and life with Custer and the 7th Cavalry.

While her books are technically non-fiction, they are decidedly and unsurprisingly slated to depict her husband in a favorable light. But, they also provide a wonderful window into the lives of 19th century soldiers and their families. She describes picnics, horseback riding, games, parties, holiday gatherings, and other tidbits of daily life that are priceless when it comes to understanding those times of yesteryear. All three books are highly recommended.

Boots and Saddles: Or, Life in Dakota with General Custer was Libbie's first book, published in 1885. It is also her most famous book. 

It covers the couple's time at Fort Abraham Lincoln near Bismarck, in what was then Dakota Territory. It covers up to the time the 7th Cavalry left on the Sioux Expedition of 1876 and Libbie was informed that she was a widow.

Boots and Saddles is one of the few books about military life in the 1800's written from a woman's perspective. It is worth reading for that fact alone. But it also sheds light on George Custer, the man, as well as the rest of the "Custer Clan." 

 

Tenting on the Plains: Or, General Custer in Kansas and Texas was Libbie's second book, published in 1887. Tenting on the Plains primarily focuses on the Custer's lives during the period immediately following the Civil War. 

At this time they were stationed in Louisiana, Texas, and Kansas. Libbie portrays the aftermath of the Civil War in Texas and life in Kansas while her husband took part in General Winfield Hancock's 1867 expedition against the Indians between the Arkansas and Platte rivers. 

Throughout the book, she provides detailed descriptions of an army officer's home life on the frontier during this major period of Indian unrest.

Following the Guidon: Into the Indian Wars with General Custer and the Seventh Cavalry is the third book in Elizabeth's trilogy, published in 1890. 

In this final book she covers the period when Custer's career and standing was again on the rise. Custer had been "in exile" following his court-martial and has been recalled to assist the army with the growing Indian problems throughout the Great Plains.

This book recounts the first major engagement after Custer's return, The Battle of the Washita.

If you want to read the books in a real chronological order you should start with Tenting on the Plains, then Following the Guidon, and finally ending with Boots and Saddles. Personally, I read the books in publication order and found that just as enjoyable. No matter the order in which they are read, Libbie's books provide an insight into Custer, their lives together, his family, and the frontier army that you just can't get anywhere else.

Elizabeth never remarried and spent the 57 years following her husband's death strongly supporting and defending him. She played a giant role in building the legend General George Armstrong Custer. She died just four days short of her 91st birthday, on April 4, 1933.

Libbie's books are still in print and are readily available. Check out your favorite bookseller.

Fort Abraham Lincoln

The Northern Pacific Railroad was moving westward and needed military protection. Companies B and C of the 6th Infantry built the first post, Fort McKeen, on the west bank of the Missouri River, across from Bismarck. On November 19, 1872, the fort’s name was changed to Fort Abraham Lincoln. The following year, Congress authorized the fort to have an addition of cavalry troops added to the mix. The fort was moved about five miles to the river bluffs.

Fall 1873 saw the arrival of six companies of the 7th U.S. 7th Cavalry under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. That year (1873), troops of the 7th escorted the Yellowstone Survey Expedition.

Fort Abraham Lincoln had grown to include some 78 different buildings and was home to three companies of the 6th and 17th Infantries and six companies of the 7th U.S. Cavalry. It was one of the largest and most famous of the Northern Plains forts.

Custer and the 7th Cavalry would find themselves on an expedition in 1874 to the Black Hills of present-day South Dakota. They didn’t know it at the time but they were lighting the fuse to a massive clash that would heavily involve the regiment. They spent two months exploring the Back Hills and discovered gold on French Creek. Custer sent a telegram that would attract the attention of the nation:

“… gold has been found at several places, and it is the belief of those who are giving their attention to this subject that it will be found in paying quantities. I have on my table forty or fifty small particles of pure gold…most of it obtained today from one panful of earth.”

News of the gold strike sent tens of thousands of treasure seekers to the Black Hills. This was in violation of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. This naturally angered the Sioux and led to the Battle of the Little Big Horn two years later.

It was from Fort Lincoln, on May 17, 1876, Custer and the 7th Cavalry set out on the campaign against the “hostiles”. On June 25, the 7th Cavalry attacked an Indian village along the banks of the Little Big Horn River in what is now southeast Montana. The battle itself has been debated since it ended and is way beyond the scope of this website post. But after the fight, the steamer Far West brought the wounded, along with the news of the disaster, back to the fort.

In 1877 the fort’s troops participated in the Montana campaign against the Nez Perces. When the Indians surrendered in October, the troops then escorted them from Fort Keogh, Montana to Bismarck, North Dakota.

The fort continued to be the headquarters of the 7th Cavalry until June of 1882 when they were transferred to Fort Meade, South Dakota. By the end of the 1880s the railroad had been completed, most of the Indians had been confined to reservations, and local settlers were numerous. The Army evacuated the fort in 1891, by which time it was already falling into ruins and being dismantled by settlers.

Today, the fort is the Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park, which includes the sites of both Fort McKeen and Fort Abraham Lincoln, as well as several restored Mandan Indian earth lodges. The locations of numerous buildings have been marked. Three blockhouses at Fort McKeen have been reconstructed. The original flagpole of Fort Abraham Lincoln stands in front of the Custer House, a Victorian-style home, which has been reconstructed and is open for living history tours. Also reconstructed are the commissary storehouse, which houses a gift shop, the enlisted men’s barracks, granary and stable.

Fort Lincoln Photo Album - photos from various trips to Fort Abraham Lincoln

Recommended Custer Reading

You can literally buy a ‘Custer’ related book every day. Whether or not you can actually afford to do this is another matter entirely. But there are definitely enough books, articles, periodicals, etc. on the subject to keep a person busy doing little else.

I started buying books and reading about Custer on a serious basis back around 1997. I wasn’t that discerning with my purchases back then so I ended up acquiring a lot of, well for lack of a better word, shit. As you get into studying this whole George Armstrong Custer thing you will find out that for every decent book there are dozens of worthless volumes that aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. I should know. My bookshelves are full of them. I’ve become a lot more particular in my book buying for a few reasons. First, books are expensive. Why waste money on crap when there are so many good ones out there? Second, unless you buy your books on a Kindle or a like device you are going to start to run out of space. And you’re going to run out quickly. Why have your shelves full of less than top notch choices? Last, and certainly not least, there is only so much time to read all these books. Unless you’re buying books to just have a collection of Custer books, you will be doing a lot of reading. Life is too short to read crap.

With all that being said, I have put together a list of my top ten favorite "Custer books." I have not included any biographies of Custer in my list, although there are plenty. My list deals with Custer, the 7th Cavalry, and their experiences - mainly the Battle of the Little Big Horn and the Campaign of 1876. If you're looking for a full blown biography of Custer, I suggest you look no further than the Pulitzer Prize winning CUSTER'S TRIALS by T.J. Stiles.

This is my list and I’m sure there will be disagreement about what books made my list and which ones were left off. But it’s my list dammit. You can make your own. So here is my top ten list of Custer books in no particular order.

STRATEGY OF DEFEAT AT THE LITTLE BIG HORN. Full disclosure - Fred Wagner is a dear friend of mine. He and I are ‘Montana Mayhem’ buddies. We’ve walked the battlefield together and I am very proud of him and the work he’s done with his Little Big Horn research. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that STRATEGY is a book that will clear up many of the details and questions you will have swimming around in your head after reading other books on the subject. I must warn you though that this isn’t a beginner book. Read some of the others on this list before tackling this one. But you will definitely want/need this one on your shelf. Make sure you have several bookmarks.

PARTICIPANTS IN THE BATTLE OF THE LITTLE BIG HORN. Another Fred Wagner book. This isn’t really a book you sit in an armchair and read. This is more of a book that is crammed with sticky notes, bookmarks, and highlights. This is one of the most used books that I own. Everyone who was at Little Big Horn is listed here along with short bios for each. It’s also full of other useful items of interest to the Little Big Horn scholar. Think of it as an almanac of the 7th Cavalry and the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

A TERRIBLE GLORY. I mentioned above that STRATEGY OF DEFEAT AT THE LITTLE BIG HORN by Fred Wagner is not a book for beginners. A TERRIBLE GLORY by James Donovan is a wonderful starting point for your study. It gives you an overview of the events leading up to the 1876 campaign, the battle, and its aftermath. The chapter on the Reno Court of Inquiry is worth the price all by itself. It’s an interesting book that reads like a novel. There’s a reason it was a national bestseller.

SON OF THE MORNING STAR. This is the book that was the kick-start to my Custer/Little Big Horn obsession. It's a wonderful read that covers all aspects of the battle with little tidbits thrown in. Here's one passage that has always stuck in my mind: "It is said that at the beginning of the twentieth century one buffalo wandered across the prairie not far from a small town in Wyoming.  The townspeople hitched up their wagons and rode out to have a look. They drove around the creature and stopped, the wagons forming a circle with the buffalo inside.  For a long time they stared at this legendary animal.  Then, because they could not imagine what else to do, somebody shot it." There are no footnotes or endnotes however. If you want to know what specific source Connell used, you're out of luck.

WHERE THE RIVERS RAN RED. This is one of the latest entries into Custer literature. It was written by Michael Donahue, a seasonal park ranger at the Little Big Horn Battlefield. It covers the Indian fights of General Custer including the Washita, the fights on the Yellowstone, and of course the Battle of the Little Big Horn. It has wonderful maps that help you understand what was happening and where. What SON OF THE MORNING STAR was lacking in footnotes and endnotes, this one more than makes up for it. The endnotes are just as much fun to read as the text, with little jewels of information scattered throughout. The limited edition hardcover sold out in record time. 

EXPLORING WITH CUSTER. This book is the only one on the list that doesn't deal with Custer's last battle. This book focuses on the 1874 Black Hills Expedition which discovered gold in what is now South Dakota. The book contains the diary entries of 7th Cavalry soldiers who were on the expedition. You can almost smell the campfires and taste the frying bacon. But the highlight of this book is the before/after photographs. Custer took a photographer along and Paul Horsted does a remarkable job of recreating his photos. You will see that a lot has changed. At the same time, many of the locations look relatively the same. This book is gorgeous. It is printed on heavy duty paper that shows off the high quality photographs. Well worth the price.

WHERE CUSTER FELL. This is the before/after photograph book for the Little Big Horn. Old photos and the stories behind them alongside the same view today. It is amazing what can be learned by examining the old photos that people took of the battlefield. You can literally see the battlefield change throughout the years to become what it is today.  The book contains some stunning photos of Deep Ravine which show that the sides at one time were much steeper than they appear today. There is also information about how Last Stand Hill has changed over the years with the temporary burial of the dead from the Fetterman Massacre and the building of the battlefield road. Good stuff.

LITTLE BIG HORN DIARY: CHRONICLE OF THE 1876 INDIAN WAR. This one is a real gem. Written by James Willert, it is volume 6 of the Custer Trail Series from Upton and Sons Publishers. This book is more expensive than the others found on this list. It's also more difficult to find. As of right now it is out of print but used copies are available from booksellers and occasionally it can be found on Ebay. It is a wonderful book that outlines the entire campaign day-by-day. There are lots of photos and marvelous drawings. This is a book you will turn to again and again.

ARCHAEOLOGY, HISTORY, AND CUSTER'S LAST BATTLE: THE LITTLE BIG HORN REEXAMINED.  This is the definitive book on the archaeological digs that were done at the Little Big Horn Battlefield after a fire raged across it in 1983. Dr. Richard Fox explains the evidence, found in and on the ground. Fascinating details about firing pin signatures and the ability to put guns that were found on the battlefield in participant's hands as they fought. Like THE STRATEGY OF DEFEAT, this is not a beginner's book. Once you have a basic understanding of the battle, "dig" into this one. There are several books dealing with the archaeological examinations at the battlefield but this one is the granddaddy of them all.

CUSTER IN '76: WALTER CAMP'S NOTES ON THE CUSTER FIGHT. Walter Camp was a researcher extraordinaire. He doggedly pursued the truth of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. He interviewed, and became friends with, actual battle participants. His notes are primary source material and cannot be valued high enough. There are several books that have been published that are based on his research. This is the first of those such books that I came across. This is as close as you can come to having the Little Big Horn battle participants telling you the story themselves. If you find a book based on the research of Walter Camp, snatch it up.


Well that's my list.

"What, no Jerome Greene?!" "What about the great books by Richard Hardorff?" "How can you have a list like that and leave off Utley?" "You're an idiot! Custer's Luck is the best Custer book of all time."

All valid questions and comments but it's my list. Make your own and send it to me. I'd love to see it. The hard part is narrowing it down to ten. The list also needs to be fluid. Each Custer book you read has the potential of disrupting your list.

Happy reading!