History has a way of bestowing a more lasting immortality on
important people who die at the height of their earthly
achievements. Famous personalities who are cut down at the height
of their fame leave people clamoring to know more about them. Books
and songs are written about them. Pictorial mementoes and keepsakes
are in demand. The celebrated military figure General George
Armstrong Custer, whose life ended so abruptly, is no exception.
Interest in him, and those associated with him, has never
diminished with the passing time. Elizabeth Bacon Custer, George's
faithful wife, and more than two dozen women who lost their
husbands at the Battle of Little Big Horn, fall into that category.
Elizabeth Bacon Custer set the social tone at Fort Lincoln,
Nebraska, where she and twenty-five other women were living when
their spouses perished in June 1876. She helped the ladies deal
with the difficulties of life on the Plains; how to handle
frostbite, how to treat heat prostration due to the suffocating
amount of clothing, how to obtain water through holes cut in the
ice of lakes or rivers, and how best to entertain themselves while
waiting for their husbands to return from a campaign. When a
soldier left the fort, his wife never knew if he would return.
Eliza Porter, wife of 1st Lieutenant Colonel I. Porter of Custer's
7th Cavalry, described the last get-together Elizabeth Custer
hosted for the officers and their families this way. "Here are
those nice fellows gathered around the Custer's table, all
discussing the situation and all knowing they will never all come
back. One leaves his watch and little fixings and says, 'if one of
those bullets gets me, send this to my wife waiting for me in
Independence.' One need not search any further to unearth the
reason why "Boots and Saddles," the call to battle written by
Elizabeth Custer, struck terror into the hearts of Army wives. Each
wondered if she would be widowed or if the role of widowhood would
be forced upon her friends. After the men were assembled, they rode
out proudly to the strains of "The Girl I Left Behind Me." In order
to hide their tears and anxiety from their husbands, many wives did
as Elizabeth Porter did; they refused to watch the column's ride
away from the fort. They preferred to say goodbye behind closed
doors. Fear and weeping were private. Nine months after the
massacre at Custer's Last Stand, Elizabeth Custer scheduled a
reunion with the widows of the Little Big Horn. On June 25, 1887,
the women met in Monroe, Michigan, to reflect on the events leading
up to the battle, remember the loved ones that were killed, and
share how they have been able to go on. The widows got together
every year for more than twenty years. In between reunions they
corresponded with each other, exchanged photographs, and supported
one another through the difficult times. The never-before-seen
materials that will be used to write the book entitled Elizabeth
Custer and the Widows of the Little Big Horn will be provided by
the curators of the Elizabeth Custer Library and Museum at
Garryowen, Montana; an example of some of the historical materials
that will be provided include letters between Elizabeth Custer and
the other widows, letters to and from politicians and the widows
supporting and criticizing General Custer, and agendas and pictures
of the widows at the annual meetings. There have been many books
written about General George Custer and a handful have been penned
about Elizabeth Bacon Custer, but there have been nothing written
about the widows of the Last Stand. This will be a first.
General
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