Elizabeth Bacon Custer
Boots and Saddles,
or Life In Dakota With General Custer
(New York: Harper & Brothers, 1885)
Elizabeth Clift Bacon was born at Monroe, Michigan, on April 8, 1842. She was the only surviving child of Judge Daniel and his wife Eleanor Bacon. On Tuesday, February 9, 1864, she became Elizabeth Bacon Custer, wife of Brevet Brigadier General Volunteers, George Armstrong Custer.1 George Custer was born at New Rumley, Ohio on December 5, 1839, to Mr. & Mrs. Emmanuel Custer. Although they were brought up in different levels of society, they fell deeply in love and could not be kept from one anothers sides. Not as well known as Calamity Jane, after marriage Elizabeth became a public figure. The Army soldiers and their families as well as the general public portrayed Elizabeth Custer as a model wife and a devout widow. She fostered these images by holding Custer and the Army in high regard. Upon George's death, Elizabeth wrote and spoke about him, which created the Custer legacy. Elizabeth learned to adapt to her ever-changing surroundings and became an avid frontierswomen to accompany her loving wife role. She adjusted to life in the Army Garrison, living in some of the most hostile and unforgiving environments in the United States such as, The Dakotas and Kansas. In the aftermath of her husband's death at the Battle of Little Bighorn, on June 25, 1876, Elizabeth kept her husband's memory alive by writing and speaking of her experiences with the man she loved.
Elizabeth graduated from Boyds Seminary in 1861 as the class valedictorian and was married to Custer in the First Presbyterian Church, both located at Monroe, Michigan. (They nicknamed one another Libbie and Autie respectfully). Elizabeth followed her George where ever his military assignments would allow. This was a common practice among military members' families.
After the death of her husband, Elizabeth wrote her first book entitled Boots and Saddles, or, Life In Dakota With General Custer in 1885. She followed that with another book, Tenting on the Plains, in 1887 and her last book, Following the Guidon, in 1890.2
Besides being an accomplished writer, Elizabeth was an eloquent speaker, touring and and giving lectures at public functions. She survived George by 59 years and it was evident that her writings were about military life and were totally devoted to the memory of her beloved Autie. In Boots and Saddles the last line of the book makes a direct reference to General Custer's last day: "Dividing the command into three detachments, General Custer led the body of his regiment in that final charge, in which afterwards the line of battle of a portion could be traced by the dead men and the horses as they fell at the post of duty, and from which no man escaped."3 To Elizabeth, George Armstrong Custer could do no wrong, and she devoted the last fifty-nine years of her life in pursuit of clearing his name.
Elizabeth survived on an Army pension, insurance and inheritance money. She also had some income from her books and lectures. Elizabeth moved to New York City, where she died on Thursday, April 4th, 1933, at the age of 91. She is buried alongside George at West Point, New York.
1850 Census Document of Monroe, Michigan, showing Judge Daniel Bacon, his wife Eleanor, and daughter Elizabeth Bacon, later Custer.
Notes:
1 Marguerite Merington, The Custer Story (New York: The Devin - Adair Company, 1950), p. 81.
2 Library of Congress Card Catalog
3 Elizabeth Bacon Custer, Boots and Saddles, or Life In Dakota With General Custer (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1885), p. 270.
Further Readings:
Elizabeth Bacon Custer, Tenting on the Plains (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1887)
Elizabeth Bacon Custer, Following the Guidon (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1890)
Marguerite Merington, The Custer Story (New York: The Devin-Adair Company, 1950)
Shirley A. Leckie, Elizabeth Bacon Custer and the Making of a Myth (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993)
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