Elizabeth B. Custer (1842–1933)
Auteur de Boots and Saddles
A propos de l'auteur
Crédit image: Libby Custer with her husband, Gen. George A. Custer, taken during the Civil War
Œuvres de Elizabeth B. Custer
The Civil War Memories of Elizabeth Bacon Custer: Reconstructed from Her Diaries and Notes (1994) 14 exemplaires
The boy general : story of the life of Major-General George A. Custer, as told by Elizabeth B. Custer ... (1201) 5 exemplaires
Oeuvres associées
The Best of the West: An Anthology of Classic Writing from the American West (1991) — Contributeur — 258 exemplaires
Étiqueté
Partage des connaissances
- Nom légal
- Custer, Elizabeth Bacon
- Date de naissance
- 1842
- Date de décès
- 1933
- Lieu de sépulture
- West Point Cemetery, West Point, New York, USA
- Sexe
- female
- Nationalité
- USA
- Lieu de naissance
- Monroe, Michigan, USA
- Lieu du décès
- New York, New York, USA
- Lieux de résidence
- Fort Hays, Kansas, USA
Fort Riley, Kansas, USA
Fort Lincoln, North Dacota, Usa
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, USA - Professions
- writer
- Relations
- Custer, George Armstrong (husband)
Membres
Critiques
Listes
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Auteurs associés
Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 8
- Aussi par
- 2
- Membres
- 340
- Popularité
- #70,096
- Évaluation
- 3.7
- Critiques
- 6
- ISBN
- 73
Mrs. Custer’s has the social attitudes of most of her contemporaries. She’s patronizing toward her two black servants – she quotes them in dialect. The Lakota are “savages”. She has more favorable words for the Crow and Arikara scouts that work for the cavalry – but even here most of her comments emphasize their quaint and “uncivilized” behavior.
The book is a chronological series of anecdotes, interesting enough if you can get by the 19th century language and attitudes. One section intrigued me – it was about one of the garrison “laundresses”, “Old Nash”. Old Nash was not very attractive – even for a garrison laundress, who didn’t exactly have a reputation as centerfold material. However, the fact the she was female and that garrison soldiers and Dakota settlers were pretty desperate allowed her to work through three husbands, two locals and a soldier. The first two husbands deserted her, but the third – a much younger cavalry trooper – stayed. “Old Nash” left instructions to be buried immediately after death, but the ladies of the camp decided that would be unfitting, prepared the body – and discovered “Old Nash” was a man. Her husband shot himself when it was revealed. Mrs. Custer narrates this without any censure for anybody involved.
The book ends with Mrs. Custer getting the news of the Little Bighorn/Greasy Grass battle.
I’ve read other books on life in the frontier Army in the 1800s (Forty Miles A Day On Beans And Hay); this is the only one that depicts it from a woman’s point of view. It’s easy to be sanctimonious about Mrs. Custer’s prejudices and behavior from 150 years later, but after the General’s death she was left impoverished and had to make a career as a writer and public speaker – which means she had to appeal to her audience. Photographs of the General, Mrs. Custer, and the two of them together. No maps or index. Appendices of Custer’s letters from campaigns of 1873 and 1876.… (plus d'informations)