CUSTER George General US Military 1885 INDIAN WAR SIOUX Black Hills 7th CAVALRY
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Note: Many of my clients are scholars and historians seeking specific information related to their research. For their convenience I include the following details directly from this book: Subject Matter Featured/Illustrated in this Work (General/Partial Only, Please See Full Contents in Main Description Below): Boots and Saddles Antique Book General George A. Armstrong Custer Elizabeth Libby Custer Memoir Wife Seventh 7th Cavalry Troops Horses Soldiers Campaigning United States Arm...y Indian Wars Plains Western Old West North South Dakota Black Hills Expedition Custer’s Last Stand Little Bighorn Big Horn Sioux Villages Camps Massacre Fort Lincoln Garrison Indian Depredations Rain in the Face Missouri River BOOTS AND SADDLES, Or Life In Dakota with General Custer. By Elizabeth B. Custer. FIRST EDITION Published in 1885 by Harper & Brothers, Franklin Square. 8” x 5” cloth hardcover. Illustrated with frontis portrait and map. 312 pages. Condition: VERY GOOD ANTIQUE CONDITION. Bright exterior as shown in photo, slight rubbing at corners and spine ends. Text block firm and solid. Text is clean and complete: no torn, loose or missing pages. Great example of this rare Indian Wars title. DESCRIPTION: “Custer’s Last Stand” is one of the iconic episodes of American popular history. Almost everyone who grew up in the United States has heard of Custer’s devastating defeat by Sioux Indians on the Little Bighorn. It is an event that has been immortalized in paintings, books, television and film. But how many know the story of General George A. Custer, the man? The soldier? The husband? BOOTS AND SADDLES was written by Custer’s wife, Elizabeth, in the wake of the Custer massacre. To preserve the memory of her husband in a way she thought fit, Mrs. Custer recorded this eyewitness account of her personal experiences with General Custer on the plains and hills of Dakota. Elizabeth Custer accompanied General Custer on all of his major military assignments, a way of life that began in 1864 when their honeymoon was interrupted by his call of duty with the Army of Potomac. Mrs. Custer begged her new husband to take her with him, and in this way she frequently followed him into the theatre of war until his death in 1876. “The only woman, ” she wrote, “who always rode with the regiment.” BOOTS AND SADDLES is the story of George and Elizabeth Custer’s life in the field with the 7th Cavalry in the months leading up to the Little Big Horn. Told by Elizabeth herself, it offers a fascinating recounting of the Plains Indian Wars as seen through the eyes of a Victorian woman. These are sights, scenes and incidents of the Indian Wars that she personally witnessed. She writes in the Preface: One of the motives that have actuated me in recalling these simple annals of our daily life, has been to give a glimpse to civilians of garrison and camp life – about which they seem to have such a very imperfect knowledge. This ignorance exists especially with reference to anything pertaining to the cavalry, which is almost invariably stationed on the extreme frontier. The isolation of the cavalry posts makes them quite inaccessible to travelers, and the exposure incident to meeting warlike Indians does not tempt the visits of friends or even of the venturesome tourist. Our life, therefore, was often as separate from the rest of the world as if we had been living on an island in the ocean. Very little has been written regarding the domestic life of an army family, and yet I cannot believe that it is without interest; for the innumerable questions that are asked … lead me to hope that the actual answers to these queries contained in this little story will be acceptable. As you might expect, Mrs. Custer’s opinion of her husband and his actions leading up to the fateful day are colored by love and loyalty. Her devotion to her husband shines through every line of her account, which ends abruptly and poignantly on the morning she received the news of the massacre at the Little Big Horn. One of Mrs. Custer’s motives in writing this book may indeed have been “to give a glimpse to civilians of garrison and camp life, ” but the underlying mission of BOOTS AND SADDLES was to defend her deceased husband from what she felt were malicious attacks by General Ulysses Grant and other senior officers who blamed Custer for the massacre of his battalion. So strident was she in this regard that it wasn’t until her death in 1933 that other authors publicly challenged her admiring view of General Custer. In addition to the main narrative (details of which can be viewed below, under the “Contents” section), this First Edition of BOOTS AND SADDLES also features a 41-page appendix loaded with excerpts of Custer’s letters to his wife, beginning in 1873 and concluding on June 22, 1876, only three days before his death on the Little Big Horn. This section is free of Mrs. Custer’s commentary, giving the reader a rare, unfiltered glimpse of General Custer’s own thoughts. Contents Are: CHAPTER ONE ~ A CHANGE OF STATION CHAPTER TWO ~ A BLIZZARD CHAPTER THREE ~ WESTERN HOSPITALITY CHAPTER FOUR ~ CAVALRY ON THE MARCH CHAPTER FIVE ~ CAMPING AMONG THE SIOUX CHAPTER SIX ~ A VISIT TO THE VILLAGE OF “TWO BEARS” CHAPTER SEVEN ~ ADVENTURES DURING THE LAST DAYS OF THE MARCH CHAPTER EIGHT ~ SEPARATION AND REUNION CHAPTER NINE ~ OUR HOME AT FORT LINCOLN CHAPTER TEN ~ INCIDENTS OF EVERY-DAY LIFE CHAPTER ELEVEN ~ THE BURNING OF OUR QUARTERS – CARRYING THE MAIL CHAPTER TWELVE ~ PERPLEXITIES AND PLEASURES OF DOMESTIC LIFE CHAPTER THIRTEEN ~ A “STRONG HEART” DANCE CHAPTER FOURTEEN ~ GARRISON LIFE CHAPTER FIFTEEN ~ GENERAL CUSTER’S LITERARY WORK CHAPTER SIXTEEN ~ INDIAN DEPREDATIONS CHAPTER SEVENTEEN ~ A DAY OF ANXIETY AND TERROR CHAPTER EIGHTEEN ~ IMPROVEMENTS AT THE POST, AND GARDENING CHAPTER NINETEEN ~ GENERAL CUSTER’S LIBRARY CHAPTER TWENTY ~ THE SUMMER OF THE BLACK HILLS EXPEDITION CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE ~ DOMESTIC TRIALS CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO ~ CAPTURE AND ESCAPE OF RAIN IN THE FACE CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE ~ GARRISON AMUSEMENTS CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR ~ AN INDIAN COUNCIL CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE ~ BREAKING UP OF THE MISSOURI CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX ~ CURIOUS CHARACTERS AND EXCURSIONISTS CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN ~ RELIGIOUS SERVICES - LEAVE OF ABSENCE CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT ~ A WINTER’S JOURNEY ACROSS THE PLAINS CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE ~ OUR LIFE’S LAST CHAPTER APPENDIX ~ WITH EXTRACTS OF GENERAL CUSTER’S LETTERS Remember folks, this is an original and authentic 1885 First Edition by General Custer’s widow. 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