In her first year of marriage (1864-1865) to General George Armstrong Custer, Libbie Custer witnessed the Civil War firsthand, sharing the hardships and dangers of war with Custer's Third Brigade. Her experiences were so vivid that they seemed ideal material for a book, one that she worked on for years in later life but ultimately never published. In this volume, Arlene Reynolds has produced a readable narrative of Libbie Custer's life during the war years by chronologically reconstructing Libbie's original, unpublished notes and diaries found in the archives of the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. Libbie Custer's memories add striking, eloquent details to the Civil War story as she describes her life both in camp and in Washington. Her stories of incidents such as fording a swollen river sidesaddle on horseback, dancing at the Inaugural Ball near President Lincoln, and watching the massive review of the Army of the Potomac after the surrender combine the intensity of an eyewitness account with the engrossing quality of a well-written novel. This book will appeal to a wide audience. For general readers and students of women's history, it tells a fascinating story of a sheltered girl's maturation into a courageous woman in the crucible of war. And for both devotees and detractors of her husband, it offers an intimate glimpse into his youth, West Point years, and early military service.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The efforts of Custer's widow to sustain her husband's reputation after the Little Big Horn battle in 1876 provide a rich fund of insight into the frontier army. This book, compiled from notes she made during her lifetime, tells the storys of the Custers during the Civil War. Reynolds, who portrayed Elizabeth in the TV series The Real West, deserves praise for editing raw material. War bride ``Libbie'' followed ``Autie'' in his rise to fame as the Union's best frontline cavalry general. Her descriptions of the campaigns of 1864-1865 belong in the library of every student of the Civil War. Her candid evaluations of army routines and personalities bring a much-needed perspective to a field still dominated by operational analysis. And her unvarnished descriptions of her own maturing under the stress of war make this a useful contribution to women's studies as well. Photos.
Copyright 1994 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The North's youngest general proposed to his lady with all the vigor of a cavalry charge. They married in 1864; imme-diately, he scooped her up and carried her off to war. Elizabeth ("Libbie") Custer lived a soldier's life with George Armstrong Custer on campaigns or awaiting his safe return. For years she kept journals, and though she was a respected author after Custer's death, she never completed their Civil War story. Enter Reynolds, a writer and actress who played Libbie on television and in plays; discovering Libbie's diaries, Reynolds was determined to finish the story. She allows Libbie her voice: whether she is decrying her lack of courage on the road or describing the men of the regiment, Libbie's love and admiration for her husband shine through. We're allowed a glimpse of a gentler, albeit beleaguered general through the eyes of his beloved wife. Recommended for larger public library Civil War collections.
Nancy L. Whitfield, Meriden P.L., Ct.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Nancy L. Whitfield, Meriden P.L., Ct.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Eyewitness to Civil War times,
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This review is from: The Civil War Memories of Elizabeth Bacon Custer: Reconstructed from Her Diaries and Notes (Hardcover)
This is a book I had a hard time putting down. It is an eyewitness account of civilian Civil War times, and is a "must" for Civil War period buffs. It tends to deromanticize the era, as Libbie Custer tells the day-by-day details of marching with the Union Army, living in then near-desolate Washington D.C., and taking over rooms in Confederate farmhouses to set up camp. But those details are nevertheless fascinating, because they are so different from life today. Her memoirs unfortunately give too little information about Custer's personality and her relationship with him, which I was eager to learn. This is probably due to the writing style of the era, however, as Victorians tended to be "closed" about their personal feelings.
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