Boots and Saddles (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading): Life in Dakota with General Custer

By Elizabeth B. Custer and Barbara Handy-Marchello

In 1885, Elizabeth ("Libbie") Custer published her memoir about her marriage to General George Armstrong Custer, the most controversial military officer of the nineteenth century. Set at Fort Lincoln, Dakota Territory, Boots and Saddles offers a singular historical view of the frontier West and the Plains Wars. Women who followed the army endured both boredom and danger, and Boots and Saddles could have aptly been subtitled "Elite Homemaking in the Far West."

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Release date: Sep 1, 2009
• ISBN: 9781411431188

Reviews for Boots and Saddles (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading)

[maneekuhi · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Boots and Saddles" is a charming book by Libbie Custer, written 11 years after her husband's death at Little Bighorn. Most of the book concerns their life on the Plains particularly the last few years together when they were in territories, the Dakotas, Montana, and referred to life "back in the States" as though they were residing in a foreign country. There are lengthy passages dealing with the Indian encounters both experienced, the difficulties of eight month winters, social events, Custer with his dogs, the night their home burned down, the mail delivery system, tourists who demand an audience with Custer, the capture and escape of an Indian warrior, a woman who wasn't a woman, marching with the troops. One of my favorite sections appears toward the end - the Custers are returning from leave which they spent in the east, and arrive at at train station in the prairie expecting transport back to their garrison only to find that due to ice and snow service is not expected to be resumed for months. But as a courtesy to the General who had afforded protection to the workers during the surveying and construction of the route, a train is quickly readied with multiple cars and a rather incredible and varied passenger list. There are many stops as huge snow drifts are cleared manually by train crew and passengers alike until the train is finally stuck. How the Custers are rescued is a rather incredible story and says a lot about the people of those days and the extent to which they would go to help family and neighbor. The final chapter deals with Custer's death at Little Bighorn but not in great detail. He and his wife had exchanged lengthy letters when he was out on patrol and the epilogue includes sections from some of his 80 page epistles. The insight that the reader gains into the loving, tender relationship between this man and wife is very touching. I highly recommend this book; it is an excellent companion to the recently released "The Last Stand".

[statmonkey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Recommendation: A glimpse of what life was like for the wives and families of soldiers in the old west. Anyone looking for a light non-fiction read that moves along swiftly and will keep your attention. I enjoyed this book more than I care to admit.Quick Summary: Certainly a different view from the historical one we have of General Custer. Elizabeth Custer was clearly not an unbiased observer of "The General" but she does make it clear that there was another side of the man that should be considered. What makes this book most interesting is not her excuses for the man but her descriptions of the daily life and her observations of all that was going on around her. The bottom line for Elizabeth is that General Custer was a good man maligned.Elizabeth Barrett Custer was the wife of General George Armstrong Custer. Unlike many wives of the time she did not choose to remain behind in the East when her husband was assigned to Indian Territory. In this book (the first of three she penned) Mrs. Custer describes the time between their assignment to North Dakota and the fatal trip to Little Big Horn. In between she paints a descriptive and interesting picture of life on the prairie. There are limitations that must be accepted when reading this, her bias toward "The General", the time that the book was written in and the social conventions of that time but overall I found it to be a good read and quite enjoyable. At times it's hard to take some of her fawning (the men were all great looking and prime specimens of manhood for example) but some of the stories she tells are pretty gritty and definitely interesting.This is another that I managed to pick up in a used book store and if you happen to stumble across it I highly recommend it. It is also available in a kindle version from Amazon.

[reader68_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

aspects of their domestic life on marches and on frontier posts in Dakota. read this as a kindle book. goes up to June, 1876 when he died on the 25th in an indian massacre. read june 2012.