Following the Guidon

by Elizabeth Bacon Custer, Shirley A. Leckie (Introduction)

"Hunting, joking, story-telling on the march and around the camp-fire lost some of its charm as winter really set in. Although it is the custom of soldiers to make light of hardships, there were new features in this winter's campaign which needed all their fortitude to meet and endure." Elizabeth Custer, the devoted wife the general who would fall at the Battle of Little Big Horn, had no illusions about what would be required to force southern Plains Indians onto reservations. Drawing on her husband's letters to her, she describes the Seventh Cavalry's risky winter campaign that culminated in November 1868 with the capture of a Cheyenne village on the Washita River. Following the Guidon shows Libby Custer shuttling between summer camp near Fort Hays, Kansas, and winter quarters in Fort Leavenworth. She observes frontier army life up the discipline and frivolity, tent housekeeping, the resourceful open-air cuisine, regimental quarrels and romances, the omnipresent rattlesnakes and buffalo shot from train windows, the Custer menagerie, the wildness of Ellsworth and Hays City, the presence of California Joe and Wild Bill Hickok. Libby accompanies the men on their hunting expeditions, relates the stories of scouts and teamsters, and always gives a human aspect to a difficult juncture in Custer's career. Following the Guidon , originally published in 1890.

Genres: History, Biography

370 pages, Paperback

First published March 14, 1890

About the author

Elizabeth Clift Bacon Custer was an American author and public speaker, and the wife of Brevet Major General George Armstrong Custer, United States Army. She spent most of their marriage in relatively close proximity to him despite his numerous military campaigns in the American Civil War and subsequent posting on the Great Plains as a commanding officer in the United States Cavalry.

Left nearly destitute in the aftermath of her husband's death, she became an outspoken advocate for his legacy through her popular books and lectures. Largely as a result of her decades of campaigning on his behalf, Custer's iconic portrayal as the gallant fallen hero amid the glory of 'Custer's Last Stand' was a canon of American history for almost a century after his death. - Wikipedia

Reviews

[Julie Richert-Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I anticipated experiencing persistent outrage, knowing this book, and her others, were Libby Custer's lifework in defending and restoring the tarnished reputation of her husband. So . . . who could possibly defend Custer? However, it is easy to set that aside and focus on experiencing her first hand accounts of life in a cavalry unit, the glory and ferocity of the unsettled Plains, the lively characters from our History books that she knew intimately, and an overall account of this monumental time of change on the Frontier, recalled with genuine warmth, humor, and a wonderful literary style. The photos and sketches which accompany are truly remarkable and all has the effect of bringing this snapshot of Western American History startlingly to life.

Links: The Day the World Ended at Little Bighorn: A Lakota History
Killing Custer: The Battle of Little Big Horn and the Fate of the Plains Indians

[NDH · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 1890 work, Mrs. Custer’s third book about her life on the plains with The General, is full of the anecdotes and stories one has come to expect from her, with little repetition. It’s very enjoyable.
This particular edition, however, part of the “Words and Pictures Series” by John Cirignani, is ok but a bit of a disappointment. It could use some maps, and thoughtful editorial comment would help situate events and places chronologically and in the larger context. My biggest complaint is about his selection (and placement) of pictures. Do we really need a picture of the Astor Library in NYC where Mrs. Custer did some of her research? And could we maybe have the dates (or approximate dates) when the photos were taken? Several times, the author mentions in her text specific photographs which it would be nice to have had right there to look at.
Overall, the “Words and Pictures” series is a good idea but not very well executed.