Giveaway! Enter to win a copy of
None Wounded, None Missing, All Dead: The Story of Elizabeth Bacon Custer.
An exquisitely framed photograph of George Custer rested on an easel next to a lectern. Elizabeth Bacon Custer, George’s devoted wife, studied her husband’s image as she sat in the meeting hall at John Street Church in Lowell, Massachusetts, on January 31, 1894. Hundreds of flowers surrounded the enlarged picture-the last one taken of Custer, in late April 1876. Adorned in a blue uniform decorated with rows of brass buttons, medals, and intricately woven golden shoulder braids, he was the model of strength and confidence. His short hair was neatly combed, and his thick mustache was smoothed down over his lips.
The room was filled with ladies dressed in their finest Sunday clothes, sitting at numerous tables arrayed around the large hall. They were giddy with excitement and chatted briskly while sipping coffee and tea. Elizabeth’s seat was at a long table for ten placed upon a dais. She was the guest of honor, flanked on either side by overly attentive women continuously thanking her for being with them.
Within a few moments Elizabeth was introduced as the keynote speaker, and as she rose from her chair, radiant and poised, the entire room was galvanized into sudden and tumultuous applause. She stood in simple, dignified response to the ovation and smiled sweetly to her left, then to her right. After everyone had taken their seats. Elizabeth expressed her appreciation for the kind reception and then began her story.
“My husband was killed more than seventeen years ago at the Battle of the Little Bighorn,” she said in a crisp, cultured voice. “I believe he had many enemies there, and none of them were Indians. His rivals sent him on a suicide mission, with to few troops and ammunition.”
To learn more about Elizabeth Bacon Custer and how she lived to glorify her husband’s memory read None Wounded, None Missing, All Dead.
