Elizabeth Bacon Custer

Uncommon card · No. 104694

Elizabeth Clift Custer (née Bacon; April 8, 1842 – April 4, 1933) was the wife of George Armstrong Custer, the United States Army officer. She spent most of their twelve-year marriage in relative proximity to him despite his numerous military campaigns in the American Civil War and subsequent postings 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 advocate for his legacy through her books and lectures. Her decades of campaigning on his behalf led to the public perception of General Custer as the "gallant fallen hero" and the canonization of Custer's Last Stand in American history for almost a century after his death. Elizabeth Custer never remarried and died in 1933, four days short of her 91st birthday.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Mathew Benjamin Brady, Public domain