Omaha daily bee., 1891-05-03
AS BRAVE As BEAUTIFUL.
Thrilling Experiences IN the Life G
Clusters widow.

N"NitE = " it'"s
Mrs. Elizabeth Bacon Custer, the
brave, beautiful and talented woman,
has probably had moro thrilling advon.
lures, more hairbroadth escapes of many
sorts, moro hardships and priyations
and sorrows, and more varied cXpori
encos crowded into her life, which is
not yet II long one, than usually falls to
the lot Of ut least II dozen ordinary
women.
1t was in tho wintor OF 1863 that Miss
Elizabeth Bacon, the daughter of Judge
Danie :. Bacon of Monroe, Mich, met
for the first time Captain George Arm
strong Custer, who, while waiting orders,
was visiting his sister In that place,
whore he had spent somc time in school
a half dozen years before. But for Judge
Bacon's opposition to military life for
his only daughter they would have been
married at once.
In the spring of 1863 Captain Custer
returned to the army in Virginia, and
was promoted that summer, at tho age
of twonty-thrce from captain to briga'
dier general. During the following
autumn he came to Munroc again on q
twcnty-days leave of absence to recover
from flesh wound, which, though not
dangerous, disabled him somewhat.
His couaagc and galluntry had won all
IltdIlS, anu til llllS lllut, Wien lUt v NOVllH
general again pctitioncd Judge Bacon
for his daughters hand, u reluctant con.
sent was obtained and the two became
engaged.
When his leave OF absence had ex.
pircd he went back to duty and did not
return until Il few days before their
marriage, February 9, 1864
After year in Texas, whore the gen.
cral had command of II division of west.
| Crn cavalry and was afterwards made
| chief OF cavalry, marching to Austin,
| where he supported the governor and
| the new state organization in restoring
order to that dcmorali2cd region, the
! Clusters returned to Michigan in 1866,
The autumn of that year found them in
Kansas, whore the general assumed
charge of the Seventh (rcgular) cavalry,
to which he had been assigned, and
| there they remained for five years, dur
! ing which time Mrs. Custer was the
only officers wife who always followed
the regiment During these years
General Custer was on frequent eXpcdi-
| tions in pursuit of the Indians in the In.
dian territory, Colorado, New Mexico,
| Nebraska and Wyoming.
After two years in kentucky the gen,
eral was sent to the frontier again, going
to Dakota in the spring of 1873, and
| here, three years later, the brave gen
eral lost his life in an expedition against
| the Sioux.
| What Mrs Custer saw and expert
enccd in these years, during which sho
was almost constantly her husband 8
! close companion, it would take volumes
to describe Indeed, in later years, Mrs.
Custer herself yielded to the importuni-
| ties of her friends and has given to the
| world three volumes of the most surpass-
ing interest, descriptive of army life and
| experiences.
In Boots and Saddles, " "Following
the Guidouo and "'renting on tho
| Plains, are presented the most vivid
word pictures of II life which seems 50
wonderful, so romantic, and often SO
heartrending to Il civilian, that one won
| much. Yet the books are not all
shadow by any means, for Mrs. Custer
has an abounding cheerfulness of tenn
perament and so keen II sense of the
droll in life that smiles and peals of
laughter chase away the tears as one
| reads.
On the frontier, in Da kota, Mrs. Gus
ter was always in peril of her life.
There was n tacit understanding and
agreement among General Custer and
the officers of his regiment that if at
any time the party was surprised by the
Indians and capture seemed imminent,
whoever had Mrs. Custer in his care was
to shoot her instantly to save her from
the incalculably greater suffering OF
torture by her merciless captors.