Boots and Saddles, or Life in Dakota with General Custer. by CUSTER, Elizabeth B - 1885

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1885. First edition, second issue with the portrait frontispiece and the map. Octavo. 312 pp. Publisher's light brown cloth with gilt cover and spine lettering and gilt trumpet and rising sun on front. Very mild extremity rubbing. A very attractive copy."Although Elizabeth lived fifty-seven years after her husband's death, she kept her marriage vows, fulfilling what she believed were her responsibilities as "the widow of a national hero" by lecturing around the world. Known throughout her life for her undying devotion to her husband, she was the only officer's wife to live in a tent on the edges of the Civil War battlefield, ride in the ranks with the soldiers, and accompany the 7th Cavalry on many of its expeditions. During those adventures, she wore her own uniformed dresses to show her dedication to her husband and the US Army.Forever a heated topic for debate, the controversy of George Armstrong Custer and his influence on the West fueled Libbie Custer's efforts to author three books on her husband's military career and her lifelong mission to counter the claim by then US President Ulysses S. Grant the defeat at Little Big Horn was solely due to Custer's leadership. Her three books, Boots and Saddles, (1885), Following the Guidon (1890); and Tenting on the Plains, (1893) were brilliant pieces of propaganda aimed at glorifying her dead husband s memory.She died just days short of her 91st birthday on April 6, 1933" (Mandan History)