Elizabeth Bacon Custer

Born Elizabeth Clift Bacon on April 8, 1842, she grew up in Monroe, Michigan, and married George Armstrong Custer in 1864 during the Civil War. After his death at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, she spent decades protecting his reputation and keeping his story in the public eye.

She became an author and public speaker, writing books drawn from army life and her years with Custer, including Boots and Saddles, Tenting on the Plains, and Following the Guidon. Her memoirs helped fix a romantic image of frontier military life for many readers.

Elizabeth Bacon Custer died on April 4, 1933. Remembered as more than a famous officer's wife, she was a determined public voice who used writing, lectures, and personal memory to influence how an era was understood.