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'''Elizabeth Bacon Custer''' (née '''Bacon'''; April 8, 1842 – April 4, 1933) was an American author and public speaker who was the wife of Brevet Major General [[George Armstrong Custer]], [[United States Army]]. 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 outspoken advocate for his legacy through her popular books and lectures. Largely as a result of her decades of campaigning on his behalf, General Custer's image as the gallant fallen hero amid the glory of [[Battle of the Little Bighorn|Custer's Last Stand]] was a canon of American history for almost a century after his death.
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Elizabeth "Libbie" Bacon was born in 1842 in [[Monroe, Michigan]]. She was the daughter of [[Daniel S. Bacon|Daniel Bacon]] (b. 1798), a wealthy and influential judge and state representative.<ref name="legis">{{cite web |url=https://mdoe.state.mi.us/legislators/Legislator/LegislatorDetail/4531|title=Legislator Details - Daniel S. Bacon|publisher=[[Library of Michigan]] |access-date=June 3, 2020}}</ref> Her father had profitable investments in real estate and other business ventures.<ref name="Stiles 2015 110–111">{{Cite book |last=Stiles|first=T.J.|year=2015|title=Custer's Trials|publisher=Vintage Books/Penguin Random House|location=New York |isbn=978-0-307-47594-7|pages=110–111}}</ref>
Tragedy marked much of her childhood, with her three siblings and mother all dying before
Elizabeth Bacon was both beautiful and intelligent
She had briefly encountered her future husband George Armstrong Custer as a child, and socially met him again in the autumn of 1862, when he had returned to Monroe on leave from the first year of the American Civil War. He later wrote that he fell deeply in love with her as of their first formal meeting. She eventually returned these feelings, but her father refused to allow then-Captain Custer into the Bacon home or to permit her to meet him outside it, much less get married, as George proposed in the final week of 1862. He was from a poor, undistinguished family, and the judge hoped his daughter would have better than the life of an army wife.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wert |first=Jeffry D. |year=1996 |title=Custer: The Controversial Life of George Armstrong Custer |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=0-684-81043-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/custercontrovers0000wert/page/65 65–68] |url=https://archive.org/details/custercontrovers0000wert/page/65 }}</ref> After Custer, just prior to the [[Battle of Gettysburg]] (where he played a significant role), was promoted to [[Brevet (military)|Brevet]] [[Brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]], Judge Bacon finally relented and they were married in Monroe at the First Presbyterian Church on February 9, 1864.<ref name="historynet.com">{{Cite web |url=https://www.historynet.com/libbie-custer-wounded-thing-must-hide.htm |title=Libbie Custer: 'A Wounded Thing Must Hide' |last=Hutton |first=Paul Andrew |date=August 16, 2017 |website=HistoryNet |access-date=April 5, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://monroefirst.org |title=First Presbyterian Church of Monroe |access-date=April 5, 2020 }}</ref>
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After the war, George reverted from his wartime rank of major general to his [[Regular Army (United States)|Regular Army]] rank of [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|lieutenant colonel]], although he did receive a brevet (honorary) promotion to major general which allowed him to wear the uniform and insignia of that rank. He was assigned to a series of dreary and unsatisfying assignments in [[Texas]], [[Kansas]], and the [[Dakota Territory]]. Life on the frontier outposts was difficult, and his career was plagued by problems including a [[court martial]] (brought about by his
The 1876 campaign against the Sioux seemed like a chance for glory to George Armstrong Custer. The couple's final home together was at [[Fort Abraham Lincoln]] near what is now Bismarck, [[North Dakota]]. From there, the general led the Seventh Cavalry in pursuit of [[Sitting Bull]], [[Crazy Horse]] and the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne who refused to be confined to the reservation system.
== Defender of her husband's legacy ==
After her husband and 5 of the 12 companies of the 7th Cavalry were wiped out at the [[Battle of the Little
Elizabeth began writing articles and making speaking engagements praising the glory of what she presented as her "martyred" husband. Her three books—''Boots and Saddles'' (1885), ''Tenting on the Plains''—(1887), and ''Following the Guidon'' (1890) aimed at glorifying her husband's memory and were ultimately slanted in George's favor.<ref name="historynet.com" />
[[File:Taft and Libbie Custer 1910.png|thumb|250px|left|alt=Howard Taft unveiling the Custer statue, 1910|An elderly Elizabeth, seen looking at [[William Howard Taft|President Taft]] in black hat and dress from the far left of the frame, attends the unveiling of the [[George Armstrong Custer Equestrian Monument|Custer statue]] in [[Monroe, Michigan]], in 1910.]]
Elizabeth remained utterly devoted to her husband and never remarried. Despite having spent her life traveling extensively throughout the United States (including winters in Florida) and the world, she never visited the
After an initial period of distress dealing with her late husband's debts,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barnett |first=Louise |year=1996 |title=Touched by Fire: The Life, Death, and Afterlife of George Armstrong Custer |publisher=Henry Holt and Company, Inc. |location=New York |isbn=0-8050-3720-9 |page=
== Portrayals in movies and television ==
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