The Civil War Memories of Elizabeth Bacon Custer

The efforts of Custer's widow to sustain her husband's reputation after the Little Big Horn battle in 1876 provide a rich fund of insight into the frontier army. This book, compiled from notes she made during her lifetime, tells the storys of the Custers during the Civil War. Reynolds, who portrayed Elizabeth in the TV series The Real West, deserves praise for editing raw material. War bride ``Libbie'' followed ``Autie'' in his rise to fame as the Union's best frontline cavalry general. Her descriptions of the campaigns of 1864-1865 belong in the library of every student of the Civil War. Her candid evaluations of army routines and personalities bring a much-needed perspective to a field still dominated by operational analysis. And her unvarnished descriptions of her own maturing under the stress of war make this a useful contribution to women's studies as well. Photos. (Nov.)