Between 1867 and 1875, George Armstrong Custer contributed fifteen letters under the apt pseudonym Nomad to the New York-based sportsman's journal Turf, Field and Farm. Previously available only in a collector's typescript edition, the Nomad letters offer valuable insight into the character of the Boy General as he gives expression to his abiding love for hunting, horses, and hounds. Vivid accounts of days in the field after buffalo and deer alternate with letters that attest to Custer's passion for Kentucky thoroughbreds and trotters and his devotion to his favorite hunting dogs. Moreover, the letters show Custer as a student of literature who constandy alluded to works of fiction and drama and who loved to quote poetry as he self-consciously honed his skills as a writer. The Nomad letters also open the way to controversy since three of the letters written in 1867, as Brian Dippie's careful annotations make clear, offer a strikingly different account of Custer's ill-starred induction into Indian fighting than the accepted version recorded five years later in his memoirs, My Life on the Plains. Composed only a few months after the abortive Hancock Expedition that led to Custer's court-martial and suspension from rank and pay for one year, the Nomad letters are full of a passion and venom absent from My Life on the Plains. They provide an immediate response to the events of 1867 that will interest all students of the Western Indian wars and of Custer's fascinating career.

Nomad: George A. Custer in Turf, Field, and Farm

History

Custer, George Armstrong

Americas

University of Texas

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1891. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... THE Apache village had been represented as located only five or six miles from our camp, but we found the distance nearly twice as great; and although we rode rapidly, our horses being fresh, yet it was quite dark before we reached the first lodge, the location of the rest of the village being tolerably well defined by the apparently countless dogs, whose barking at our approach called forth most of the inhabitants of the village. As our coming had been previously announced by Little Robe and Yellow Bear, our arrival occasioned no surprise. Inquiring of the first we saw where the stream of water was, as an Indian village is invariably placed in close proximity to water, we were soon on our camp ground, which was almost within the limits of the village. Our horses were soon unsaddled and picketed out to graze, fires were started by the men preparatory to the enjoyment of a cup of coffee, and every preliminary made for a good night's rest and early start in the morning. But here the officers of the party encountered their first drawback. From some unexplained cause the pack-mule which carried our blankets had with his attendant failed thus far to put in an appearance. His head leader had probably fallen behind, and in the darkness lost the party. The bugler was sent to a neighboring eminence to sound signals with his bugle, in the hope that the absent man with his mule might make his way to us, but all to no purpose. We were soon forced to relinquish all hope of seeing either man, mule, or blankets until daylight, and consequently the prospect of enjoying a comfortable rest was exceedingly limited. Saddle blankets were in great demand, but I was even more fortunate. A large number of the Apaches had come from their lodges out of mere curiosity to see us, ...

Wild Life on the Plains and Horrors of Indian Warfare

Ayer Co. Pub

An officer and cavalry commander during the Civil War and Indian wars, General George Armstrong Custer (1839–76) was well-known in his lifetime for his personal daring and his aggressive approach to warfare. After his "last stand" in 1876, he was even more famous as the commander who led his entire unit to annihilation by a massive coalition of Native American tribes at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. A few years before the fatal clash, Custer published a series of reminiscences concerning his participation in the U.S. Army's 1867–69 campaigns against the Plains Indians. The evocative accounts, written during one of Custer's semiretirements rather than from the field, tell of marching, camping, furious firefights, and ruthless slaughter on both sides. In addition to its value as a document of military history, this book offers fascinating insights into the notorious general's character, from his enthusiasm for self-mythologizing to the rash behavior that led to his demise.

My Life on the Plains: or, Personal Experiences with Indians (Dover Thrift Editions: Biography/Autobiography)

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Dover Publications

MY LIFE ON THE PLAINS, written by General George Armstrong Custer, is one of the best firsthand accounts of military life on the American western frontier.  Custer’s “Personal Experiences with Indians” are a primary source for research into United States political and military affairs with Native Americans in the 19th century.  In the History in Words and Pictures edition by John Cirignani, MY LIFE ON THE PLAINS has been edited to a contemporary reading experience and supplemented with dozens of photographs that bring General George A. Custer’s words to life.  For those who wish to see American history through the words and eyes of those who made it, MY LIFE ON THE PLAINS is a must read.  The book reveals substance behind an American legend that runs far deeper than the last day of his life.  In contrast to revisionist depictions of the Civil War hero such as Son of the Morning Star, Custer comes across as intelligent and thoughtful with a robust sense of humor.  Notably, MY LIFE ON THE PLAINS is the root of a political conflict between Custer and Ulysses S. Grant largely overshadowed by the tragic Last Stand.  In it, Custer boldly calls out corruption in the government as the catalyst behind the Indian unrest.  This criticism likely contributed to the disaster at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.  It's easy to come away from reading the book with the notion that the “Most Interesting Man in the World” isn't a pitch man for Dos Equis, but in fact the former commander of the 7th United States Cavalry.  Here's what others said:  SIOUX CHIEF SITTING BULL - "They kept in pretty good order.  Some great chief must have commanded them all the while.”   "Up there where the last fight took place, where the last stand was made, he stood like a sheaf of corn with all the ears fallen around him."  "My people did not want his scalp."  (The interviewer then asks why.)   Sitting Bull answers; "I have said; he was a great chief."  ELIZABETH B. CUSTER, CUSTER'S WIDOW - "My husband had many enemies, and none of them were Indians.  His rivals sent him on a suicide mission with too few men and not enough ammunition."  FREDERICK WHITACKER, CUSTER'S BIOGRAPHER - "Few men had more enemies than Custer, and no man deserved them less.  The world has never known half the real nobility of his life, nor a tithe of the difficulties under which he struggled."

My Life on the Plains: Personal Experiences with Indians (History in Words and Pictures Series)

Cirignani, John W.

Leaders & Notable People

Cirignani Enterprises Inc.

My Life on the Plains: Or, Personal Experieinces With Indians (Western Frontier Library)

Univ of Oklahoma Pr

When General Custer led his troops to annihilation in the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876, he was possibly the most notorious Indian fighter the army had known. In his own time, he achieved much of his fame as a daring soldier through his own published accounts of his adventures. Indeed, in My Life on the Plains, originally published serially in the Galaxy magazine starting in May 1872, Custer displays the flamboyance and glamour generally attributed to him by others.
Covering the years 1867–69, the period of most extensive military activity against the Plains Indians, Custer’s book tells of the newly reorganized Seventh Cavalry’s operations on the frontier. When published, it aroused fresh controversy over the Battle of the Washita during the Winter Campaign of 1868. In fact, Custer so vigorously denounced the "humanitarians" espousing the "Indian peace policy" that one of those named by him—General W. B. Hazen—defended his reputation in a pamphlet issued in 1874. Hazen’s rebuttal, entitled "Corrections of Life on the Plains," is appended to this volume.

My Life on the Plains: Or, Personal Experiences with Indians (Volume 52) (The Western Frontier Library Series)

Community & Culture

University of Oklahoma Press

A personal narrative of the most famous cavalry leader America ever produced. A vivid picture of the American West, the rigors of life for the settlers, and the horrors of Indian warfare.

My Life on the Plains

Kensington Publishing+corp

Man of raw nerve and courage, the West's most controversial figure. Spine creased, very slight signs of age or use. #1 of The Men Who Made The West Series.

Dorchester Pub Co Inc

Wild Life On the Plains and Horrors of Indian Warfare

Legare Street Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Custer, George Armstrong. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Custer, George Armstrong

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Custer, George Armstrong. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Nomad: George A. Custer in Turf, Field, and Farm

Wild Life on the Plains and Horrors of Indian Warfare

My Life on the Plains: or, Personal Experiences with Indians (Dover Thrift Editions: Biography/Autobiography)

My Life on the Plains: Personal Experiences with Indians (History in Words and Pictures Series)

My Life on the Plains: Or, Personal Experieinces With Indians (Western Frontier Library)

My Life on the Plains: Or, Personal Experiences with Indians (Volume 52) (The Western Frontier Library Series)

My Life on the Plains

My Life on the Plains

Wild Life On the Plains and Horrors of Indian Warfare

Wild Life On the Plains and Horrors of Indian Warfare