George Armstrong Custer and Onions

 

George Armstrong Custer’s life is usually told in the language of cavalry charges, velvet jackets, cinnamon‑scented curls, and the tragedy of the Little Bighorn. But tucked inside the historical record is a surprisingly earthy thread: Custer’s relationship with onions.

Far from a mere dietary preference, onions were a staple that Custer devoured with enthusiasm.

Onions were not always easy to come by on the Western plains in the 1870s, but when they were available, Custer treated them like a delicacy.

His wife, Elizabeth “Libbie” Custer, documented this habit vividly in her memoir Boots and Saddles. She recounted how, during expeditions, Custer would eagerly consume raw onions, noting their scarcity and value on the frontier — “as rare out there, and more appreciated than pomegranates are in New York.”

In an 1873 letter to Libbie while on the Yellowstone River expedition, Custer wrote with glee: “I supped on RAW ONIONS; I will probably breakfast, lunch and dine on them tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after.”

He and his younger brother Tom Custer, who also perished at Little Bighorn, were both enthusiastic onion lovers.

Libbie herself was less enamored with the results. The strong odor of raw onions on her husband’s breath became a running theme in their correspondence and her writings.

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