Libbie Custer: True Grit

 

History remembers General George Armstrong Custer.

But the true story of grit may belong to the woman who rode beside him into some of the harshest places in America.

Her name was Elizabeth "Libbie" Bacon Custer.

In her book Boots and Saddles she recounts the dual dangers she faced on the frontier. “My danger in connection with the Indians was two-fold.  I was in peril from death or capture, and liable to be  killed by my own friends to prevent my capture.”

“ The universal understanding was that anyone having me in charge  in an emergency where there was imminent danger of my capture should shoot me instantly.”

Custer’s Last Stand: Portraits in Time

Custer's Last Stand Re-Examined

George Washington's Coffin Opened

 

In 1837, George Washington's lead coffin was placed inside the marble sarcophagus that visitors see today.  The coffin was opened in 1837, witnesses reported that Washington's remains were remarkably well preserved because of the lead-lined coffin. A contemporary account states that a section of the lead was carefully lifted back, exposing the head and upper chest. Observers described:

The face as readily recognizable as that of George Washington. The features as shrunken but distinct. The nose retaining its shape. The hair still visible. The dark military cloak in which he had been buried remaining identifiable. The body appearing naturally mummified rather than skeletal.

One witness wrote that the body seemed so well preserved that it looked as though it had been buried only a short time rather than nearly four decades earlier. After the inspection, the coffin was resealed and enclosed within the marble sarcophagus donated by Philadelphia stonecutter John Struthers.

How Martha Washington Lived: 18th Century Customs

Love, Sex, and Marriage in Colonial America 1607-1800