PATHS OF GLORY AND DAYS OF DARKNESS

AFTER THE BATTLE OF LITTLE BIGHORN, THE SEVEN OFFICERS' WIVES HAD AN IMMORTAL BOND.

- CHRIS ENSS AND HOWARD KANZANJIAN WITH CHRIS KORTLANDER

On July 29, 1876, Elizabeth Custer requested an audience with the widows and children of the enlisted men lost at the Battle of Little Bighorn. She struggled to maintain her composure while waiting for all to gather on the steps of her home. The sound of little ones laughing and talking drew her attention away from her own hurt. She greeted the children and their mothers as they slowly arrived with a smile; when everyone had assembled, she thanked them for their friendship and loyalty and wished them well in their lives beyond Fort Abraham Lincoln. Before saying goodbye, she presented each child with a picture of General Custer.

The following morning Elizabeth, Maggie Custer Calhoun, Nettie Bowen Smith, Annie Yates, and her three children, three-and-a-halfyear-old George, twenty-two-month-old Bessie, and seven-month-old Milnor, Annie's brother, Richard Roberts (a civilian herder and parttime newspaper correspondent), and David Reed (Elizabeth's brother-in-law and father of Henry Reed) traveled to Bismarck, in the Dakota Territory via carriage and steamboat. All the ladies were dressed in black, and all but Elizabeth were seen crying as the steamship carried the sorrowful party down the river. In Bismarck, the widows were met by Col. J. W. Raymond and were guests overnight in his home. The next morning, they boarded a special railroad car to begin the long journey back to Monroe.