The Reading Warehouse

Quite aside from its contribution to the public image of Custer, this important book placed him and his associates against a concrete background of onrushing events. Drawing on newspaper reports and the general's own words, Whittaker captures the excitement of the era. Continuing the story of Custer from Volume 1, which dealt with his childhood in Ohio, cadetship at West Point, courtship of Elizabeth Bacon, and service as a cavalryman in the Civil War, Volume 2 takes Custer west to head up the newly created Seventh Cavalry and fight the Arapahoes, Cheyennes, Kiowas, and Sioux. Whittaker gives full scope to Custer's brushes with authority, his changeable relations with his troops, and his famous expeditions, ending with a memorable description of his last stand at the Little Big Horn in June 1876.