The late Dr. Lawrence Frost spent much of his life studying "The Boy General," George Armstrong Custer. This book originally appeared in 1964 and brought together a collection of paintings, photographs, drawings and memories of the life and times of the man President Lincoln once said "rides into battle with a whoop and a holler."

I've read scores of books on the general, but this is the only one that I recall claiming that Custer was a grand-nephew of George Washington. May be so; maybe not - interesting none-the-less.

Frost has 238 illustrations in this fine book. He interviewed many of Custer's descendants, including nephews who served in the U. S. Army during WWII and Korea as officers.

Frost was curator of the Custer Museum in Monroe, Michigan. Though born in New Rumley, Ohio, on December 5, 1839, Custer spent much of his youth living with his sister in Monroe, Michigan.

Monroe was the home to a beautiful daughter of a judge and her name was Elizabeth Bacon. Her father, however, would allow his daughter to have nothing to do with the young man.

Of course, when a young man becomes an Army general at 23 he gains some respectability. Custer received that honor in June 1863 and in February 1864, with Judge Bacon's blessing, Custer married the judge's daughter. They would be married just over 12 years and, for reasons unknown, they never had children (both wanted them desperately). Sadly, following Custer's death in 1876, she chose to live alone until 1933, writing about her husband and defending him until the day she died.

The book is full of photos that show a loving couple. Custer was photographed more than Abraham Lincoln. When they couldn't get a photo, the great artists were sketching his exploits on-the-spot at battlefields. Later, artists would try to, and continue to try to, capture what Custer in combat would look like --- there are dozens of full-scale paintings of his last battle at the Little Bighorn in 1876; this seems to attract painters like a magnet since there were no Army survivors from Custer's immediate command which allows artists to let their imaginations flow when portraying the combatants on canvas.

The drawings of George and Elizabeth by Frederick Remington , done for Elizabeth's books about their life together that were written years after his death, convey their life together quite well. She accompanied him to encampments of the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War and to many a horrid station in the American west (Army forts hardly being designed for family comforts).

Remington captures a special moment in one drawing that stands out to me. Elizabeth wrote about it years after the fact. It seems that George raced his horse across the plains and swept Elizabeth from the saddle with one arm, lifting her to his saddle and maintaining the gallop --- believe it or not! I probably wouldn't believe it, but there were witnesses. To hear Elizabeth tell it, George was 6-foot-4 (Army records indicate he was probably shorter) and a man of great physical energy and strength (there seems to be much evidence of that).

The book portrays all this and more. There's something for everyone here. Many photos of officers of the ill-fated 7th Cavalry. Photos of Custer with virtually every major Union general of the Civil War. Photos of the major Indian chiefs. Snapshots from various reunions held at the battlefield at Little Bighorn featuring the regiments surviving cast of characters picnicking with surviving Indian participants within a decade of the battle. Photos of the 7th Cavalry marching through the Black Hills (one amazing picture of a huge column of troops and wagons, a mile long, winding their way through the valley below in a shot taken from high up in the hills). Reproductions of period newspapers detailing the final battle.

The book is designed almost like a photo album, every page having photo(s) or illustration(s) with a detailed biography of Custer. Fascinating.

Related reviews:

"Custer's Fall" by David Humphreys Miller: http://www.epinions.com/content_349631581828

"Cavalier In Buckskin: George Armstrong Custer and the Western Military Frontier" by Robert Utley: http://www.epinions.com/content_64511708804

"Boots And Saddles, Or, Life In Dakota With General Custer" by Elizabeth Bacon Custer: http://www.epinions.com/content_185859411588

My review of a wonderful book by Bill and Jan Moeller, "Custer: A Photographic Biography," in which the authors take you to the important sites of Custer's life via 125 full color photographs and a well-written biography: http://www.epinions.com/content_172491902596

"Troopers With Custer" by E. A. Brinstool: http://www.epinions.com/content_166005935748

"Wild Life On The Plains And The Horrors Of Indian Warfare" is a book that contains George Custer's autobiography, "My Life On The Plains," and additional material. I reviewed it at: http://www.epinions.com/content_137314733700

Recommended: Yes