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Post by elisabeth on Jun 22, 2006 8:27:43 GMT -6
A nice piece from Minnie Dubbs Millbrook: an immensely long letter from Libbie Custer to her cousin Rebecca Richmond, giving her first impressions of Fort Riley. (Bits of it must surely be quoted in Merington or Leckie, but this is the whole thing. Most interesting.) tinyurl.com/h2lct |
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Post by Lawtonka on Jun 22, 2006 19:05:26 GMT -6
Thanks Elisabeth,
I think these kind of things are often overlooked little gems of history. I have a couple of books with similiar descriptions of other posts.
One of them is Marion T. Brown: Letters from Fort Sill 1886-1887) and another Child of the Fighting Tenth. Both are very good descriptions of life on an Amry Post. Both of these ladies did a great job of describing thier experiences and some very detailed descriptions of what the forts looked like at the time they were there.
I printed out the letter from Libby that you referened on Fort Riley and will read it tonight!
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Post by YellowRose on Jun 25, 2006 18:20:41 GMT -6
Elisabeth: You always find the most interesting pieces of historical research. I have printed this entire letter for my "Libbie" notes. To me, the words of those who lived history speak most eloquently. Libbie truly had the gift for descriptive stories.
Lawtonka: I will try to find the two books of which you wrote. Thanks for the tip.
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Post by Tricia on Jun 26, 2006 9:05:19 GMT -6
Great article, Elisabeth. What wonderful insights! I was particularly interested in the mention of the Russian prince Qusosoff. As most direct male relatives--and their descendents--of the "Saar" were usually given the title of Grand Duke (to such an extent, Nicholas II tried to cut back on the willy-nilly granting of said title), and since Libbie does not mention such an exalted title, I am wondering if the man is actually a member of the Yussopov family, who had a tenuous family relationship to the Romanovs (the most famous member would be Prince Felix, who with Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, killed Grigori Rasputin in 1916).
Don't have any of my family trees with me, but it causes me to wonder. Perhaps if this was a Yussopov (perhaps Felix's maternal great uncle), he was considered an "honourary nephew," or maybe Libbie misunderstood the relationship to Alexander II.
Perhaps Diane can add more when she gets back. Just a little thinking aloud ... off to the battlefield!
Regards,
Leyton McLean
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Post by elisabeth on Jun 26, 2006 9:32:17 GMT -6
Yessss!! That makes so much sense. She's obviously spelling it phonetically, as with "Saar", and if he used a rather guttural pronunciation it could well sound that way. Brilliant.
Have fun!
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Post by elisabeth on Jun 26, 2006 10:10:01 GMT -6
A thought: maybe it's no coincidence that a Russian prince is visiting in the winter of 1866/67. It's just at this time that Seward is secretly negotiating with the Tsar, via Baron de Stoeckl, to buy Alaska. What would be more natural than for the Tsar to send someone like Yussopov over to help things along?
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