Custer's Library

[Diane Merkel]

I don't recall reading about the past due notice before. I doubt the library got its books back.

And many of the soldiers – from enlisted men to officers – availed themselves of this great resource [post libraries]. In fact the post adjutants, who usually served as the post librarians, sometimes had to carry out the age-old library task of sending out overdue notices. One such notice was sent out in early 1877 by E. A. Garlington, the adjutant/librarian for Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory, about seven miles south of Mandan. In the stiff, official manner that library patrons know well, Garlington wrote, “It is the policy of this post to provide the best in literature and history for all occupants to peruse. Your husband withdrew from the post library the following books and they have not been returned. Should you know of the whereabouts of these books please return them to the Library of this Post.”

The recipient of this notice? Elizabeth Custer, only recently widowed in the most famous battle of the Indian wars. It seems her husband, George, had borrowed the books from the post library before leaving for the Little Bighorn. George Armstrong Custer was an avid reader with tastes that ranged widely: from biographies and histories to military tactics to natural history and scientific exploration – and even a few novels and volumes of poetry.

Article: missoulian.com/magazines/montana-magazine/custer-s-last-nightstand-a-bookworm-s-tale/article_3fe7d8e3-376c-5ead-af91-54c9fab00bab.html