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Chapter Thirteen
THE BLACK HILLS EXPEDITION OF 1874
It appeared as if the Custers were to be more permanently housed at Fort Lincoln for Libbie had observed that the government had invested heavily in the Seventh Cavalry by moving it up from the South. Their house at the post had been newly built and as she approached it, for the first time observing that it was completely lighted, the regimental band broke out with ?Home, Sweet Home,? and then followed with Custer?s favorite, ?Garry Owen.? The garrison was all there to welcome them.
It was a complete suq)rise to Libbie for the house had been completed before Autie had gone East to get her. It was not a fancy affair but larger than the houses of the other officers and was the only one plastered. Heated as it was by fireplaces, the green lumber soon warped and provided new openings to let in the subzero Dakota air. It soon took most of the time of one of the guardhouse prisoners to keep the fireplaces going.
Autie had to ?hold court? practically every day, for one of his duties was to settle family difficulties between the laundresses and their soldier husbands, as well as listen to the complaints of the men.
Though duty of any kind was disagreeable when the temperature went down 45 degrees below zero, there was time for pleasure, too. Balls were given alternately bv each company during all the winter, and there was time for hunting. The General had a pack of forty hounds that were a constant source of delight to him. Superb horseman that he was, he was a picture to see when riding either Vic or Dandy, for both horse and man seemed like one. Wearing knee-boots, buckskin frontier-fringed breeches and coat, a navy blue shirt with broad collar, a red necktie with the ends thrown over his shoulder, and a light broad-rimmed felt hat, he certainly could be called picturesque. He was 35 years old at the time, just under 5 feet 10 inches tall, and weighed 165 pounds. Mrs. Custer spoke of his eyes as being ?clear blue and deeply set, his hair short, wavy, and golden in tint. His mustache was long and tawny in color; his complexion was florid. . .
One night in February a carelessly-built chimnev exploded in the Custer home, causing it to take fire and burn to the ground. Though they lost almost everything thev had, Tom made room for them in his house, and all the officers? families provided extra clothes to tide them over. There was little time to complain for Libbie had both sewing and social obligations, and Autie had more than 800 troopers in his charge.
I he Black Hills were the cause of some concern to General Sheridan. This immense tract of