Our Past Is Present November 15, 2018

November 15, 2018

            This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.

            Today’s story is about George Armstrong Custer and his wife Elizabeth, who arrived at Fort Riley in October of 1866. They each had nicknames for each other.  He called her “Libbie” and she called him “Autie”.

            Apparently Libbie was fond of living at Fort Riley.  She often wrote letters to her friends back in Monroe, Michigan.  In one of those letters dated December of 1866 Libbie wrote that “The climate of Kansas is very fine, so pure and free from dampness.  As yet we have not had a week of cold weather altogether.  No snow, nor mud, nor rain, except a few small attempts at a feeble drizzle.” 

            She went on to state that “We are living almost in luxury.  It does not seem like life in the Army for you know I have had mostly a rough time.  This is not a fort, though called so, it is a garrison.  For there are no walls enclosing it. There are five long stables, the Suttler’s store and Billiard House, Express Office and post office, Quartermaster  employee’s houses and mess houses, Superintendent’s house, Ordinance building and all of them are near the barracks, which gives the post the appearance of a little city.    

            Our houses are built side by side, but they are double except the Commander’s house next to ours.  It is a privilege to have a little chapel all by itself (St. Mary’s Chapel) and a chaplain who reads the service and preaches well.  The chapel has a little organ too.  We are only a short walk from the Depot and telegraph office. 

            We are three miles from a little town called Junction City where we shop and market.  The Smoky Hill River and Republican form a junction just below here and form the Kansas, which is below the post a little distance.”

            Several months after this letter was written in March of 1867, Autie (or George) and other soldiers rode out of Fort Riley to get their first taste of Indian fighting.  Nine years later George’s life ended in June of 1876 at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in Montana.  Libbie, however, lived until 1933.

            And… that’s today’s story on “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.