Early Years
Elizabeth “Libbie” Bacon was born in Monroe, Michigan, in 1842, the daughter of a wealthy and influential judge. Tragedy marked much of her childhood, with her three siblings and mother all dying before Elizabeth's thirteenth year. As the only one of the judge’s children that would live to adulthood, her father doted on her. Elizabeth was both beautiful and intelligent, graduating from a girls' seminary in June 1862 at the head of her class. Her father hoped she would make a good marriage with a man from her own elevated social status, and she rejected several suitors.
She met her future husband in fall 1862, in the midst of the American Civil War. Custer later wrote that he fell deeply in love as of their first formal meeting. She eventually returned these feelings, but her father refused to allow Custer into the Bacon home or to permit her to meet Custer outside of it, much less get married, as Custer proposed in the final week of 1862. Custer was from a poor, undistinguished family, and the Judge hoped Libbie would have better than the life of an army wife. After Custer, just prior to the Battle of Gettysburg (where he played a significant role), was promoted to Brevet Brigadier General, Judge Bacon finally relented and they were married on February 9, 1864.
Read more about this topic: Elizabeth Bacon Custer
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