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Although George Custer graduated at the bottom of his West Point class of 1861, he immediately distinguished himself in the Civil War as a flamboyant, heedlessly brave cavalry officer. At age twenty-three he held the temporary rank of major general, the youngest in the Union Army. In 1864 he married Elizabeth “Libbie” Bacon, a Michigan judges daughter.
Elizabeth was bright and well educated. After the war, Libbie accompanied her husband to his assignment as commander of the 7th Cavalry. For the next decade, the Custers established homes at several frontier army posts where they made use of this wicker laundry / clothes hamper.
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