President Taft came to Michigan in 1910 to preside at the unveiling of Custer’s statue in Monroe, assisted by Custer’s widow Libbie. Courtesy of Don Harrison, Up north Memories
Nine of the 16 officers killed at the Battle of Bighorn. Courtesy Don Harrison, Up north Memories.
The 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn was more famously known as “Custers Last Stand”. Many men were killed in that battle including the officers whose pictures are below. General George A. Custer had ties to Omena’s yellow house, the Anderson House, through his wife Libbie Bacon Custer. Her family bought property here as early as 1852. Libby’s father, Judge Daniel S. Bacon, was a state senator and land speculator. Judge Bacon died in 1866 and Libby was his sole heir.
General George Armstrong Custer, colorized photo. Courtesy Don Harrison, Up north Memories
Custer may have visited Omena in July of 1864 after he was injured by a spent rifle ball in a calvary raid on Richmond in the Civil War a few months after his marriage to Libbie. That visit to Michigan included Traverse City and a visit Libby’s relatives was mentioned in the diary of Reverend George Smith, one of the earliest settlers of Northport.
After Custer was court marshalled in 1867 for a year for leaving his post to visit Libbie, he may have traveled to Omena. It is also possible that he visited here in 1874 when he was granted a 6-week leave. Custer’s presence here is speculative, however it is known that after Custer died Libbie gradually sold off the Omena property as the widow’s pension, she received left her always in need of money. It is through Libbie’s efforts that Custers image has been shaped and preserved for future generations.
Courtesy of Omena Historical Society and “Omena, A Place in Time” by Amanda J. Holmes.