My Life on the Plains: Or, Personal Experiences with Indians
1874
My Life on the Plains: Or, Personal Experiences with Indians
1874
Written by the man who would become America's most famous cavalry commander, this 1874 memoir offers an intimate portrait of life on the Great Plains during the final years of the Indian Wars. Custer dispels the myth of the Plains as barren wasteland, instead rendering a landscape teeming with buffalo, wild horses, and surprising fertility. He writes with evident fascination about the Native American tribes he encounters, offering detailed observations of their customs, leadership structures, and warrior traditions. The book balances military narrative with ethnographic curiosity, capturing a moment in American history when the frontier still felt wild and the collision between cultures remained unresolved. Custer emerges as a complex figure: a man who respected certain indigenous leaders while serving the expansionist policies that would ultimately overwhelm their worlds. This is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the American frontier from the perspective of those who shaped its violent mythology.
Editions
X-Ray
“I would be willing, yes glad, to see a battle every day during my life””
— George A. Custer
“Ah!" said the doctor, in his most complacent manner, "here is the opportunity I have long been waiting for. I have often desired to test and taste the indian mode of cooking. What do you suppose this is?" holding up the dripping morsel. Unable to obtain the desired information, the doctor, whose naturally good appetite had been sensibly sharpened by his recent exercise á la quadrupède, set to with a will and ate heartily of the mysterious contents of the kettle."What can this be?" again inquired the doctor. He was only satisfied on one point, that it was delicious - a dish fit for a king. Just then Gurrier, the half-breed, entered the lodge. He could solve the mystery, having spent years among the Indians. To him the doctor appealed for information. Fishing out a huge piece and attacking it with the voracity of a hungry wolf, he was not long in determining what the doctor had supped so heartily upon. His first words settled the mystery: "Why this is dog."I will not attempt to repeat the few but emphatic words uttered by the heartedly disgusted member of the medical fraternity as he rushed from the lodge.””
— George A. Custer
“Here are to be seen all the varied colors which Bierstadt and Church endeavor to represent in their mountain scenery. A journey across and around them on foot and upon horseback will well repay the tourist or artist. The air is pure and fragrant, and as exhorting as the purist wine; the climate entrancingly mild; the sky clear, and blue as the most beautiful sapphire, with here and there clouds of rarest loveliness, presenting to the eye the richest commingling of bright and varied colors; delightful odors are constantly being wafted by; while forests, filled with the mockingbird, the colibri, the hummingbird, and the thrush, constantly put forth a joyful chorus, and all combine to fill the soul with visions of delight and enhance the perfection and glory of the creation.Strong indeed must be the unbelief which can here contemplate nature in all her purity and glory, and unawed by the sublimity of this closely-connected testimony, question either the Divine origin or purpose of the beautiful firmament.””
— George A. Custer
Link to this book
Add a free, dofollow link to Lex on your blog, forum, syllabus, or reading list.
<a href="https://lex-books.com/book/my-life-on-the-plains-or-personal-experiences-with-indians-5ca75119-7de0-450d-8950-734d6d4aa42d"><img src="https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg" alt="Read My Life on the Plains: Or, Personal Experiences with Indians by George A. Custer free on Lex" width="160" height="40"></a>[](https://lex-books.com/book/my-life-on-the-plains-or-personal-experiences-with-indians-5ca75119-7de0-450d-8950-734d6d4aa42d)[url=https://lex-books.com/book/my-life-on-the-plains-or-personal-experiences-with-indians-5ca75119-7de0-450d-8950-734d6d4aa42d][img]https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg[/img][/url]Read My Life on the Plains: Or, Personal Experiences with Indians by George A. Custer free on Lex: https://lex-books.com/book/my-life-on-the-plains-or-personal-experiences-with-indians-5ca75119-7de0-450d-8950-734d6d4aa42dCite this book
Reading this edition for a paper or guide? Copy a citation.
Custer, George A.. My Life on the Plains: Or, Personal Experiences with Indians. Lex, lex-books.com/book/my-life-on-the-plains-or-personal-experiences-with-indians-5ca75119-7de0-450d-8950-734d6d4aa42d.Custer, G. A. (1874). My Life on the Plains: Or, Personal Experiences with Indians. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/my-life-on-the-plains-or-personal-experiences-with-indians-5ca75119-7de0-450d-8950-734d6d4aa42dCuster, George A.. My Life on the Plains: Or, Personal Experiences with Indians. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/my-life-on-the-plains-or-personal-experiences-with-indians-5ca75119-7de0-450d-8950-734d6d4aa42d.
