As preview to the upcoming documentary history, Fates Change Horses, an introductory special edition, A Summer with the Seventh Cavalry: The O. S. Goff Images, examines a dozen exposures captured by frontier photographer Orlando S. Goff at Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory. The authors present this work in exquisite fine art coffee table book format. The study looks beyond Goff’s lens and provides a poignant personal account of George Armstrong Custer’s 7th Cavalry’s last summer in garrison.

     Most studies on Custer’s Seventh U. S. Cavalry understandably dwell on the Little Bighorn fights of June 1876. The tragic drama starring a sure-fire lieutenant colonel with sixteen commissioned officers and five companies of soldiers under his command, all slain to a man, continues to be discussed, dissected, and disputed to this day. During the summer of 1875, Goff’s camera focused on many within the renown “Custer Clan” and captured a unique pictorial record. Supported and augmented by primary source material—military and personal documents, records, newspaper accounts—the images reveal fascinating stories, correct long-held errors, and provide fresh insight into the individuals in Goff’s photographs.