Published as an introductory preview to the upcoming documentary trilogy, "Fates Change Horses," this special softcover edition of "Camping with Custer's 7th Cavalry on the Heart River" examines exposures captured by frontier photographer Orlando S. Goff along the Heart River in Dakota Territory in 1875. The authors present a poignant personal account of George Armstrong Custer’s Seventh Cavalry’s last summer in garrison. Most studies on Custer’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.

 

O. S. Goff’s camera focused on many within the renowned “Custer Clan” and captured a unique pictorial record. Supported and augmented by primary source material—military and personal documents, records, newspaper accounts—the authors reveal fascinating facts, correct long-held errors, and provide fresh insight into stories behind Goff's lens. The photo series marked a historic visit to the fort by a group of young Chicagoans. Sixteen-year-old Leonard Herbert Swett, in the role of virtual frontier journalist, shared on-the-scene narration in personal letters. Recollections of Elizabeth Custer and pen voices of additional principals bring bygone days of the Dakota prairie to life. 

 

During those summer days of 1875 little but a fevered nightmare reckoned a near future when the fate of a famed cavalry regiment and its celebrated commander would tragically change horses.

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