On the Plains with Custer (Illustrated Edition)

This is the story of the battle and events leading up to General George Armstrong Custer's defeat and death at the Battle of Little Big Horn, as seen through the eyes of Ned Fletcher, a boy Custer rescued from certain death at the hands of a raging buffalo bill. Fletcher, who becomes a bugler with Custer's Seventh Calvary, is a fictitious character. But, both Indian and non-Indian children played a part in battles of this period; many were injured and many were killed. So, rather than call Ned a completely fictitious character, it might be more accurate to call him "semi-non-fictitious," should such a designation exist or be accepted by the reader.

The book is about more than Custer's battles; it provides insights into Army life and about some of the heroes of the time: Wild Bill Cody, Buffalo Bill Cody and other army scouts, and Custer's family, including his brothers and wife. Fast pace, lots of action and adventures, and tight dialogue combine to make this a very fun and interesting read.

For his spirited book, "On the Plains with Custer," Sabin went out of his way to inform readers that he had used Custer's own story -- "It lies before me."

Included in this Illustrated Edition of the 1913 version of "On the Plains with Custer" are all five original illustrations, rejuvenated, and 10 additional illustrations of failed military campaigns, including Custer's, that are unique to this edition of the book.

Edwin Legrand Sabin (December 23, 1870 – November 24, 1952) was an American author, primarily of Western adventure stories.

Sabin was born in Rockford, Illinois to Henry Sabin and Esther Frances Hotchkiss Sabin, but grew up in Clinton, Iowa, where his father became superintendent of schools when Sabin was less than a year old. He worked for a number of newspapers in Iowa and Illinois. In October 1896, he married Mary Caroline Nash of Iowa, nine years younger than him, whom he met working in Chicago.

Sabin began writing poetry and short stories for popular publications. His first book, The Magic Mashie and Other Golfish Stories (1902), was a collection of stories about golf. His second book was The Beaufort Chums (1905). Both books were unsuccessful, but the second began a long, fruitful relationship with the publisher Thomas Y. Crowell Co.

From 1913 to 1931 he published dozens of critically acclaimed adventure books about the American West, many of them for Crowell's "Great West" and "Range and Trail" series or for the "Trail Blazers" series from J. B. Lippincott & Co. Though aimed at an audience of young adults, Sabin conducted copious research, even visiting institutions like the Bancroft Library and state historical societies and conducting interviews with people who had interacted with historical figures like Calamity Jane and George Armstrong Custer. His accurate background continue to make his books attractive to adults.

The Great Depression spelled the end of Sabin's success as an author. He continued to be published sporadically, but royalties dwindled and his manuscripts began to be brusquely rejected by publishers. An attempt at establishing a correspondence school for novice writers failed. Financial circumstances forced the Sabins to move inland to Hemet, California. In 1952, he died a few months after his wife, a ward of Riverside County, California.