Elizabeth Bacon Custer led the Seventh Cavalry in pursuit of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne who refused to be confined to the reservation system. After her husband's column was wiped out at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in June 1876, many in the press, Army, and government criticized Custer for blundering into a massacre. President Ulysses S. Grant publicly blamed Custer for the disaster. Fearing that her husband was to be made a scapegoat by history, Libbie launched a one-woman campaign to rehabilitate her husband's image. Her assistance to the author of the first Custer biography,
Achilles Last Stand on 27 November 1975, 15 days after the group laid down the basic tracks for "Achilles Last Stand". Atlantic Records released "Presence" on 31 March 1976, with "Achilles Last Stand" as the opening track. The album initially performed well in the charts, but ultimately was not a great success for the group. There was no tour to support the album release. However, in November after Plant had sufficiently recovered, Led Zeppelin began to rehearse for a upcoming American tour. "Achilles Last Stand" was one of the first songs they attempted. Since their studio recording relied heavily on overdubs, they needed