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,
Fort Custer Recreation Area River which runs along the western border of the park. Other known invasive species include garlic mustard ("Alliaria petiolata") and purple loosestrife ("Lythrum salicaria"); these species are being dealt with by using controlled fires. Fort Custer State Recreation Area is located north of Interstate 94 between Battle Creek and Kalamazoo, Michigan at exits 85 or 92. The park is just east of Augusta on M-96. Fort Custer Recreation Area Fort Custer State Recreation Area is a State Recreation Area located between Battle Creek and Kalamazoo, Michigan. The area features lakes, the Kalamazoo River, over 25 miles of multi-use trails, second