libby was not as courageous as custer. libby was terribly frightened of thunderstorms and hid under the bed whenever there was thunder. custer was known for his exceptional courage, leading his men into battle. i don't see that you can really make that comparison. but more than that, it seems to me a foolish comparison. ultimately ambrose is saying that libby wasted her life being the wife and then widow of george armstrong custer, that had she been born a boy, he says, she might have risen to the very top of society. i think that's speculative, and there's no real basis for knowing what libby's life would have been like. but i think it's insulting to the life that she did very consciously choose for herself. she did not regard being george armstrong custer's widow as some sort of lesser thing. she regarded it as a very honorable occupation. and when you consider that women simply very rarely had professions at the time in which she lived, i would say that she made a very good choice. being his widow did become a profession