San Diego Man's Great Grandfather's Story Lives On In New Civil War Book

THIS IS KPBS MIDDAY EDTION I'M MAUREEN CAVANAUGH. AMERICA WILL BE REMEMBERING THE 150th ANNIVERSARY OF THE END OF THE CIVIL WAR THIS WEEK. GENDER ROBERT E LEE SURRENDERED SOUTHERN FORCES TO GEN. ULYSSES S GRANT AT THE CORE SOUTH AND APPOMATTOX, VIRGINIA APRIL 9,, VIRGINIA APRIL 9, 1865. THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES REMAINS THE NATION'S DEADLIEST WAR. AND MORE THAN 625,000 MEN LOST THEIR LIVES. THE BATTLES WERE BLOODY, THE STAKES WERE ENORMOUSLY HIGH, THE SOLDIERS ARE REMEMBERED AS A SOME OF THE STURDIEST, TOUGHEST, AND RELENTLESS FIGHTING MEN THAT AMERICA EVER PRODUCED. AMONG THOSE REMEMBERING THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE WARS AND WILL BE A SAN DIEGO MAN WITH A DIRECT CONNECTION TO ONE OF THOSE CIVIL WAR SOLDIERS. BILL KETCHUM IS THE GREAT-GRANDSON OF UNION PRIVATE ONEY FOSTER SWEET. PRIVATE SUITE WROTE A VAST NUMBER OF LETTERS BACK HOME AS A SERVICE TOOK HIM TO THE BATTLEFIELDS OF FREDERICKSBURG, TEDIUM, AND GETTYSBURG. THE LETTERS HAVE BEEN PRESERVED AND ARE THE SUBJECT OF A NEW BOOK, CAPTURING THE HISTORY OF THE CIVIL WAR FROM THE GROUND UP. THE BOOK IS CALLED, WHAT THE PRIVATE SAW, THE CIVIL WAR LETTERS AND DIARIES OF ONEY FOSTER SWEET. AND JOIN ME TO TALK ABOUT THE RELEASE OF THE BOOK ARE BILL KETCHUM GREAT GRANDSON OF ONEY FOSTER SWEET. WELCOME TO THE PROGRAM . LARRY EDWARDS IS ALSO HERE HE EDITED THE BOOK "WHAT THE PRIVATE SAW: THE CIVIL WAR LETTERS AND DIARIES OF ONEY FOSTER SWEET". WELCOME TO THE PROGRAM . THANK YOU. TELUS, BILL, ABOUT YOUR GREAT-GRANDFATHER. WENDY JOINED THE UNION ARMY ? HE JOINED IN SEPTEMBER OF HE JOINED IN SEPTEMBER 1861. AND HE SPENT THE ENTIRE -- HIS ENTIRE SERVICE WITH THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. IS THAT RIGHT ? YES, THAT IS CORRECT. HE WAS ORIGINALLY FROM PENNSYLVANIA AND JOINED THE PENNSYLVANIA REGIMENT. AND THEY WERE ASSIGNED TO PROTECT WASHINGTON AND PRESIDENT. LINCOLN UNDER THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. AND HE FOUGHT IN A LOT OF THE BATTLES. AN INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF THE LARGEST BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR. I MENTIONED A FEW FREDERICKSBURG, CHANCELLORSVILLE, ANTIETAM, GETTYSBURG, AND A LIST. WAS HE INJURED AT ALL ? YES, AT GETTYSBURG. HE WAS WOUNDED IN THE LEG AND LOST THE HEARING IN ONE EAR. AND THAT FOLLOWED HIM THE REST OF HIS LIFE. HE HAD TO WEAR -- USE A CANE AND THEN HE FINALLY -- THE WORLD CAUGHT UP WITH HIM AT AN ELDERLY AGE OF 90 AND HE HAD TO HAVE HIS LEG AMPUTATED. HOW OFTEN DID HE WRITE BACK HOME ? ALMOST AS OFTEN AS HE COULD BETWEEN THE BATTLES. AND IT SEEMS LIKE HE WROTE AT LEAST ONCE EVERY FEW DAYS AND THEN HE ALSO ENTERED INTO HIS DIARIES AS WELL. SO, LARRY, YOU EMBARK ON THIS PROJECT WITH OVERWHELMING NUMBER OF LETTERS AND DIARIES, TOO. HOW DO YOU BEGIN TO ORGANIZE THE INFORMATION IN THIS BOOK ? WELL, I WANTED HIM TO TELL HIS STORY. ONEY .ONEY. ESPECIALLY DONE IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER FROM HIS VERY FIRST LETTER THAT HE WROTE FROM HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA. BEFORE HE HAD SEEN COMBAT. AND SO WHAT I DID WAS ADDED FOOTNOTES AND ANNOTATIONS TO GIVE CONTEXT TO WHAT HE WAS WRITING ABOUT BECAUSE IT WAS FRONT-PAGE NEWS, THE WAR AT THE TIME, SO HE WOULD REFER TO THINGS THAT PEOPLE JUST UNDERSTOOD. NOWADAYS, PEOPLE UNLESS THEY REALLY STUDIED THE CIVIL WAR WOULD NOT UNDERSTAND. SO I THINK I ADDED ENOUGH INFORMATION TO MAKE IT CLEAR WHAT HE WAS TALKING ABOUT AND GIVE THE BROADER PERSPECTIVE OF THE WAR AT THE TIME. BILL, COULD I GET YOU TO READ FROM ONE OF PRIVATE ONEY FOSTER SWEET ONE OF HIS LETTERS IN THE BOOK ? CERTAINLY. THIS IS AN EXCERPT FROM A LETTER DATED SEPTEMBER 21, 1862 FOLLOWING THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM NEAR SHARPSBURG, MARYLAND. HE WRITES, THE FIGHT OF LAST WEDNESDAY WASONE OF THE HARDEST BATTLES EVER FOUGHT IN AMERICA. OUR LOSS WAS VERY HEAVY BUT THE REBELS LOST MORE THAN US. WE LOST 3 KILLED AND 9 WOUNDED. WE HAD A GOOD MANY HORSES KILLED. THE REBELS CHARGED ON OUR BATTERY AND CAME WITHIN A FEW YARDS OF US WHEN THEY WERE DRIVEN BACK. THE BULLETS FLEW LIKE HAIL AND THE SHELLS BURST ALL AROUND US. THE BATTLE AT BULL RUN WAS NOTHING COMPARED TO THIS BATTLE. THE FIGHT WAS IN A CORN FIELD WHERE WE FOUGHT. THE BATTLE FIELD EXTENDED 5 MILES. THE CORN FIELD WAS FOUGHT OVER 5 TIMES BUT WE HELD THE FIELD AT LAST. I WENT OVER THE FIELD AFTER THE FIGHT AND THE DEAD AND WOUNDED LAY SO THICK YOU COULD HARDLY STEP. SPENT THAT FROM ANTIETAM WRITTEN BY PRIVATE ONEY FOSTER SWEET , PART OF THE NEW BOOK "WHAT THE PRIVATE SAW: THE CIVIL WAR LETTERS AND DIARIES OF ONEY FOSTER SWEET" . AND ANTIETAM, THAT WAS THE LARGEST CASUALTY IN ONE WAY OF THE CIVIL WAR. FOR THE ENTIRE WAR. SO WHEN HE TALKS ABOUT ALL OF THOSE BODIES HE SAW, IT WAS PART OF AN INCREDIBLY TRAGIC NUMBER OF CASUALTIES. LARRY, THERE IS AN ART TO PRIVATE SUITES LETTERS. HE STARTS MUCH LIKE A YOUNG GUNG [ NULL ] SOLDIER AND THEN THE TONE BEGINS TO CHANGE, DOESN'T IT ? YES. AND IT CHANGED AT ANTIETAM WHEN HE STARTED OUT, HE SAID I LIKE SOLDIERING VERY MUCH. HE WAS AT A RECRUITING STATION IN HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA AND HE WAS TALKING ABOUT HOW GOOD THE FOOD WAS AND HE WAS EATING PEACH PIE AND HE WAS HANGING OUT WITH THE GUYS. AND ONE YEAR LATER, AFTER HE HAD BEEN THROUGH A COUPLE BATTLES, HE HAD DONE A 180, BASICALLY. AND SAID I HAVE SEEN ENOUGH OF WAR, BUT OF COURSE, HE WHAT HE DIDN'T KNOW AT THE TIME, WAS THERE WERE 2 1/2 MORE YEARS TO GO AND HE WOULD SEE MUCH, MUCH MORE OF THAT. LARRY, CAN YOU READ ABOUT -- THERE'S AN EXCERPT IN THE BOOK ABOUT WHAT ONEY REMEMBERS AFTER SEEING A GENERAL'S VIEWING THE AFTERMATH OF A BATTLE. YES. ONEY FOSTER SWEET -- ONEY WAS ASSIGNED AS THE MOUNTED ORDERLY TO GEN. HANCOCK AND AFTER THE WAR, HE WROTE ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE AND THIS REGARDS THE BATTLE AT THE COURTHOUSE. AN EXPERT -- EXCERPT FROM A LETTER HE WROTE PUBLISHED IN THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE IN OCTOBER 3 IN THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE IN OCTOBER 3, 1909. HE SAID, AS WE RODE OVER THE BATTLEFIELD TO VIEW THE TERRIBLE RESULTS ROCKED BY HIS OWN SHOT AND SHELL, HIS FACE WORE AN EXPRESSION OF PITY AND ANGUISH. THE SITE AFTER GETTYSBURG AND ANTIETAM HAD NOT BEEN MORE GRUESOME. WITH THE DEAD BODIES LYING ALL ABOUT, DISTORTED AND GHASTLY, HIS WHOLE ATTITUDE CHANGED FROM WHAT HAD BEEN WITH THE MEN SHOUTING AND THE FLAGS FLYING IN THE STRUGGLE FOR SUPREMACY FILLING HIS VEINS. WITH AN ALMOST GUILTY AIR, HE TURNED AWAY FROM THE CARNAGE SOONER THAN THE REST OF THE STAFF IS WILLING. EVIDENTLY, HE WAS SECOND EXPRESSION MADE BY FELLOW OFFICER THAT WERE HIS HELM. THAT FROM WHAT THE PRIVATE SAW, -- "WHAT THE PRIVATE SAW: THE CIVIL WAR LETTERS AND DIARIES OF ONEY FOSTER SWEET". THAT GOES TO THE TITLE OF THE BOOK, DOESN'T IT? WHAT THE PRIVATE SAW. YES. HOW IS HIS VIEW, ALWAYS VIEW DIFFER FROM THE CIVIL WAR ? I LIKE TO SAY IT'S THE VIEW FROM THE BOTTOM UP RATHER THAN THE TOP DOWN BECAUSE A LOT OF THE HISTORIANS AND HISTORICAL RECORD ARE TAKEN FROM THE REPORTS WRITTEN BY THE OFFICERS. AND THEY TEND TO BE FAIRLY DRY AND HAVE TO DEAL WITH LOGISTICS AND CASUALTIES AND ONEY'S COMPLAINT WAS THE MEN DOING THE FIGHTING JUST BECAME NUMBERS IN THE REPORTS. AND NOW YOU'RE BRINGING THEM BACK TO LIFE WITH THESE LETTERS. YES. WITH HIS ACCOUNTS OF BEING ON THE FRONT LINES IN THOSE BATTLES AND EVEN THOUGH HE WAS IN ARTILLERY, HE WAS INVOLVED IN HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT IF AN ENEMY REGIMENT OVERRAN THEIR BATTERY. BILL, NOT ALL INJURIES AND WHAT THE PRIVATE SAW ARE GRIM THERE ARE TALKS OF CAMP LIFE, A LITTLE TALK ABOUT WHISKEY, IS THAT RIGHT ? THAT'S CORRECT. [ LAUGHTER ] NUMEROUS RINGS HAPPENED, OF COURSE, I WAS IN THE ARMY AT A MUCH LATER TIME AS MY FATHER WAS AND A LOT OF THE SIMILARITIES. YOU ARE LOOKING FOR LETTERS FROM HOME. YOU ARE LOOKING FOR CAKES. YOU KNOW, THINGS THAT MIGHT ARISE AND -- MIGHT ARISE, AND TIME BETWEEN SERIOUS EVENTS, YOU TRY AND FIND RELAXATION AND YOU CAN ALSO GET IN SOME TROUBLE. AS HE DID IN ONE OF HIS LETTERS. BILL, WHAT IS IT LIKE TO HAVE THESE LETTERS THAT YOU ARE PRIVATE FAMILY HISTORY, NOW, PART OF THE LARGER HISTORY OF THE CIVIL WAR. IT IS REALLY PRETTY HUMBLING. I WAS BROUGHT UP ON -- MY GRANDMOTHER WAS THE FIRSTBORN OF ONEY. SHE WAS THE ONE THAT KEPT ALL OF THE LETTERS AND DID MOST THE KEEPING OF THINGS AND THEN HANDING DOWN DURING WORLD WAR II, MY FATHER WAS GONE AND THE NAVY. MY MOTHER WAS REALLY BUSY IN THE USL. -- US ALL. I WAS RAISED LARGELY BY MY MAN MOTHER AND AND BY THE TIME I WAS ABOUT FIVE-TO 10. DID YOU SEE THE LETTERS ? I WAS QUITE YOUNG. BEING OF THAT AGE, WHAT I REMEMBER IS THAT SHE WAS TELLING ME THESE STORIES AND ALSO, SHE WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN GETTING ME INTERESTED IN MUSIC AND ASTRONOMY. I LATER BECAME AN ENGINEER IN THE SPACE PROGRAM, BUT SHE HAD A GREAT IMPACT ON MY LIFE AND SHE WROTE ME LETTERS WHEN I WAS IN COLLEGE, WHICH I HAVE SAVED AND A LOT OF THE MATERIAL IN THERE, WE WERE ABLE TO USE IN TRACKING THINGS DOWN. BUT SHE WAS JUST A GREAT WOMAN. NOW IT GOES FROM THIS INTIMATE HISTORY THAT WAS PASSED DOWN FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION TO A BOOK FOR EVERYONE, LARRY, WHAT DOES THIS ADD, DO YOU THINK, TO OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE CIVIL WAR ? I THINK IT ADDS A LOT IN -- BECAUSE IT IS SO COMPREHENSIVE IN TERMS OF HE JOINED RIGHT AFTER THE WAR STARTED AND WAS IN UNTIL THE VERY END. SO WE GET THAT PERSPECTIVE, HIS ATTITUDE CHANGED, AND AS YOU SAY, WE GET A PERSPECTIVE OF -- WE THINK OF THE CIVIL WAR IN TERMS OF THESE BATTLES, BUT REALLY, THE BATTLES ON A PERCENTAGE BASIS WERE PROBABLY VERY SMALL PERCENTAGE OF THE TIME THAT THEY SPENT AND IN THE WINTERTIME, THEY DIDN'T FIGHT HARDLY AT ALL. SO THEY SPENT TIME IN CAMP DOING ALL SORTS OF THINGS. HE TALKS ABOUT GAMBLING, PLAYING CARDS, GETTING THE RATION OF WHISKEY OR SNEAKING LIQUOR INTO CAMP. TOBACCO. THEY PLAY BASEBALL AND THEY HAD A HORSE RACES. I DON'T WANT TO MAKE LIGHT OF THE HORROR OF THE WAR, BUT I THINK THESE WERE TEENAGE EARLY 20 GUYS AND, YOU KNOW, PART OF THE TIME IT ALMOST READS LIKE THEY WERE AT SUMMER CAMP OR SOMETHING. LET ME ASK YOU ABOUT THIS LAUNCH EVENT HAPPENING ON SUNDAY, RIGHT? WHAT WILL TAKE PLACE ? WE WILL HAVE -- WE WILL DO READINGS AND WE WILL HAVE SOME LIVE MUSIC AND SING ALONG AND RESENT THE BOOKS AND WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A RATION OF WHISKEY AND TOAST ONEY AND VETERANS. AND VETERANS ACROSS THE BOARD ON WHAT IS VERY CLOSE TO THE 150th ANNIVERSARY HAPPENING ON THE NINTH OF THE END OF THE CIVIL WAR'S. CIVIL WAR. YES. THE WAR STRETCHED OUT FOR A COUPLE MORE WEEKS AFTER THAT WITH A FEW BRIGADES THAT DID NOT WANT TO SURRENDER RIGHT AWAY AND THE CIVIL WAR ALSO GAVE US MEMORIAL DAY. YES. STARTED AS DECORATION DAY PICK LEMMIE TELL EVERYONE THAT THE LAUNCH EVENT FOR THE BOOK, "WHAT THE PRIVATE SAW: THE CIVIL WAR LETTERS AND DIARIES OF ONEY FOSTER SWEET" WILL TAKE PLACE@FRIARS VILLAGE CLUBHOUSE ON SUNDAY@FRIARS VILLAGE CLUBHOUSE ON SUNDAY, APRIL 12, STARTING AT 2 PM I HAVE BEEN SPEAKING WITH BILL KETCHUM AND LARRY EDWARDS. THANK YOU BOTH VERY MUCH. THANK YOU, MAUREEN.