WEBVTT 00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:08.980 All across America and around the world, this 00:00:08.980 --> 00:00:15.140 is Veterans Radio. This is Veterans Radio. Good 00:00:15.140 --> 00:00:18.600 day. I'm Jim Fossone. I'm the Officer of the 00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:20.699 Deck today here on Veterans Radio and thanks 00:00:20.699 --> 00:00:23.460 for joining us. We've got some interesting stories 00:00:23.460 --> 00:00:25.640 for you. We always want to remind you, you can 00:00:25.640 --> 00:00:28.739 find more about Veterans Radio at its Facebook 00:00:28.739 --> 00:00:32.420 site or at the web, veteransradio .org, where 00:00:32.420 --> 00:00:35.259 we're on the web 24 -7. You can find a lot of 00:00:35.259 --> 00:00:38.299 our podcasts there as well. We post new ones 00:00:38.299 --> 00:00:42.479 every Tuesday, so you can get a new story, a 00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:45.219 new interview, something you didn't know before 00:00:45.219 --> 00:00:49.460 by going to veteransradio .org. 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We just want to remind you that Veterans 00:01:34.280 --> 00:01:39.340 Radio podcasts are available on all your favorite 00:01:39.340 --> 00:01:43.359 streaming platforms including RSS .com, Apple 00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:48.230 Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube podcasts, I Heart 00:01:48.230 --> 00:01:52.329 Radio, and Reeves Across America Radio. So wherever 00:01:52.329 --> 00:01:55.870 you are, you can find us, whether it's on your 00:01:55.870 --> 00:01:58.269 mobile phone or your computer or your laptop, 00:01:58.370 --> 00:02:02.030 your tablet, but listen in to Veterans Radio 00:02:02.030 --> 00:02:04.750 podcast. We post something new every week, and 00:02:04.750 --> 00:02:07.629 you're going to find it informative. We want 00:02:07.629 --> 00:02:11.750 to welcome to Veterans Radio today an award -winning 00:02:11.750 --> 00:02:15.150 author who writes a lot in the military space 00:02:15.150 --> 00:02:18.650 and history space, Mark Berry. Mark, welcome 00:02:18.650 --> 00:02:21.490 to Veterans Radio. Thank you very much for having 00:02:21.490 --> 00:02:22.949 me, Jim. It's quite an honor and a pleasure, 00:02:22.990 --> 00:02:25.129 thank you. Well, as I've read about you, I know 00:02:25.129 --> 00:02:28.110 you were a New York guy and you were upstate 00:02:28.110 --> 00:02:30.270 New York writing a lot of local history books 00:02:30.270 --> 00:02:34.330 and one thing leads to another and you find yourself 00:02:34.330 --> 00:02:36.949 in Florida and now you're writing about some 00:02:36.949 --> 00:02:39.469 Florida military history we want to talk about. 00:02:40.840 --> 00:02:43.479 I gotta admit, when I read this article, I said, 00:02:43.560 --> 00:02:46.419 I never heard of this. And it's the Battle of 00:02:46.419 --> 00:02:49.659 Fort Myers, slaves fighting for their freedom. 00:02:50.580 --> 00:02:53.199 That's correct. And I have to confess, Jim, until 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:55.280 I moved to Florida myself, I didn't know about 00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:57.360 the Battle of Fort Myers either. So we're in 00:02:57.360 --> 00:02:59.719 the same pool. Yeah. And that's why we're doing 00:02:59.719 --> 00:03:02.240 this is because I think there's so much lost 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:07.979 history, particularly history about how African 00:03:07.979 --> 00:03:11.780 Americans, Hispanic Americans, Japanese Americans, 00:03:12.039 --> 00:03:15.020 and all the other groups you might think of to 00:03:15.020 --> 00:03:19.199 categorize have fought for this country. But 00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:22.680 we teach so little history, those stories don't 00:03:22.680 --> 00:03:25.780 get told in high school or even college for that 00:03:25.780 --> 00:03:28.180 matter. So that's why this is important in my 00:03:28.180 --> 00:03:31.460 mind. Do you agree? Those things get lost in 00:03:31.460 --> 00:03:33.900 the shuffle, this is true. But on the other hand, 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:36.680 in defense of those of us who are ignorant about 00:03:36.680 --> 00:03:40.080 this battle, the big data has got all the publicity. 00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:42.539 And most people don't realize that Florida was 00:03:42.539 --> 00:03:45.180 important in the Civil War because it was literally 00:03:45.180 --> 00:03:48.219 the breadbasket for the Confederacy. And that's 00:03:48.219 --> 00:03:51.280 why the Union troops wandered on down here because... 00:03:51.050 --> 00:03:54.110 They wanted to stop all the beef and grains and 00:03:54.110 --> 00:03:56.530 everything else is coming from the South to supply 00:03:56.530 --> 00:03:58.370 the Confederate Army. That was the only way they 00:03:58.370 --> 00:04:00.189 were going to defeat the Confederate Army. So 00:04:00.189 --> 00:04:02.310 the Union made their presence known, and that's 00:04:02.310 --> 00:04:06.069 how the battle started. Well, this is 19, I'm 00:04:06.069 --> 00:04:11.129 sorry, 1865, right? February 2nd, 1865 was the 00:04:11.129 --> 00:04:17.149 battle itself. And put in some context what this 00:04:17.149 --> 00:04:20.680 fort was. Was it a Confederate fort that the 00:04:20.680 --> 00:04:22.879 Union took over? A Union fort? Tell us about 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:26.509 it. Well, it was a very small establishment and 00:04:26.509 --> 00:04:29.230 at the time of the battle it was very lightly 00:04:29.230 --> 00:04:32.490 staffed There's only about 250 men there. In 00:04:32.490 --> 00:04:34.850 fact, they just returned on the day of the battle 00:04:34.850 --> 00:04:36.970 They just returned a couple days early from another 00:04:36.970 --> 00:04:40.569 scramble elsewhere a skirmish I should say and 00:04:40.569 --> 00:04:43.970 those 250 men most of them were exhausted They 00:04:43.970 --> 00:04:47.269 only had about 75 muskets between them and even 00:04:47.269 --> 00:04:50.290 then about 30 rounds of ammo per musket So it 00:04:50.290 --> 00:04:52.550 was not what you'd call the best defended fortress 00:04:53.129 --> 00:04:56.129 controlled, so to speak, by the Union. The Confederates, 00:04:56.129 --> 00:04:58.730 on the other hand, knew what the Union was there 00:04:58.730 --> 00:05:01.069 for. They wanted to protect their food chain 00:05:01.069 --> 00:05:04.569 further north to the main Confederate army. They 00:05:04.569 --> 00:05:06.529 had about three companies. They had about 400 00:05:06.529 --> 00:05:11.230 men. They had a big 12 -pound piece of artillery. 00:05:11.790 --> 00:05:13.550 And so they had it in their head that they were 00:05:13.550 --> 00:05:16.149 going to take this so -called Union -controlled 00:05:16.149 --> 00:05:20.279 fort away from the Union. And they surprised 00:05:20.279 --> 00:05:22.420 a couple of the African -American troops, as 00:05:22.420 --> 00:05:24.639 it turned out, who were outside of the walls 00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:28.060 of the fort during their laundry, took them to 00:05:28.060 --> 00:05:30.160 prison or fired a few shots. And those shots 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:33.920 miraculously warned the folks inside the fort. 00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:36.279 And that began what would turn out to be an 11 00:05:36.279 --> 00:05:38.259 -hour battle between the Confederacy and the 00:05:38.259 --> 00:05:40.959 Union. Well, and let's frame this a little bit 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:43.519 more for those who aren't up on their Civil War 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:47.079 history. African Americans or Black troops were 00:05:47.079 --> 00:05:49.879 fighting as part of the United States Colored 00:05:49.879 --> 00:05:54.339 Troops, USCT. And that term sounds funny today, 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:57.660 but can you put some context around it? Well, 00:05:57.740 --> 00:06:01.300 the USCT turned out to be very, very significant. 00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:04.660 As you and I were talking earlier, African Americans 00:06:04.660 --> 00:06:07.199 ended up by the end of the war to be about 10 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:10.600 % of the total fighting force of the Union, somewhere 00:06:10.600 --> 00:06:13.319 in the vicinity of 180 ,000 to 200 ,000 troops. 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:18.399 And 37 ,000 African Americans ended up dying 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:21.060 in the course of the Civil War because of their 00:06:21.060 --> 00:06:23.959 battle wounds and being killed in battle. So 00:06:23.959 --> 00:06:26.699 there was a long, slow process for them. You 00:06:26.699 --> 00:06:28.579 have to put it in perspective. The battle was 00:06:28.579 --> 00:06:32.500 1865. It was about two years earlier, in January 00:06:32.500 --> 00:06:36.560 of 1863, that Lincoln had written and published 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:39.500 and passed the Emancipation Proclamation. But 00:06:39.500 --> 00:06:41.879 that didn't mean that Black troops were automatically 00:06:41.879 --> 00:06:45.980 integrated into the Union Army. In fact, they 00:06:45.980 --> 00:06:48.680 experienced a tremendous resistance wherever 00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:52.220 they went, often segregated, even so -called 00:06:52.220 --> 00:06:55.759 all -black companies. were commanded by a white 00:06:55.759 --> 00:06:59.120 officer. And so it was much like Jackie Robinson 00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:01.759 was decades later, hundreds of years later, when 00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:04.279 he got into the baseball. People don't realize 00:07:04.279 --> 00:07:06.819 that he wasn't a hero. He was treated more like 00:07:06.819 --> 00:07:09.220 a goat and not the greatest of all time, obviously, 00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:11.959 discriminated against by some of his own teammates. 00:07:12.300 --> 00:07:16.579 The same happened with the USCT. So even though 00:07:16.579 --> 00:07:19.500 they fought with valor and courage, places like 00:07:19.500 --> 00:07:22.199 Port Hudson in Louisiana, Fort Wagner in South 00:07:22.199 --> 00:07:24.980 Carolina, Several places in Virginia, including 00:07:24.980 --> 00:07:30.300 Spotsylvania, they were discriminated against. 00:07:30.379 --> 00:07:33.439 It was a very prejudiced atmosphere. And yet, 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:36.279 historians today realize that they were very 00:07:36.279 --> 00:07:38.920 tough brunts, the USCT. They were very courageous, 00:07:39.459 --> 00:07:41.959 tough as nails, extremely aggressive, and very 00:07:41.959 --> 00:07:44.560 united and cohesive group. And wherever they 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:47.139 fought, they did a great job. They did an absolutely 00:07:47.139 --> 00:07:49.899 great job. Well, nothing brings people together 00:07:49.899 --> 00:07:53.650 more than being in the foxhole together. And 00:07:53.650 --> 00:07:57.209 the colored troops that were at Fort Myers were 00:07:57.209 --> 00:07:59.170 kind of critical to this battle, weren't they? 00:08:00.470 --> 00:08:04.089 They represented the bulk of the people that 00:08:04.089 --> 00:08:06.470 were there, the soldiers that were there, obviously. 00:08:07.649 --> 00:08:10.509 And they were credited with winning the battle, 00:08:10.589 --> 00:08:14.079 in fact. They as a result of the black troops 00:08:14.079 --> 00:08:16.819 being there, several of them recited for bravery 00:08:16.819 --> 00:08:20.959 and they stunned the Confederacy. The Confederacy 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:24.220 outnumbered them easily, but the white captain, 00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:27.399 a guy named James Doyle in the fort. was told 00:08:27.399 --> 00:08:29.860 to surrender because he was outnumbered and the 00:08:29.860 --> 00:08:31.920 Confederates had a big 12 pound piece of artillery. 00:08:32.360 --> 00:08:34.080 The Union had a couple of six pounds, that was 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:37.480 it. And his response was, I respectfully decline. 00:08:37.879 --> 00:08:40.120 And he and his African -American counterparts 00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:43.659 decided to slug it out. And after 11 hours, the 00:08:43.659 --> 00:08:46.059 rebels simply called it quits. They did it that 00:08:46.059 --> 00:08:49.620 night. 40 Confederates lay dead, about half a 00:08:49.620 --> 00:08:52.259 dozen Union casualties, not much. Of course, 00:08:52.259 --> 00:08:54.200 they had the fort to protect them, but they had 00:08:54.200 --> 00:08:57.500 some very, very aggressive Black soldiers that 00:08:57.500 --> 00:09:00.200 worked in and outside the fort and stunned the 00:09:00.200 --> 00:09:01.679 hell out of these Confederates. And that's why 00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:03.220 the Confederates ended up losing the Battle of 00:09:03.220 --> 00:09:08.299 Fort Myers. And did this sort of end up being 00:09:08.299 --> 00:09:13.379 a line where, OK, the We're not getting back 00:09:13.379 --> 00:09:17.299 this territory and otherwise put a big dent, 00:09:17.480 --> 00:09:20.480 I suppose, in the pride of the Confederacy. Well, 00:09:20.539 --> 00:09:22.620 you put your finger on one of the greatest ironies 00:09:22.620 --> 00:09:24.940 of the Battle of Fort Myers. Not only was it 00:09:24.940 --> 00:09:28.220 little known and quickly forgotten, but in two 00:09:28.220 --> 00:09:30.039 months, in less than two months, actually a month 00:09:30.039 --> 00:09:33.220 later, about that to the battle, both sides in 00:09:33.220 --> 00:09:36.970 the Civil War abandoned the fort. It wasn't important 00:09:36.970 --> 00:09:39.269 anymore. And one of the reasons was even at the 00:09:39.269 --> 00:09:41.870 time of the Battle of Fort Myers, the Confederacy 00:09:41.870 --> 00:09:44.409 knew they were losing the war. They saw the writing 00:09:44.409 --> 00:09:47.250 on the wall. A month later, it became very clear, 00:09:47.450 --> 00:09:50.110 black and white, no pun intended. And of course, 00:09:50.389 --> 00:09:52.809 General Lee surrendered the Confederacy April 00:09:52.809 --> 00:09:57.169 9th, 1865, less about two months after the Battle 00:09:57.169 --> 00:10:00.889 of Fort Myers. So a month later, the battle that 00:10:00.889 --> 00:10:04.090 lasted 11 hours, it cost that many Confederate 00:10:04.090 --> 00:10:07.419 troops. and they put the USCT on the map, so 00:10:07.419 --> 00:10:09.460 to speak, as far as historians are concerned, 00:10:11.240 --> 00:10:13.639 all went for nothing because both sides said, 00:10:13.639 --> 00:10:15.960 we don't need this for it anymore. The breadbasket 00:10:15.960 --> 00:10:17.980 for the Confederacy had pretty well dried up 00:10:17.980 --> 00:10:21.299 anyway. And the war was just off, skipping a 00:10:21.299 --> 00:10:24.460 jump and being all over. Well, you in your article 00:10:24.460 --> 00:10:28.019 on this little known topic quoted the New York 00:10:28.019 --> 00:10:30.379 Times that reported the former slaves, quote, 00:10:30.759 --> 00:10:33.159 could hardly be restrained, close quote. They 00:10:33.159 --> 00:10:36.889 seem totally unconscious of danger and constantly 00:10:36.889 --> 00:10:40.250 shouted to each other to get them, close quote, 00:10:40.429 --> 00:10:42.409 being the rebels. I hate to use the word zealous, 00:10:42.750 --> 00:10:44.490 because that's got a broad connotation these 00:10:44.490 --> 00:10:47.590 days. But these guys were zealous in fulfilling 00:10:47.590 --> 00:10:49.370 their duties. And of course, some of it can be 00:10:49.370 --> 00:10:51.590 attributed to the fact that they felt they had 00:10:51.590 --> 00:10:54.070 to work twice as hard and be twice as effective 00:10:54.070 --> 00:10:57.250 as their white counterparts. But I think there 00:10:57.250 --> 00:10:59.450 was more than that. And I'm probably putting 00:10:59.450 --> 00:11:02.269 thoughts and maybe even words into these African 00:11:02.269 --> 00:11:05.330 -American soldiers' mouths and minds. But I think 00:11:05.330 --> 00:11:07.529 they knew they were under the gun, so to speak. 00:11:07.809 --> 00:11:11.139 I think they knew. that they had everything at 00:11:11.139 --> 00:11:13.700 stake. They had a couple years ago been told 00:11:13.700 --> 00:11:17.019 by their president that they're all free. Now 00:11:17.019 --> 00:11:19.480 they had to fight for their freedom. And so they 00:11:19.480 --> 00:11:22.659 fought with gallantry. They fought with a fervor 00:11:22.659 --> 00:11:25.639 and with a fever that the white soldiers during 00:11:25.639 --> 00:11:28.559 the Civil War did not have because they were 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:31.700 not fighting to free themselves. These troops, 00:11:31.980 --> 00:11:35.039 particularly those in the Fort Myers battle, 00:11:35.059 --> 00:11:38.379 I think they knew perfectly well. that if they 00:11:38.379 --> 00:11:40.960 had to surrender to the Confederates, they would 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:43.799 go back to their former lives as slaves. And 00:11:43.799 --> 00:11:46.120 many of those blacks in the Fort were former 00:11:46.120 --> 00:11:48.659 slaves, and they did not want to go back. And 00:11:48.659 --> 00:11:50.379 they're prepared to put their life on the line 00:11:50.379 --> 00:11:52.700 to make sure they didn't go back. We're talking 00:11:52.700 --> 00:11:57.019 to Mark Burry, who's a author, writes a lot of... 00:11:57.049 --> 00:12:01.370 in the area of military and historical topics. 00:12:01.889 --> 00:12:03.789 One of the things I want to put context on, because 00:12:03.789 --> 00:12:06.529 I think, again, it's easy to kind of forget this 00:12:06.529 --> 00:12:09.629 stuff, is that, as you said, there were up to 00:12:09.629 --> 00:12:13.669 200 ,000 African American troops in the Civil 00:12:13.669 --> 00:12:17.419 War. Today, uh... in the active army there's 00:12:17.419 --> 00:12:20.340 about ninety five thousand african -americans 00:12:20.340 --> 00:12:22.759 and they make up twenty percent of the active 00:12:22.759 --> 00:12:26.259 duty force back in the civil war because so many 00:12:26.259 --> 00:12:28.720 more men were involved they made up ten percent 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:32.740 of the army but the sheer number uh... is somewhat 00:12:32.740 --> 00:12:36.379 staggering and easy to lose sight of when you're 00:12:36.379 --> 00:12:39.159 not paying attention to the history Over the 00:12:39.159 --> 00:12:41.639 over the decades, of course, the numbers have 00:12:41.639 --> 00:12:43.539 changed. So those percentages are kind of out 00:12:43.539 --> 00:12:46.100 of whack and now compared to what they were back 00:12:46.100 --> 00:12:48.559 then. But and most people don't even know that. 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:50.679 So thanks for bringing it up, Jim. But something 00:12:50.679 --> 00:12:52.940 else that a lot of people don't know is that 00:12:52.940 --> 00:12:57.350 the black soldiers are. performed above and beyond 00:12:57.350 --> 00:12:59.870 what their white counterparts did often. For 00:12:59.870 --> 00:13:02.990 example, right now, if you go back and look at 00:13:02.990 --> 00:13:05.389 the record, as a result of the war, there were 00:13:05.389 --> 00:13:09.090 14 Black soldiers that received medals of honor 00:13:09.090 --> 00:13:11.629 for valor in such places as the Battle of New 00:13:11.629 --> 00:13:16.110 Market Heights in Virginia and elsewhere. In 00:13:16.110 --> 00:13:21.789 total, the Black troops of the USCT were recognized 00:13:21.789 --> 00:13:26.830 for exceptional bravery in 39 separate, but nevertheless 00:13:26.830 --> 00:13:30.190 major engagements in the Civil War. This is an 00:13:30.190 --> 00:13:33.590 outstanding disproportionate performance by African 00:13:33.590 --> 00:13:37.139 -American military men. that proves their bravery, 00:13:37.480 --> 00:13:40.460 proves their courage, and prove their zeal in 00:13:40.460 --> 00:13:43.580 fighting not just for our country's survival, 00:13:43.899 --> 00:13:45.580 but their own survival and their own freedom. 00:13:45.860 --> 00:13:48.840 That's an outstanding record for any single group 00:13:48.840 --> 00:13:51.659 in the military, in my opinion. Absolutely. One 00:13:51.659 --> 00:13:54.519 of the things, you know, the Battle of Fort Myers 00:13:54.519 --> 00:13:57.879 is, as we've talked about, kind of a significant 00:13:57.879 --> 00:14:01.460 event today if Fort Myers is a thriving area, 00:14:01.559 --> 00:14:03.620 a lot of people live there, but a lot of tourists 00:14:03.620 --> 00:14:07.620 come through. There must be some huge recognition 00:14:07.620 --> 00:14:12.059 of this battle and the role the black companies 00:14:12.059 --> 00:14:17.360 from the USCT played, right? I can hear the sarcasm 00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:20.539 dripping, my friend. No, there isn't. There's 00:14:20.539 --> 00:14:22.399 just one, as I put in that article, one of those 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:24.860 ubiquitous blue signs with the yellow print, 00:14:25.059 --> 00:14:27.840 I believe, sitting at the mark of the fort. It's 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:30.320 hardly noticed. It's very rarely mentioned in 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:32.379 the papers. In fact, I think the last time I 00:14:32.379 --> 00:14:34.539 got some publicity is the article that I wrote. 00:14:34.940 --> 00:14:38.460 And it's too bad. Working hard to make sure that 00:14:38.460 --> 00:14:40.600 it's not forgotten as the sons of the American 00:14:40.600 --> 00:14:44.980 Revolution, particularly, excuse me, not just 00:14:44.980 --> 00:14:46.419 the sons of the American Revolution, but the 00:14:46.419 --> 00:14:48.820 one I'm a member of also, the sons of the Union. 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:51.600 and veteran of the Civil War, they're all history 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:53.659 buffs in these organizations. And particularly 00:14:53.659 --> 00:14:57.620 the SUVCW has tried to mark that occasion of 00:14:57.620 --> 00:15:00.360 the Fort Myers battle every single year, tried 00:15:00.360 --> 00:15:02.720 to get out there and perform some sort of a ceremony 00:15:02.720 --> 00:15:06.019 with a color guard. But sometimes I think they're 00:15:06.019 --> 00:15:08.919 swimming upstream because. We don't teach history 00:15:08.919 --> 00:15:10.799 in schools like we used to. In fact, you might 00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:12.519 find some public schools where history is not 00:15:12.519 --> 00:15:15.919 even taught at all. My own granddaughters, I 00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:18.039 love them dearly, but they came home and I found 00:15:18.039 --> 00:15:20.259 out pretty quickly they knew more about Harriet 00:15:20.259 --> 00:15:22.870 Tubman than they did about Abraham Lincoln. And 00:15:22.870 --> 00:15:25.470 so the history that is taught is a bit skewered 00:15:25.470 --> 00:15:28.149 and unfortunately, uh, battles like this that 00:15:28.149 --> 00:15:30.850 are militarily insignificant, but in my opinion, 00:15:30.870 --> 00:15:33.570 historically significant get lost in the shuffle. 00:15:33.669 --> 00:15:36.870 Yeah. And it's particularly true for the communities 00:15:36.870 --> 00:15:39.250 around which they were fought in the communities 00:15:39.250 --> 00:15:42.750 of men who fought in them. There should be more 00:15:42.750 --> 00:15:45.009 recognition. Let me point out that Mark is the 00:15:45.340 --> 00:15:48.340 Patriotic instructor of the Colonel Robert W. 00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:50.700 Bernard, camp number two of the Department of 00:15:50.700 --> 00:15:53.940 Florida, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil 00:15:53.940 --> 00:15:57.779 War in Fort Myers. You can't get that on a business 00:15:57.779 --> 00:16:01.039 card. No, but it's a high paying job. I can assure 00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:03.620 you. I'm sure of that. Now I'm being sarcastic. 00:16:04.100 --> 00:16:07.279 Yeah. So let's talk a little bit about what you 00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:10.419 have written. You have a website. Folks can go 00:16:10.419 --> 00:16:15.059 to Mark Barry. and that's B -A -R -I -E dot com 00:16:15.059 --> 00:16:18.299 to find these books, which are on Amazon, but 00:16:18.299 --> 00:16:22.879 they all have a little flavor of wartime efforts 00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:25.850 in different zones. Tell us about them. Well, 00:16:26.190 --> 00:16:28.230 I essentially either the elevator version of 00:16:28.230 --> 00:16:31.409 this is I read about love in war so I started 00:16:31.409 --> 00:16:33.629 backwards I started with the Civil War because 00:16:33.629 --> 00:16:36.649 my wife was an expert genealogist waltzed into 00:16:36.649 --> 00:16:38.309 the living room Monday and announced that I had 00:16:38.309 --> 00:16:40.809 an ancestor that fought in the Civil War and 00:16:40.809 --> 00:16:43.850 I got lucky and I found a diary from that same 00:16:43.850 --> 00:16:47.269 regiment the Adirondack regiment and My first 00:16:47.269 --> 00:16:50.330 novel was born Prior to that, my wife and I had 00:16:50.330 --> 00:16:52.529 collaborated on a couple of local history books. 00:16:52.710 --> 00:16:55.830 I had done a couple of biographies back when 00:16:55.830 --> 00:16:57.450 we lived in upstate New York, right along the 00:16:57.450 --> 00:16:59.789 Canadian border. But when I moved to Florida, 00:16:59.809 --> 00:17:03.009 this was about 11 years ago, I thought I'd never 00:17:03.009 --> 00:17:04.970 write anything again, but that's when she announced 00:17:04.970 --> 00:17:07.650 this ancestor. So I wrote the book, had a lot 00:17:07.650 --> 00:17:09.849 of fun, and I'll warn you if there's a book in 00:17:09.849 --> 00:17:12.049 your gym, if not already, that when you write 00:17:12.049 --> 00:17:14.420 your first book, of your loved ones and your 00:17:14.420 --> 00:17:16.480 relatives and your friends and neighbors will 00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:19.380 tell us a wonderful book. I couldn't put it down, 00:17:19.539 --> 00:17:23.799 but you as a first time author are suffering 00:17:23.799 --> 00:17:27.819 from this syndrome called imposter syndrome. 00:17:29.190 --> 00:17:31.829 I felt I was an imposter, but then the darn book 00:17:31.829 --> 00:17:34.950 won a couple of awards. And then my massive ego 00:17:34.950 --> 00:17:37.650 took over. And then after that Civil War book 00:17:37.650 --> 00:17:40.410 came a love story about the Revolutionary War, 00:17:40.529 --> 00:17:42.930 about a nun who leaves the combat and ends up 00:17:42.930 --> 00:17:46.750 spying for George Washington and the War of 1812, 00:17:46.910 --> 00:17:49.009 which is set in the area where I come from in 00:17:49.009 --> 00:17:50.609 Plattsburgh, New York, right along the border. 00:17:51.089 --> 00:17:53.509 That's about a girl disguised as a boy who ends 00:17:53.509 --> 00:17:55.829 up on the Commodore's flagship during one of 00:17:55.829 --> 00:17:57.950 the most important naval battles of the War of 00:17:57.950 --> 00:18:01.630 1812. After that, I was going to do a book on 00:18:01.630 --> 00:18:04.569 the Spanish -American War. I never got past the 00:18:04.569 --> 00:18:07.769 mysterious explosion of the USS Maine. So the 00:18:07.769 --> 00:18:10.069 entire book is about the mysterious explosion. 00:18:10.190 --> 00:18:13.049 And I'm egotistical enough to tell you that my 00:18:13.049 --> 00:18:15.730 conclusions as to who and what caused that mysterious 00:18:15.730 --> 00:18:18.049 explosion made a couple of headlines in a few 00:18:18.049 --> 00:18:20.369 local newspapers. I had a lot of fun writing 00:18:20.369 --> 00:18:23.039 that. Even though that too was a love story, 00:18:23.400 --> 00:18:25.480 it's historically accurate, extremely accurate. 00:18:25.880 --> 00:18:27.460 And the most recent book published last year 00:18:27.460 --> 00:18:30.200 is about World War I, about a nurse from Newfoundland, 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:31.700 Canada. Well, back then it wasn't Canada, it 00:18:31.700 --> 00:18:33.660 was the country of Newfoundland who volunteered 00:18:33.660 --> 00:18:36.380 as a nurse and ended up in one of the most grisly, 00:18:36.519 --> 00:18:38.920 horrifying wars in the history of mankind, World 00:18:38.920 --> 00:18:41.480 War I. So it's been a lot of fun. Well, this 00:18:41.480 --> 00:18:44.180 is an area called historical fiction, right? 00:18:44.859 --> 00:18:49.990 But being accurate on the history is... Not only 00:18:49.990 --> 00:18:52.150 part of the challenge, but part of the beauty 00:18:52.150 --> 00:18:55.450 because this is how you get maybe somebody who 00:18:55.450 --> 00:18:58.930 otherwise wouldn't read a dry history book engaged 00:18:58.930 --> 00:19:02.009 in finding out what happened in the Civil War 00:19:02.009 --> 00:19:07.750 or in Havana or in World War one to this nurse 00:19:07.750 --> 00:19:12.109 so Historical fiction is you know it stays here. 00:19:12.109 --> 00:19:15.450 I think Well, you just hit the nail on the head 00:19:15.450 --> 00:19:17.809 and it's taken authors and readers a long time 00:19:17.809 --> 00:19:20.309 to figure that out. When you write, in my case, 00:19:20.710 --> 00:19:22.529 historical fiction, but I like to call it historical 00:19:22.529 --> 00:19:25.150 romance because there is the love side of that 00:19:25.150 --> 00:19:29.309 story. Your historical narrative must be extremely 00:19:29.309 --> 00:19:32.329 accurate because I sell most of my books in person. 00:19:32.470 --> 00:19:34.349 I go all over Florida. I think last year I did 00:19:34.349 --> 00:19:37.900 25 speaking gigs. all over Florida. And there's 00:19:37.900 --> 00:19:40.299 usually one history buff in the room. And if 00:19:40.299 --> 00:19:42.799 you've made a mistake, they'll correct you very 00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:46.240 quickly. In fact, as an aside, I was talking 00:19:46.240 --> 00:19:48.700 about the Civil War once. And this little lady 00:19:48.700 --> 00:19:50.539 got up in the back of the room and she said, 00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:53.140 Sonny, down here, we don't call it the Civil 00:19:53.140 --> 00:19:55.140 War. We call it the War of Northern Aggression. 00:19:55.140 --> 00:19:57.980 Well, as we were going through this time. discussion 00:19:57.980 --> 00:20:00.140 today. I'm thinking, okay, I think I've just 00:20:00.140 --> 00:20:02.859 ticked off all the listeners south of the Mason 00:20:02.859 --> 00:20:06.059 -Dixon line. Yeah, they're very serious. And 00:20:06.059 --> 00:20:08.160 I've made other mistakes. I don't know if that 00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:09.920 was a real mistake, but I can remember it in 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:12.920 the first time I got the first 100 books in my 00:20:12.920 --> 00:20:16.079 Civil War novel. And I discovered that in... 00:20:17.299 --> 00:20:19.700 Whatever page number it was, I talked about a 00:20:19.700 --> 00:20:23.900 famous escape at Libby Prison in Virginia. And 00:20:23.900 --> 00:20:27.039 I talked about how the prisoners had this piece 00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:30.420 of... Rubber sheet that they used to put air 00:20:30.420 --> 00:20:33.599 into the tunnel and then a hundred page later 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:35.759 the rubber sheet turned into a plastic sheet 00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:38.779 Which of course wasn't invented for another hundred 00:20:38.779 --> 00:20:41.759 some odd years And boy was that pointed out pretty 00:20:41.759 --> 00:20:43.819 quick and there was a panic call to my publisher 00:20:43.819 --> 00:20:47.240 and make make my long story longer Even though 00:20:47.240 --> 00:20:49.180 it's historical romance, even though it's historical 00:20:49.180 --> 00:20:52.079 fiction every single historical fact that can 00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:55.119 possibly be Googled or chat -upted or whatever 00:20:55.119 --> 00:20:57.599 the hell it's called is accurate. For example, 00:20:57.619 --> 00:21:00.819 in the Civil War book, you read a section where 00:21:00.819 --> 00:21:03.359 Lincoln goes to the soldier's home and visits 00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:06.140 prisoners. And except for the conversations, 00:21:06.339 --> 00:21:08.700 which you can take some liberties with, he was 00:21:08.700 --> 00:21:10.119 there. Trust me, he'd been there. That's what 00:21:10.119 --> 00:21:12.279 he did all the time. He visited the wounded soldiers. 00:21:12.740 --> 00:21:15.099 Any historical figure, any historical event, 00:21:15.420 --> 00:21:17.220 in a book, even though it's called historical 00:21:17.220 --> 00:21:19.779 romance or historical fiction, must be accurate. 00:21:19.960 --> 00:21:22.880 I'm very proud to say in all five of my my historical 00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:25.259 novels is extremely accurate. I would define 00:21:25.259 --> 00:21:27.079 them if you find a mistake. Now, I'll probably 00:21:27.079 --> 00:21:29.099 live to regret that, but I don't think there's 00:21:29.099 --> 00:21:32.059 even a mistake. Well, it's a genre I really enjoy 00:21:32.059 --> 00:21:35.599 reading. I hope our veteran radio listeners will 00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:39.039 tune into your books. You can find them on Amazon. 00:21:39.160 --> 00:21:42.430 You can find the whole. genre of historical fiction 00:21:42.430 --> 00:21:46.029 there as well. And it's a great way to get introduced 00:21:46.029 --> 00:21:49.730 to some of these battles and concepts and what 00:21:49.730 --> 00:21:51.750 was going on back then, the history that you 00:21:51.750 --> 00:21:55.000 were never taught. but also wrapped in a way 00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.200 that will make it maybe a little more interesting, 00:21:59.480 --> 00:22:02.079 maybe keep you a little more engaged as a historical 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:04.859 romance novel. Well, I agree with that. And when 00:22:04.859 --> 00:22:07.039 I go all over and speak, I don't talk about my 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:08.500 books. I don't know why anybody would want to 00:22:08.500 --> 00:22:10.559 listen to me talk about my books. I talk about 00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:13.240 my research. And nine times out of ten, I'm talking 00:22:13.240 --> 00:22:15.940 about What we've been talking about little known 00:22:15.940 --> 00:22:18.759 historical facts and many people find interesting 00:22:18.759 --> 00:22:21.119 sometimes fascinating absolutely fascinating 00:22:21.119 --> 00:22:22.900 and i'm gonna i don't know how much time we got 00:22:22.900 --> 00:22:24.500 left but jim i'll leave you with a real quick 00:22:24.500 --> 00:22:27.500 story about an african american the african the 00:22:27.500 --> 00:22:30.980 highest officer in the history of the the civil 00:22:30.980 --> 00:22:34.500 war uh that uh happened to be african american 00:22:34.500 --> 00:22:38.740 his name was uh alexander alexander thomas augustus 00:22:38.740 --> 00:22:41.099 last name was augusta and believe it or not he 00:22:41.099 --> 00:22:46.180 was a surgeon And he was his initial acceptance 00:22:46.180 --> 00:22:48.940 in the army was revoked for a couple reasons. 00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:51.259 Number one, he was a black man. And number two, 00:22:51.539 --> 00:22:53.799 he had lived for 10 years in Canada, which back 00:22:53.799 --> 00:22:56.660 then was considered was British controlled. So 00:22:56.660 --> 00:22:59.549 he was considered a British subject. And so they 00:22:59.549 --> 00:23:02.670 said, no, you can't join the army. Well, he refused 00:23:02.670 --> 00:23:06.549 that answer. He wrote to President Lincoln himself 00:23:06.549 --> 00:23:09.710 and asked that the medical board reverse their 00:23:09.710 --> 00:23:12.170 decision. Lincoln agreed with them. The medical 00:23:12.170 --> 00:23:14.829 board changed their mind. They honored Augusta's 00:23:14.829 --> 00:23:17.130 initial acceptance. They made him a major and 00:23:17.130 --> 00:23:20.380 the head surgeon in the seventh U .S. colored 00:23:20.380 --> 00:23:23.599 infantry. Years later, he would advocate for 00:23:23.599 --> 00:23:26.839 equal pay for African American soldiers. He wrote 00:23:26.839 --> 00:23:28.839 a letter of complaint to Senator Wilson back 00:23:28.839 --> 00:23:31.039 then. They raised his salary to the appropriate 00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:33.559 level and all of the other commissioned officers, 00:23:33.819 --> 00:23:35.740 too. And near the end of the war, guess what? 00:23:36.019 --> 00:23:38.940 He was awarded the honorary rank of lieutenant 00:23:38.940 --> 00:23:42.279 colonel, and he became the highest black officer 00:23:42.279 --> 00:23:45.940 in the US military at the time. And around 1865, 00:23:46.579 --> 00:23:48.460 a president by the name of Lincoln, along with 00:23:48.460 --> 00:23:51.279 his wife, invited him to the White House, and 00:23:51.279 --> 00:23:55.539 he became the first African American ever to 00:23:55.539 --> 00:23:58.440 visit the White House. End of trivia, end of 00:23:58.440 --> 00:24:00.140 story, and I'm sure you listeners will appreciate 00:24:00.140 --> 00:24:02.880 that. No, again, this is why we do this, Mark, 00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:05.720 and we don't want to forget this kind of history. 00:24:05.960 --> 00:24:08.859 It's so important. We appreciate the time that 00:24:08.859 --> 00:24:11.700 you've given us today, Mark Berry. I send folks 00:24:11.700 --> 00:24:15.200 to your website, markberry .com, learn more about 00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:18.130 what he's writing. He probably has another book 00:24:18.130 --> 00:24:20.170 or two in him I can just tell by the energy, 00:24:20.190 --> 00:24:22.769 so. I am. I'm working on one about the Russian 00:24:22.769 --> 00:24:25.390 Revolution of 1917. There you go. If you like 00:24:25.390 --> 00:24:27.730 Dr. Cervago, you'll like this book. Oh, great. 00:24:28.150 --> 00:24:30.349 Mark, thanks for your time today. Thank you. 00:24:30.430 --> 00:24:33.269 Appreciate it. And I want to thank everybody 00:24:33.269 --> 00:24:36.109 for listening to Veterans Radio today. I am Jim 00:24:36.109 --> 00:24:38.970 Fossone. It's been a pleasure to be your host. 00:24:39.130 --> 00:24:41.789 I'm a Veterans disability lawyer at Legal Help 00:24:41.789 --> 00:24:45.869 for Veterans. And you can reach us at 800. 693 00:24:45.869 --> 00:24:50.630 -4800 or legalhelpforveterans .com on the web. 00:24:51.309 --> 00:24:54.150 You can follow Veterans Radio on Facebook and 00:24:54.150 --> 00:24:57.250 listen to its podcasts and internet radio shows 00:24:57.250 --> 00:25:01.250 by visiting us at veteransradio .org. That's 00:25:01.250 --> 00:25:05.609 veteransradio .org. We again want to thank our 00:25:05.609 --> 00:25:08.410 national sponsors, the National Veterans Business 00:25:08.410 --> 00:25:13.670 Development Council, NVBDC .org, Legal Help for 00:25:13.670 --> 00:25:17.490 Veterans, A Veterans Disability Law Firm with 00:25:17.490 --> 00:25:22.009 a national practice before the VA can help you 00:25:22.009 --> 00:25:26.029 on your claims and your appeals. 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Thank you.