benjamin brown french. the gettysburg address. benjamin brown french. someone who has not been heard of and in and of himself to not do anything to be remembered today, he is the most amazing, motives, sensitive, and intelligent eyewitness that a writer could hope for. so he really is at the heart of the book. brian: where is the diary? joanne: the library of congress. brian: were you allowed to put your hands on it? joanne: i was. and he was a wonderful source. not only did he have the 11 volume diary, and i have a picture in the book because i wanted people to see what it looked like. he had a newspaper column and he pasted some of the columns he wrote into the diary, which is wonderful. extensive correspondence. and he wrote poetry about politics. he was beyond wonderful. there was the point when i was writing it 20 and come his diary is not as juicy in the last few years for the civil war. i'm getting to the end of the book, and i'm like, french, where you going to give me about this union? i don't see much in the diary and i am thinking, you have g