CONFEDERATE BIOGRAPHY:  ALEX E. SWEET - Bexar County, TX

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Submitted by Peggy Brannon - peggybrannon@hotmail.com
17 November 2001
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TEXANS WHO WORE THE GRAY by Sid S. Johnson

ALEX E. SWEET

Alex E. Sweet, the founder of "Texas Siftings" was born at St. Johns, N. H., 
March 28, 1841, and was taken to San Antonio, Texas, in 1849 by his 
father, George H. Sweet, who was mayor of that city for several years and 
who, during the war between the states, served as a colonel in the 
Confederate army. Alex. E. Sweet was sent to school at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 
In 1856 he went to Europe and entered the Polytechnic school at Carlsruhe,  
from which he subsequently graduated. Returning to Texas in 1863, he 
enlisted in the Thirty-third Texas Cavalry, C. S. A., and served until the 
close of the war. He read law and was admitted to the bar and for several 
years practiced in San Antonio; became editor of the San Antonio Express in 
1879 and while so serving was elected city attorney; was afterwards editor 
of the San Antonio Herald. Subsequently he became an associate editor of the 
Galveston News and originated in that paper a column of humorous sayings 
entitled "Texas Siftings, " that acquired an immediate and truly remarkable 
popularity. ln May, 1881, he removed to Austin where with Williarri O'Leary 
and J. Amory Knox, as associate editors, and Frank P. Holland as business 
manager, he began the publication of "Texas Siftings, " a weekly humorous 
paper. The paper was transferred to New York City in 1884 and for twelve 
years or more enjoyed a national patronage. In 1897 Mr. Sweet became 
associate editor of the Tammany Times, contributing the "Bill Snort" letters 
to that publication. Another pseudonym of his was the "Rev. Whangdoodle. " 
His most widely known work is "On a Mexican Mustang Through Texas," 
published in 1883. Mr. Sweet died in New York City, May 20, 1901, of heart 
disease, from which he had suffered for several years.