59
The Courier Sanctum.
the ridges of the adjacent houses. They are a very
repulsive, noisome bird, like a filthy plebeian
vulture, abominably tame, insomuch that they
infest the roadway like diabolical fowls, pick-
ing up what carrion they find. It is quite an
Algerine feature in Charleston. Gaining the
Custom-House, which is also the post-office (a
battered, Queen Anne-looking building, from
the vault of which Hayne a saint in the South
Carolinian revolutionary calendar was led forth
to be shot by Lord Rawdon s order) I gene-
rally managed to mail my letter within a few
minutes of St. Michael s chimes banging out the
hour of nine. Then, I generally loafed up-
stairs into the sanctum of the Courier Office,
to find Carlyle or Bird at their editorial desks,
or both or neither; to talk and look at the
latest arrived New York papers, being especially
alive to the chance of seeing a copy of the Post.
I used to hunt among the exchanges littering the
floor for it, both in Carlyle s and the upper
sanctum, being most curious about it and the
Tribune, which was always in demand among
the frequenters of the place, for neither paper
could be purchased in or safely mailed to any
private citizen in Charleston. In these noc-
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Fifteen: page sixty-nine |
| Description: | Comments on the turkey buzzards in Charleston. |
| Date: | 1861-01-12 |
| Subject: | Bird, Dr.; Carlyle; Charleston courier.; Gunn, Thomas Butler; New York evening post.; New York tribune. |
| Coverage (City/State): | Charleston, South Carolina |
| Scan Date: | 2010-05-08 |
| Volume |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Fifteen |
| Description: | Describes Gunn's experience as a correspondent for ""The New York Evening Post"" in Charleston, South Carolina, in the aftermath of South Carolina's secession from the federal government, including a conflict between A.H. Colt and Mr. Woodward, a visit to Sullivan's Island, John Mitchel's tale of assisting with the lynching of an abolitionist, attending a celebration in honor of Benjamin Mordecai, Will Waud's arrival in Charleston, the scene in Charleston the day the ''Star of the West'' was fired upon by the Morris Island battery, pistol and rifle practice with various Charlestonians, a rumor in New York about his having been tarred and feathered in Charleston, a visit to the quarters of the ''Richland Rifles,'' witnessing a slave auction, and a visit to Colonel Bull's home. |
| Subject: | Boardinghouses; Books and reading; Civil War; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Journalism; Military; Publishers and publishing; Secession; Slavery; Slaves; Travel |
| Coverage (City/State): | New York, New York; Charleston, South Carolina |
| Note: | Thomas Butler Gunn was born February 15, 1826, in Banbury, England, and came to New York in 1849. During the Civil War he worked as a correspondent for the New York Tribune and the New York Evening Post. He returned to England in 1863, and died in Birmingham in April 1903. The collection includes twenty-one volumes of his diaries, including newspaper clippings, letters, photographs, sketches, and various other items inserted by Gunn. Diary entries date from July 7, 1849, to April 7, 1863, and include his experiences with the New York publishing and literary world, his descriptions of boarding houses, his travels throughout the United States, and his experiences traveling with the Federal army as a Civil War correspondent. |
| Publisher: | Missouri History Museum |
| Rights: | Copyright 2010 Missouri History Museum. |
| Source: | Page images, transcriptions, and metadata of the Thomas Butler Gunn diaries have been provided by the Missouri History Museum. |
