78
Senatorial and Other Talk.
day in the columns of the Courier and Mercury,
in the reports of the legislature proceedings. I think
he generally adopted the role of a Carolinian
Joseph Hume. I had remarked him at the
dinner table previously. Once I happened to
sit at a side table where all the other persons
were known to him. He ordered a bottle of brandy
and, sending it round, bade the waiter, who atten-
ded on him with the respect and deference al-
ways accorded to negroes to wealth and posi-
tion, pass it to me. He told stories too of
fishing, hunting and pic-nicking up at his place
on the river and appeared, generally, a South
Carolinian magnate. He must needs have us
go up into his room to try some special brandy
and cigars, which we did, all four of us.
It was a spacious room, up only one flight of
stairs, consequently very expensive, and notwith-
standing the humidity of the night a large fire
blazed in the capacious grate. We talked pistols,
the N.Y. Tribune and Herald, Secession and
Slavery, the last topic, of course, proving the
Aaron s rod of the others. Carlyle waxed elo-
quent and enthusiastic on the subject and stand-
ing erect talked his strongest, saying that he
had been praying for twenty-years for what had| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Fifteen: page eighty-eight |
| Description: | Describes Senator Allen from Barnwell. |
| Date: | 1861-01-20 |
| Subject: | African Americans; Allen, Senator; Carlyle; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Secession; Slavery; Slaves |
| Coverage (City/State): | [Charleston], South Carolina |
| Scan Date: | 2010-05-11 |
| 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. |
