146
The Tribune s Charleston Correspondence.
ting please say nothing more than this as he
should have a defence which would make him
very popular, and he was rather glad than
otherwise that it had turned up. Thus,
in an ungrammatical, jerky apprehensive man-
ner, wrote Ramsay. In view of this and what
I know now, I understand the Tribune letters.
This young fellow was not selected for any
fitness for his business, but in default of a
better. He wrote with average ability, but did
not scruple to invent and misrepresent the
Charlestonians. The tone and spirit of his let-
ters I condemn and object to. They misled
the Tribune and those who put faith in it.
They did mischief, both North and South;
in one case teaching that the Carolinians were
only braggarts and bullies, intent on a game
of bluff and willing to compromise after some
concessions; in the other justifying
the Southern faith in the utter mendacity of
Northern journals. These Carolinians were
(and are) a brave, misguided, headstrong
people, not ruffians or traitors to my thinking.
At night when I had posted letter and
walked leisurely back, I met Carlyle and
Rhodes, a Maylander, a resident of Bal-
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Fifteen: page one hundred and fifty-six |
| Description: | Regarding Ramsay's correspondence for the ''New York Tribune.'' |
| Date: | 1861-02-10 |
| Subject: | Carlyle; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Journalism; New York tribune.; Ramsay, Russell (Buckstone); Rhodes; Secession |
| Coverage (City/State): | Charleston, South Carolina; Baltimore, Maryland |
| Scan Date: | 2010-05-20 |
| 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. |
