161
I leave Charleston.
might never meet again. Accidentally mention-
ing in the course of the day, that the fifteenth was
my birth day, he bade me recollect, that
he would drink a glass of champagne to my health,
precisely at noon laying stress on it. And so
farewell to him, and a fair sample of his state,
which I shall never be able to think unkindly
of; and do veritably believe that, but for that
one damned institution, it would produce as noble
a race of men as any that this continent can
produce if not nobler. Packing up, scribbling
off note to W. Waud and to Ramsay (in
case of his return), until 1 , then to bed.
14. Thursday. Up by 6 and in two
hours time was overtaken by the coach, as I
walked down the cool, sunny street, and con-
veyed to the wharf, where the James Adger
lay on the eve of departure. Aboard I found
an ex-Charleston Hotel waiter, an Irishman
named Courtenay, bound for the North, who
professed dislike to the Carolinians, on the ground
that they cared a dale more for a nagur than
for a poor white man. From him I got most
of the information relative to the domestic eco-
nomy of the hotel introduced into the latter
portion of the preceding volume of this Diary,
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Fifteen: page one hundred and seventy-two |
| Description: | Describes his departure from Charleston. |
| Date: | 1861-02-13 |
| Subject: | Birthdays; Carlyle; Courtenay (waiter); Gunn, Thomas Butler; Irish; James Adger (Ship); Ramsay, Russell (Buckstone); Slavery; Travel; Waud, William |
| Coverage (City/State): | Charleston, [South Carolina] |
| 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. |
