25
of South Brother. Cross had been praising
his regiment, after the usual fashion, saying
it was composed of model men, none of whom
ever got drunk; when one in the boat called
his attention to two lying helplessly inebriated on
the shore of Riker s Island! And half an hour
later, when I had completed my survey of the
camp, and was standing on the ricketty piazza
of the farm-house, there came a Captain to
Cross, with an eager, open-mouthed suggestion
about searching the tents when the men were on
parade, next morning, in order to discover who
hooked that blanket! There was also a pri-
soner, in a shabby tent, denominated the guard-
house, close by; and he kept putting his head
out, nodding, beckoning and grimacing in a
familiar manner to his acquaintances in the
ranks. I never saw a more slovenly camp;
though the men were sturdy fellows enough.
Returning to New York, I met Shepherd in Blee-
cker Street and he, professing to be hard-up
and in want of a drink, accompanied me into
the Store, where we had ale. He narrated how
he, O Brien and Brown ( Artemus Ward ) had
been on a big drink yesterday, how on leaving
him at his boarding-house, they had fallen to
dancing on the sidewalk, inviting passers-by to
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Seventeen: page thirty-three |
| Description: | Describes a visit to the camp of the Long Island Volunteers. |
| Date: | 1861-06-28 |
| Subject: | Bohemians; Civil War; Cross, Nelson; Drunkenness; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Military; New York Infantry Regiment, 67th; O'Brien, Fitz James; Shepherd, N.G.; Ward, Artemus (C. F. Brown) |
| Coverage (City/State): | New York, [New York] |
| Coverage (Street): | Bleecker Street |
| Scan Date: | 2010-06-09 |
| Volume |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Seventeen |
| Description: | Includes Gunn's descriptions of the scene in New York at the commencement of the Civil War; his visits to military camps in and around New York City as a reporter for ""The New York Evening Post;"" boarding house living; a bridal reception at the Edwards family's residence in honor of the marriage of Sally Edwards and Thomas Nast; a visit to the Heylyn and Rogers families in Rochester; and his trip to Paris, Ontario, to visit George Bolton and the Conworths. |
| Subject: | Boardinghouses; Bohemians; Civil War; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Journalism; Marriage; Military; Publishers and publishing; Travel; Women |
| Coverage (City/State): | New York, New York; Paris, Ontario, Canada ; Rochester, New York |
| 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. |
