9
O Brien wounded. A letter from him.
At Frank Leslie s.
how he had ridden at the head of his men, respond-
ing to the rebel officer s inquiry as to what they
were by Union men, God damn you! and firing
his revolver, when a smart skirmish ensued, in
which O Brien got wounded, the bullet going through
and through his scapular. Of course he didn t want
to quit the fight but had to ride 21 miles in his
pain and agony. Then follows a verbatim copy
of a complimentary despatch to him from McClellan
and a request that transcripts of it and the letter
should be sent to three newspaper acquaintances, of
which Bellew and F. Wood were two. It was ori-
ginally written to a Mr Davis who was once introdu-
ced to Cahill by O Brien as a son of the richest
man in New York. The former letter, that about
the Bloomery Gap business, ended with an urgent entrea-
ty for the fulfillment of a promise to send along
whiskey, and You never saw such a God-forsaken
country as this is, no man and no lush.
6. Thursday. Down town, to Harper s with story.
Thence to Frank Leslie s. Newman there. W. Waud
and others. Saw Leslie, didn t get the $10 due for
story couldn t pay it till Bellew s return sent into
Leslie s private den as he wanted to speak to me fold-
ed up papers I had for mail, got impatient, came
out, talked with Waud, returned into Leslie s sanctum
with him and was consulted about my going to Wash-
ington, thence to accompany a division of the army on
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Nineteen: page sixteen |
| Description: | Regarding a discussion with Frank Leslie about being sent to Washington to sketch. |
| Date: | 1862-03-05 |
| Subject: | Bellew, Frank; Cahill, Frank; Civil War; Frank Leslie's illustrated news.; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Harper and Brothers (New York, N.Y.); Leslie, Frank; McClellan, George B.; Newman; O'Brien, Fitz James; Waud, William; Wood, Frank |
| Coverage (City/State): | New York, [New York] |
| Scan Date: | 2010-06-14 |
| Volume |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Nineteen |
| Description: | Includes Gunn's descriptions of his experiences as a war correspondent for ""The New York Tribune"" in Virginia while traveling with the Army of the Potomac during the Peninsular Campaign; the Siege of Yorktown; the Battle of Williamsburg; his departure from Alexandria on the steamer Kent; the ruins of Hampton, Virginia, after it was burnt by John B. Magruder; touring the gunboat Monitor; the death of Fitz James O'Brien from a gunshot wound; Jim Parton's temporary separation from Fanny Fern; and seeing Robert E. Lee's house in Virginia. |
| Subject: | Civil War; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Journalism; Marches (U.S. Army); Marriage; Medical care (U.S. Army); Military; Military camp life; Peninsular Campaign (Va.); Prisoners of war (Confederate); Siege of Yorktown (Va.); Slavery; Slaves; Travel; Women |
| Coverage (City/State): | New York, New York; Washington, District of Columbia; Alexandria, Virginia; Hampton, Virginia; Yorktown, Virginia; Williamsburg, Virginia |
| 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. |
