125
Parton s Second Hegira.
lodges nocturnally in a Robinson Crusoe-like
house constructed under Heichhold s superintendence,
one half serving as a hospital, the other as a living
and bed-room. I scribbled till midnight (a Trib-
une letter of which I have no copy) to the distant
cracking of musketry and the sonorous boom of the
big gun. It was a wild, windy night and very
cold in the fireless tent. Skilton got up and
dressed himself. Finishing my letter I went out
and found a group of men listening to the
cannonading. Here are details of
Parton s separation from Fanny, culled from
Haney s letter. The day of the hegira was the
19th of March, and we have Jim now, safe
and sound, taking his meals at 745 Broadway,
but having a snug furnished room at Dodsworth s
building. Immediate cause of rupture coming with
me to see his aunt; remote causes, W. Rogers,
Mary Rogers, J. C. Haney and others, who cling
to Jim. There would have been no trouble if
Jim had only consented to be cut off from all who
really cared about him. It was expres-
sly provided that I should not help Jim to move.
Two or three days after appeared a paragraph
in the Times stating that F. F. had parted
from her husband on account of personal ill treat-
ment. In the Leader of Saturday succeeding, it ad-
ded to this charge the ill-treatment of a relative,
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Nineteen: page one hundred and forty |
| Description: | Regarding the details of Jim Parton's separation from Fanny Fern, obtained from a letter from Jesse Haney. |
| Date: | 1862-04-17 |
| Subject: | Civil War; Edwards, Sally (Nast); Fern, Fanny; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Haney, Jesse; Heichhold, A.P.; Journalism; Leader.; Marriage; Military; New York times.; New York tribune.; Parton, James; Parton, Mary (Rogers); Peninsular Campaign (Va.); Rogers, William; Siege of Yorktown (Va.); Skilton, Julius A. |
| Coverage (City/State): | [New York, New York]; [Yorktown, Virginia] |
| Coverage (Street): | 745 Broadway |
| Scan Date: | 2010-06-17 |
| 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. |
