82
Hayes of the Boston Traveller.
once absurd and unfair. The lad had
two good qualities as a reporter, industry and
inquisitiveness; he picked up a great deal and,
knowing very many of the minor officers accom-
panying the expedition, learnt much from them
as did A. G. but less generously, for Hayes
would tell others as indeed we all agreed to
do only the two Hills were too selfish to quite
keep their word. But Hayes wrote the most
extraordinary bosh in his letters, revelling in
sensational adjectives, abuse of the rebels and
stereotyped jocularities. He was an out-and-
out abolitionist, perfectly honest and sincere,
ignorant of most things outside of Boston, but
a worthy, honorable lad, one who neither drank
nor swore, and who had a reverence for his
minister. His brother had been killed in the
war; he talked of it perhaps a little too
much for it to have affected him very deeply
and would repeat his detestation of the rebel-
lion with such energy that Schell insisted
that there was a streak of craze in him. He
got hold of the most awful stories of Southern
atrocities and dished em up in a stupendous
manner, insomuch that Cicerone s letters oc-
casionally got quoted into the other papers, of
which their author was deservedly proud. He
complained naively of A. G s jealousy, and| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Twenty-One: page eighty-nine |
| Description: | Describes journalist Hayes. |
| Date: | 1862-12-04 |
| Subject: | Civil War; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Hayes (reporter); Hills, A.C.; Hills, A.G.; Journalism |
| Coverage (City/State): | Boston, [Massachusetts] |
| Scan Date: | 2010-11-16 |
| Volume |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Twenty-One |
| Description: | Includes Gunn's descriptions of his experiences as a war correspondent for ""The New York Tribune"" at New Orleans, Louisiana, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana; boarding house living; a visit to the Rawlings family; a fight with Mr. Blankman at his boarding house; his journey on the North Star with the Banks expedition; the re-occupation of Baton Rouge by Union forces; a visit to a sugar plantation in Louisiana; and Fanny Fern's daughter Grace Thomson's death. |
| Subject: | African Americans; Boardinghouses; Bohemians; Civil War; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Journalism; Military; Publishers and publishing; Transportation; Travel; Women |
| Coverage (City/State): | New York, New York; New Orleans, Louisiana; Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| 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. |
