97
The Delta of the Mississippi.
Hamilton go ashore, of course severally. A bright
lazy, exhilarating forenoon, the North Star
riding easily on the sparkling, winking, shim-
mering water, which shone like a sea of molten
gold. By 3 P. M. our magnate had returned
and we steamed for the South-West pass of the
Mississippi. Got up a sell on the reporter party,
and especially A. G. Hills, it being whispered about
that Gen. Banks had been seen giving some docu-
ment to A. C. Hills, exclusively, to the prejudice
of the rest of us. This greatly excited A. G. who
indulged in vehement denunciations of such con-
duct and actually went to the General about
it. A. C. meanwhile played the mysterious, ap-
pearing desirous of avoiding us &c. Finally we
got all the fellows into our cabin and demanded
an explanation from A. C., who after sufficient
demur, read a coarse poem of his own composi-
tion about Mc Clellan, when the joke such as
it was exploded. A singing concert on board
during the evening.
14. Sunday. Steaming up the Delta of the
Mississippi, that curious result of the alluvial
deposit of the mighty river, which stretches like
a bird s claw, in shape, into the Gulf of Mexico.
Light muddy water, low sedgy banks, mere
beds of tall rushes; then long, low shores, beyond
which lies an immense and monotonous prospect
Page |
Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Twenty-One: page one hundred and six |
Description: | Describes his journey south on the North Star with the Banks expedition. |
Date: | 1862-12-13 |
Subject: | Banks, Nathaniel Prentiss; Civil War; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Hamilton, Andrew Jackson; Hills, A.C.; Hills, A.G.; Journalism; McClellan, George B.; North Star (Ship); Ocean travel; Poetry; Travel |
Coverage (City/State): | [Ship Island], Mississippi; Texas |
Scan Date: | 2010-11-17 |
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. |