158
The Gorilla Club
costive, I diarrhaeish, and we both believed
in whiskey as a remedy, also on general prin-
ciples. But whiskeyless we went to bed, not
knowing but that the long roll mightn t wake
us up to witness an attack on the part of the
enemy. Howell wouldn t undress but I did,
and slept pretty soundly until a legion of
cocks crowed towards morning.
12. Monday. Out with Howell, after
breakfast, first to the steamer Empire Parish,
which campe up last night, then aboard the
Morning Light, which was going to cross
the river to fetch back the regiment there.
Found Shaw in the saloon, he intending to
return to New Orleans, and stayed on
board, writing until the vessel had made her
trip. Then all three back to quarters to
lunch. Shaw, relying on O Gorman s pro-
mise of sending word when the Morning Light
was really to start, of course got left be-
hind, but made the best of it. We extempo-
rized a Gorilla Club of which my position
at the head of the rable rather than any thing
else elected one Head Gorilla. Hills, who
objected to this, got denominated the Sinister
Gorilla, both from his position and behavior.
I forget what Howell was called; Shaw
as an outsider, took the title of the Hyena. | Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Twenty-One: page one hundred and seventy-three |
| Description: | Regarding the ''Gorilla Club.'' |
| Date: | 1863-01-11 |
| Subject: | Civil War; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Hills, A.C.; Howell; Morning Light (Ship); O'Gorman, Lieutenant; Shaw, Charles P. |
| Coverage (City/State): | [Baton Rouge, Louisiana] |
| Scan Date: | 2010-11-18 |
| 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. |
