Born and raised in England, Thomas Butler Gunn first worked as an illustrator for the famous British satirical journa
27 Memorial Drive West, Bethlehem, PA 18015
Covers the period from March 1, 1862 to May 22, 1862.
The General reminds Gunn of Clapp's ugly countenance, "The General appeared a rather undersized man of between fifty and sixty, with grizzled gray hair and beard and a decidedly ugly countenance, reminding me of Clapp's, only Germanic" (33).
Gunn details his encounter with Gurowski at the Tribune Office, "After tea to the Tribune Office where I found Wilkeson and Meyer, wrote to Haney and Jack Edwards and tarried till Edge came. There came also the Count Gurowski, exhibiting some of his arbitrary Russian manners to those present and incidentally to me, when I respond- ed coolly, deliberately and contemptuously, on which he moderated his tone a little. He has some office in Washington – that of librarian, I think."
Gunn mentions seeing Eytinge at Crook and Duff's the day prior: "To 745, encountering Mr and Mrs Nast at the threshold, when Sally immediately began to talk after her old manner to me and Tommy did a little bit of Sol Eytinge. (By the way, Sol was present at Crook and Duff's yesterday, with his hair cut extremely short, looking German and pugilistic. Bellew and W. Waud talked to him.)" (10).
Gunn writes that he walked uptown with Mullen, "Walked part of the way up-town with Mullen. Found Edge in Cahill's room. He dined with us, jawed with Jewitt and presently came up into my room where he stayed till 10, in company with Boweryem" (13).
Gunn includes a newspaper engraving of himself by Nast: "Sketch of myself in campaign- rig, by Nast, introduced in a big two-page drawing in "Harper's Weekly." The portrait obviously taken from a carte de visite photo I sat for at Frederick's, in Broadway, before my departure for England, in 1863" (5).
Sir Percy Wyndham tells Gunn that he knew Nast from Italy: "He knew Nast in Italy; said he was always with Peard, of whom people made too much" (44).
Gunn says Nast stood his ground against accusations: "He tried Nast relative to caricatures of F. F. and youngest child, but didn't do much – Tommy stood his ground well. I saw it, sitting in the Courier Office" (141).
Gunn includes a printed drawing of McClellan by Nast: "GENL. McCLELLAN AT ANTIETAM. Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1863, by THOMAS NAST, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York" (275).
Gunn describes two letters written by O'Brien, "Cahill brought home two letters today, written by O'Brien; having to fudge up one as from "our correspondent," using the contents for the morrow's paper. Both were written in pencil, the first detailing the Blooming Gap affair – with the narrator's achievements in due prominence – the other endorsed, "In bed – wounded." It told how he had ridden at the head of his men, responding 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 originally written to a Mr Davis who was once introduced to Cahill by O'Brien as a "son of the richest man in New York" (15-16).
A newspaper clipping regarding O'Brien's death (125).
Gunn discusses the death of O'Brien, "Of O'Brien's death this: "O'Brien has paid one debt at last, it is said, that of nature. His wound inflamed, the arm was taken off, lock-jaw set in and poor O'Brien died." To which I add from letters received subsequently: "O'B. was buried from the 7th Regiment armory, (at Greenwood): Frank Wood is his literary executor." From Boweryem: "Baron Inchiquin had a grand funeral: to have been consistent the undertaker should have been stuck and the mural sculpter sold." (And O'Brien's creditors have followed as mourners.) I append the Herald's notice of the obsequies and also an article written by Guernsey of the grubby finger-nails, editor of Harper's Monthly, and published in
the Weekly:" (142).
Gunn includes a newspaper clipping regarding O'Brien's funeral (142).
Gunn attaches an additional newspaper clipping regarding O'Brien's death (pgs. 142/144/146/148/150).
Gunn details an encounter with Stedman on the street, "Hays and the 73rd Penn, which regiment we set off to visit together, meeting Brigham by the way, and being simultaneously hailed on one side of the street by Skilton and on the other by Stedman. The latter had just come on from Washington to "do up" the recent attle [sic] for the World, he beckoned me across the muddy street and invented a few frivolous inquiries, ending in a request for a cigar or a light for one – I for- get which. Dropped him and with Hall, explored the way to the camping-ground of the 38th N. Y." (213).
Gunn journals meeting Bayard Taylor, "to the Tribune Office and was there introduced to Bayard Taylor, who impressed me very pleasantly. He was here on reportorial duty and had what appeared to be a magnificent horse waiting to bear him to Manassas" (30).
Gunn finds Taylor in the Tribune Office and describes their encounter, "Wednesday. Scribbling in my room after a sally out to purchase ink. A second-rate Southern hotel dinner. To Washington by the 4 o'clock boat. Found Bayard Taylor in the Tribune Office, sitting with a very sunburnt face and rough blue shirt, coat off, writing his account of the evacuation of Manassas, from which he had just returned. He regarded it, rightly, as a success on the part of the Confederates and a humiliation to the Union troops or rather their monstrously be-puffed general" (41).
Gunn took his companion to Taylor's lodge, "Met Thomson Mc Elrath in the uniform of a U. S. lieutenant of artillery who told me that Cobb had returned to Pennsylvania. Piloted my former companion on Lake Superior to Bayard Taylor's lodging and left him there" (42).
It has been decided that Gunn should ride down the river, "In default of movement on the part of Heintzelman's corps it had been settled between Wilkeson, Bayard Taylor and myself, that I should ride down the river, beyond Mount Vernon and visit certain rebel batteries, recently abandoned, for the purpose of sketching and describing them" (43).
Waud complains to Gunn about Taylor, "At the Colonel's tent I find Alf Waud who talks of his recent visit to Manassas and abuses Bayard Taylor as "a d____d fool" for his account in the Tribune. Waud, with characteristic assurance, pronounces two or three small forts on an open plain, without flank or rear defences, sundry fences, over which Taylor had ridden his horse and a few quaker guns, "impregnable." (Of course he but echoed the opinion of the military toadies about Mc Clellan.) I didn't like his arrogant denunciation of a man who had seen ten times as much as himself and had written, withal, modestly and honestly, hence we had a sharp bit of controversy. Like many conversational bullies he moderated his tone on opposition, and condescended to become friendly" (57-58).
Gunn recalls a story by Taylor, "Boy sent off; returns with cock and bull story, having been to wrong stable. Edge comes and prattles. Bayard Taylor tells a story about Charles Mackay inviting him to dinner at the Star and Garter, Richmond, and afterwards assigning half the amount of the bill to be paid by his guest!" (63).
Taylor commends Gunn to Dr. Skilton, "Friday. Old Berry sent us over to his tent, very hospitably, to get a breakfast. There we encountered a Dr Julius A. Skilton of the New York 87th. He had some knowledge of Bayard Taylor, whom with characteristic kindness, had specially commended me to Skilton's hospitality. I was welcome, said the doctor, to take up my quarters in a Sibley tent, occupied at present by him and his steward, Frank Holman, an Englishman from Brooklyn, N. Y." (130).
Gunn attaches a newspaper clipping regarding a book about Bayard Taylor (272).
Taylor is mentioned in a newspaper clipping (274).
Gunn attaches a newspaper clipping regarding A Day with Bayard Taylor (277-278).
Gunn saves a "New Books" clipping of the newspaper that has the book ,em> A Day with Bayard Taylor listed (279-280).
An electronic version of this text is available in a CONTENTdm viewer. Page images, transcriptions, and metadata of the Thomas Butler Gunn diaries have been provided by the Missouri History Museum.
Born and raised in England, Thomas Butler Gunn first worked as an illustrator for the famous British satirical journa
Born in Massachusetts to a family of merchants and seamen, Clapp traveled to Paris to translate the socialist writings of Fourier.
27 Memorial Drive West, Bethlehem, PA 18015