Walt Whitman to Peter Doyle, 28 August [1874]
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431 Stevens st. Camden,1
Aug 28.2
74?
1874 or '5
Dear Pete,
Nothing very new with me—rather a mixed week—some suffering—Pete if you have a decided wish to go on the Pulman car, & are pretty clear that it would be a good move, I will let you have $100.
Good bye for this time dear son—Your Walt
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Correspondent:
Peter Doyle (1843–1907) was
one of Walt Whitman's closest comrades and lovers, and their friendship spanned
nearly thirty years. The two met in 1865 when the twenty-one-year-old Doyle was
a conductor in the horsecar where the forty-five-year-old Whitman was a
passenger. Despite his status as a veteran of the Confederate Army, Doyle's
uneducated, youthful nature appealed to Whitman. Although Whitman's stroke in
1873 and subsequent move from Washington to Camden limited the time the two
could spend together, their relationship rekindled in the mid-1880s after Doyle
moved to Philadelphia and visited nearby Camden frequently. After Whitman's
death, Doyle permitted Richard Maurice Bucke to publish the letters Whitman had
sent him. For more on Doyle and his relationship with Whitman, see Martin G.
Murray, "Doyle, Peter," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia,
ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing,
1998).
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed: Pete Doyle, | M street South | bet. 4½ & 6th | Washington, D.C. It is postmarked: Camden | Aug | 28(?) | N.J. [back]
- 2. See the letter from Whitman to Doyle of July 31, 1874. [back]