Mr Whitman
It is with an aching heart that I1 address you this morning. I recd yours of the 2nd [This letter is currently lost] telling us of Oscars2 condition last Wednesday. I was going to start right of to see him I would have come long ago but he thought not, so did you. this time I intended to go whether anyone thought best or not but the same eve Liut Perry came bringing us the sad news of his death but did not tell us any of the particulars
Mr Whitman will you be so kind as to tell us all the particulars concerning Oscar was he expecting death to come so soon or did he leave any messages for us. the least thing from him will be interesting to me we were not expecting to hear of his death as all the news we got were favorable of late nor can we realise it yet we will try and submit to Gods will and feell that he does all things well we hope our loss is for his gain. I feel that you was Oscars friend and will be ours and again we thank you and will ever feel grateful to you for the kindness you have shown. I hope to hear from you soon yours with respect
Notes
- 1. Helen S. Cunningham was
the sister of Oscar Cunningham, a soldier and patient in Army Square Hospital.
Her first letter to Whitman was written on May 9,
1864. [back]
- 2. "Oscar Cunningham, a
young farmer from Delaware, Ohio, ... was wounded on May 3, 1863, in the Battle
of Chancellorsville. Upon seeing him at Armory Square in June, Whitman was
immediately struck by the beauty of the tall and fair soldier: 'Oscar H
Cunningham bed 20 Ward K, Ohio boy, large, (told me he had usually weighed 200
lb) fracture of leg, above knee, rather bad—(a fine, magnificent specimen
of western manliness).' Almost a full year after Oscar's arrival at Armory
Square, Whitman noted that Oscar's 'leg is in a horrible condition, all livid
& swollen out of shape—the chances are against him poor fellow.' On
May 1, 1864, the doctors amputated Cunningham's right leg, and Whitman wrote on
Oscar's behalf to his family, expressing new hope for Cunningham's recovery and
telling them that it was unnecessary to make the long trip East. By June 3,
however, Whitman told his own mother that the soldier he had visited for so long
was near death: I have just left Oscar Cunningham, the Ohio boy—he is in a
dying condition—there is no hope for him—it would draw tears from
the hardest heart to look at him—his is all wasted away to a skeleton,
& looks like some one fifty years old—you remember I told you a year
ago, when he was first brought in, I thought him the noblest specimen of a young
western man I had seen, a real giant in size, & always with a smile on his
face—O what a change, he has long been very irritable, to every one but
me, & his frame is all wasted away. Cunningham died on June 4, 1864, and was
one of the first soldiers to be buried in the new Arlington National Cemetery.
(Martin G. Murray, "Traveling with the Wounded: Walt Whitman and Washington's
Civil War Hospitals," Washington History: Magazine of the
Historical Society of Washington, D.C. 8 (Fall/Winter 1996–1997),
58–73, 92–93. Read the full article here.) See also Whitman's letters to his mother, which chronicle
Oscar Cunningham's health and decline, written May 6,
1864, May 10, 1864, May 25, 1864, June 3,
1864, and June 7, 1864. [back]