James S. Stillwell to Walt Whitman, 2 September 1864

About This Item

Title: James S. Stillwell to Walt Whitman, 2 September 1864
Date: September 2, 1864
Creator(s): James S. Stillwell
Whitman Archive ID: nyp.00168
Source: Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature at the New York Public Library. The transcription presented here is derived from Drum Beats: Walt Whitman's Civil War Boy Lovers, ed. Charley Shively (San Francisco, California: Gay Sunshine Press, 1989), 195. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Elizabeth Lorang Vanessa Steinroetter Kathryn Kruger Eric Conrad Nick Krauter Nicole Gray
Cite this page: Stillwell, James S.. "James S. Stillwell to Walt Whitman, 2 September 1864." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 04 December 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
Source File: nyp.00168.xml (TEI)

Dear Friend

I1 take this time to write to you to let you know how I am I am well at presant my wound is most heald up and I hope that these few lines will find you well

I reseived your letter and was glad to here from you but I was Sorry to here that you was Sick but I hope that you are well again before this time, I am home now I came home the (22) of august I only got twenty (20) days furlough So I havent very long to Stay home it will be up the tenth (10) of this month I am A goin to new york A tuesday the Six (6) and if I have time I will come an See you I expected to have come home before or I should of wrote to you before this mother Send her best respects to you and would be glad to See you and So would all the rest I Shall try and get transfered to newyork before I go back to chestnut Hill, I will Send this to Washington and if you a[i]nt there they can Send it back to you fore I dont no how to derrect it to you to Brooklyn

So no more at preseant good by from your friend James S. Stilwell

direct your letter to Commack Long Island N.Y. fore if I ant here mother will get it

Notes

1. James S. Stilwell, Second New York Cavalry, was confined in Ward C of Armory Square with a gunshot wound in his left leg; see "Notebook: September–October, 1863" (Charles E. Feinberg Collection) and "Hospital Notes" (Henry E. Huntington Library). He recovered slowly from his injury. About the end of May in the following year he was sent to Mower Hospital, Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, where he remained until he was granted a furlough in August 1864. He later returned to Mower Hospital and wrote to Whitman on September 27, 1864, that his wound was "most healed up," and that he expected either to be discharged or to be transferred to New York. See also Stilwell's letter to Whitman from July 5, 1864. He was the brother of Julia and John Stilwell. [back]