Content:
This notebook contains, among other things, miscellaneous notes on
soldiers met by Whitman in his visits to the hospitals. The name of
soldier Reuben Farwell appears twice (on surface number six and surface
number ten) and that of soldier Bethuel Smith appears once (on surface
number ten). Whitman mentions these two soldiers in "Typical
Soldiers," which first appeared in the "Notes" section of
Memoranda During the War
(1875–1876),
later revised for
Specimen Days &
Collect
(1882–1883) and reprinted in
Complete Prose Works
(1892). Notes addressing themes for potential poems appear in
this notebook as well (see surfaces 32 through 36). The relationship of
these notes to Whitman's published poetry is unknown.
Content:
A handmade notebook (now disbound) containing mostly names and addresses
of soldiers and brief accounts of the hospital camps and battlefields.
Two of the soldiers' names, Rueben Farwell and Bethuel Smith, appear in
"Typical Soldiers," a section of
Specimen Days
(1882-1883).
The piece was reprinted in
Complete Prose
Works
(1892).
