In Whitman's Hand

Notebooks

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About this Manuscript

Title: [from Hookers command]

Date: 1863

Editorial note(s): The earliest date written in this notebook is 10 May 1863, and the last is 23 June 1863. The rest of the contents were probably written either between or around those dates.

The writing on the first page is upside-down relative to the rest of the notebook.

The seventeenth leaf has been pasted to the end of the notebook. In the process, the writing on the verso, which is turned 90 degrees counter-clockwise relative to the rest of the notebook, has been partially obscured.

Color Key: The use of colored text in our transcription is designed to shed light on Whitman's process of composition. For the meanings of various colors, see our color key.

Location: Papers of Walt Whitman (MSS 3829), Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia

Whitman Archive ID: uva.00153


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from Hookers command
Ward E. bed 47
Hiram Johnson
Co K. 157th N.Y. Vols
wound in left hip
———
this is the bed of death
———
he is failing fast—the muffled groan, the laboring panting chest & throat, the convulsion without intermission, the attitude of the hands, the restlessness—the contraction & dilation of the nostrils—fortunately he is out of his head, poor fellow

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Lieut Wm Hubbard
co B. 27th Indiana reg't
———
Bed 34—ward H.
———
father Wm Hubbard,
Cloverdale, Putnam co. Ind.
———
wrote Wm. Letter to his father above.
———
wound bad in foot, instep, rec'd at Chancellorsville, Va. Sunday forenoon—bones out, pretty badly mashed, will get over it, but foot useless probably.
is recovering

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Henry Benton,
co E. 7th Ohio Vol.
———
Ward K. bed 44
———
wants a little jelly, & an orange
———
wound[illegible]ed ^last Sunday at Chancellorsville in leg—I saw the bullet & a piece of the bone—stout hearty Ohio boy.—parents live in Huron, Erie co. Ohio—mothers address Mrs W. R. Benton, as above—

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Henry Eberle,
bed 8 Ward K—
ward co H. 28th Penn Vol.
wants a [illegible]German prayer book
wounded in left shoulder pretty bad—reads German & English—born in Penn.

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bring bed No 4 Ward H. a pipe
——————————

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Hiram F. Willis
ward I, bed 21
co I. bed 84th Penn.
———
wounded at [illegible]Chancellorsville Sunday.—wounded in hands &c. & in thigh
———
father Hiram Willis
Eldred, Wayne co Penn
———
ward. D. Dont forget Austin Lawton ward D. ^(also Chas Moody, bed 44) ward D. n[illegible]orth side near the door right arm badly wounded—left hand slightly wounded—Ohio boy—(born in England) has a friend in one of the Departments.

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Robert Hatch
bed 34 ward H.
co B. 141st Penn.
———
wounded in left leg below knew, fractured.
———
wounded at Chanc. Sunday.
———
Martin H. Codding
Pike township Bedford co. Penn

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Sunday May 10th—'63

Sunday May 10th

———
spendt a good part of the day the day in Armory Sq. Hospital in wards E. F. G. H. I & K.
many badly wounded men from Chancellorville &c all forms of wounds, some a large proportion in head—
—some cases of men badly burnt by explosion of caissons &c
—wrote a number of letters for Ohio & Indiana m[illegible]en
———

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Wm Williams
bed 41 Ward G.
—bring some pickles
———
badly wounded in arm has suffered much
———
some peaches
dont forget
——————————

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Monday night May 11 '63

spent four hours this evening in Armory—
recollect the poor young fellow in Ward E. with one left leg amputated well up to thigh below the knee & a wound in arm—^co D 77th New York—^wounded Sunday May 4th at Chancellorsville tells me he wants his mother to come & and see him, but has not money enough to send her for that purpose
Erskine Branch [after a long seige, sometimes at death's door, much pain, one two or three partial recoveries, & then relapsing, he got quite well, got up & went out at last a well-drest handsome fellow

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Bed 41 Ward G. Armory
May 12
William Williams
co F. 27th Indiana
———
wounded seriously in shoulder—ahe lay naked to the waist on acc't of the heat—I never saw a more superb development of chest, & limbs, neck, &c. a perfect model of manly strength—seemed awful to take such God's masterpiece &
nearest friend Mr. J.C. Williams
Lafayette Tippecanoe co. Indiana

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Noah Laing
bed 36
Ward I
some peaches

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Mrs. Edwin Burt.
Ridgefield Fairfield co. Conn.
——— [illegible]

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ward K bed 19
Arm
David Coon,
co. K. 37th N.Y.
———
^Mrs. Eveline Ballou Sullivan
Ashland co. Ohio
———
wounded in the left leg, below knee, flesh wound, at Chancellorsville Sunday 4th——feeling pretty comfortable, has good care

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[illegible] ———
Allen Chandler
bed 13. ward F.
some peaches
——————————

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James Moore
Co B. 147th Penn
———
ward I, bed 31
———
brother W.H. Moore,
co B. 126th Penn.
———
flesh wound in thigh will get along well

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ward E
Erskine B. Branch
[Kinery?] 6th Army corps
co D. 77th New York.
———
19th 19 yrs. old 10th May '63
———
wounded at 2d Fredericksburg Sunday 4th May.
———
lost your his left leg below the knee (amputated there)—doing pretty well
———
also slight wound on upper left arm
———
doing pretty well,
———
wants mother to come down here if possible
Mrs. Sarah Hudson
Rock City Falls, Saratoga co New York

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[illegible]
[begin pasted over section]
———
Member of co K 51st New York
[in?] Carver
[end pasted-over section]
Hospital—lost his left arm—a Brooklyn boy
———
John Lowery
Amos H. Vliet
———

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