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American" par excellence A letter sent on the 25th of September 1868 from New York to his young lover Pete

Doyle in Washington shows how deeply "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" is shaped by Whitman's long familiarity

The letter is written in the simple language familiar to Pete, who was an omnibus driver: "The river

“Dear Boy,” Whitman wrote in 1868 to Peter Doyle, a streetcar driver and ex-Confederate soldier whom

dearest comrade, & with more calmness than when I was there—I find it first rate to think of you, Pete

I will imagine you with your arm around my neck saying Good night, Walt — & me—Good night, Pete—” (COR

Whitman and Peter Doyle, ca. 1869. Photograph by M. P. Rice, Washington, DC.

“Dear Boy,” Whitman wrote to Doyle from New York in 1868, “I think of you very often, dearest comrade

is interrupted by the “daughter’s call”: “Come up from the fields, father, here’s a letter from our Pete

news that their only son has been wounded; they are unaware at the time they read the letter that Pete

of the wholesomeness of family life and to emphasize that, ironically, its own fruit—its only boy, Pete—would

calls to her mother and father to come “to the front door” as she has just received “a letter from our Pete

Unfortu- nately, the letter is not written in Pete’s characteristic handwriting, and so the letter suggests

family, was attentive to the newsboys, drivers, and other carriers of the written word Yellow Joe, Pete

While there, he spent much of his time with non-southerners, with the important exception of Doyle.

On Whitman and Doyle, see Martin Murray, “Pete the Great: A Biography of Peter Doyle,” WWQR 12 (Summer

On Garfield, see WC 1:324; Doyle also mentions this habit of James Garfield’s (Bucke, Calamus, 32). 66

See also Whitman’s image of Dowden, Edward, 116, 117 neglect Doyle, Peter, 32, 143, 149, 218n11 drift

In a letter to Peter Doyle, Whitman wrote that Dr.

Whitman to Peter Doyle, September 5, 1873, quoted in Feinberg, “Walt Whit- man and His Doctors,” 837.

10, Corporeality in Leaves of Grass (Moon), 42, 49, 63, 71, 120; Studies on Hysteria, 152 63, 121 Doyle

pointment at the loss it represents for then-emerging gay iden- tity.11 Whitman’s longtime companion Peter Doyle

; on Whit- double consciousness, ix man, 125 “Double V” campaign, 118 “For My People” (Walker), xi Doyle

Whitman admits as much to another lover, Washington street- car driver Peter Doyle, in a September 2,

Peter Doyle’s long romantic friendship with the poet is well- established.

See Murray, “‘Pete the Great,’” 14. 44. Corr. 1:11. 45.

“‘Pete the Great’: A Biography of Peter Doyle.”

Maddock, 86 Garrison,William Lloyd, 25 Douglas, Stephen A., 6, 125–26 Gay, Getty, 91–92; “Royal Bohemian Doyle

“dear Bo y,” Whitman wrote in 1868 to Peter doyle, a street- car driver and ex-Confederate soldier whom

often, dear- est comrade, & with more calmness than when I was there—Ifinditfirstratetothinkofyou,Pete

I will imagine you with your arm around my neck saying Good night, Walt—& me—Good night, Pete.” 36 In

“enormous PerTUrBaTIon” of his “feverISH, flUCTUaTInG” physical and emotional attachment to Peter doyle

Brown and other soldiers he met and cared for in the Washington hospitals, as well as with Peter doyle

In 1873, he wrote to his friend Peter Doyle, “I shall get out this afternoon, & over to the Reading room

Indeed, a few days later he wrote Doyle to inform him that he had resolved “to pair off with a friend

In his biographyof Peter Doyle, Martin G.

See “Pete the Great: A Biography of Peter Doyle,” Walt Whitman Quarterly Review 12 (Summer 1994): 1–51

“Pete the Great: A Biography of Peter Doyle.”

argument seems plausible in such cases as the infamous manuscript in which he refers to his lover, Peter Doyle

family’s trunks in letters of 1864, 1872, and, in separate requests to Charles Eldridge and Peter Doyle

Ethiopia Saluting the Colors,” 8 “Europe, the 72d and 73d Years of 147–50 These States” (“Resurgemus”), Doyle

Maynard had published Bucke’s Calamus, an edition of Whitman’s letters to Peter Doyle, in early 1897,

Elephant, his brother Young Elephant (who came afterward,) Tippy, Pop Rice, Big Frank, Yellow Joe, Pete

My favorite manu- script item is a postcard to Peter Doyle, which I was surprised to win on eBay.

copy of Calamus in order to ramp up the price of the book —after all, a copy of Calamus inscribed by Doyle

is currently being offered for $17,500 and Memoranda During the War, inscribed by Whitman to Doyle,

organized into thirty–seven topics, chronologically arranged (e.g., "Opera Lover," "The 1856 ," "Peter Doyle

Pete’s early association with Walt Whitman, after they met in Washington, Pete being then a young man

Pete was easy to ap- proach.

But Pete felt hurt, somehow.

Doyle.

The “Interview with Peter Doyle” by Dr.

In letters written the same day to Peter Doyle and William D.

ADDRESS : Pete Doyle  M st. South –Bet 4 12 & 6th  Washington, D. C.

From Peter Doyle. Barrett. Silver, 200–1 (dated 1869?).

From Peter Doyle. Trent. November 25. From Louisa Van Velsor September 23. From Peter Doyle.

From Peter Doyle. Morgan. December 5. From James T. Fields.

nature writer, literary critic, and author of Notes on Walt Whitman as Poet and Person (1867); Peter Doyle

Price sode treats the Peter Doyle–Whitman relationship.

For discussion of this program, see Joann Krieg, “Walt and Pete in the Family Hour,”Walt Whitman Quarterly

has argued, Whitman also left a small cache of “marital” photographs taken with his boyfriends Peter Doyle

162 Chinese treaty with Japan, 174 Down by Law, 50, 52–54, 53 Chinese vernacular poetry, 175, 181, Doyle

Doyle.’”

Once he mentioned Peter Doyle. ‘Where are you Pete? Oh!

The real Irish character. pete’s cane A week later: “Peter Doyle was in yesterday and brought some flowers

A few weeks afterward: “This cane was given to me by Pete Doyle,” Whitman re- minded Traubel, “Pete was

Doyle was over C4:174 I have been reading 1:376 Pete Doyle was in 1:349 This cane was 1:415 It was at

after having read over again an old letter from "Pete."

When not with her, Walt told Pete, he was riding the ferry and visiting Coney Island.

time-honored sentiment, "Pete, I wish you were with me."

He wrote to Peter Doyle: The N.

Pete's brother, Francis, was a police officer in Washington, D.C.

Letter to Peter Doyle, September 6, I87o, SPL, p. 993· 3x.

But in a letter to Peter Doyle June 27, I872 (SPL, pp.

Letter to Peter Doyle, July I6, I87I, SPL, p. 996. THE HEROIC INVALID 337 I89.

I4-I5· 3· Letter to Peter Doyle, August 28, I873, Calamus, p.

See letter to Peter Doyle, December 3, 1875, Calamus, p. 163. 42.

Doyle, against newspaper claims of police brutality re- 1 8 6 8 -18 7 5 [g1] lated to Doyle's arrest

Whitman writes to William O'Connor on be half of Edward Doyle, Pete's brother, who is seeking em ployment

Peter Doyle visits(n N , 2 :3 5 Pete's mother had died on 24 May.

Whitman learns from Wallace that Peter Doyle is living in Baltimore; he speaks of "The noble Pete!

"'Pete the Great': A Biography of Peter Doyle."

Calamus: A Series of Letters Written During the Years 1868—1880 by Walt Whitman to a Young Friend (Peter Doyle

His close friend, streetcar conductor Peter Doyle, is to his right. Courtesy of Frank Wright.

Painting of the Grand Review showing Walt Whitman and Peter Doyle.

GERARD MANLEY H O PK IN S Letter to Robert Bridges, October 18, 1882 I have read ofWhitman's (1)"Pete

us about him, in Washington, a part ofhis life-the part which he devoted to his young friend Peter Doyle-remains

28 And even Binns, who implied that he knew the truth when he called the question "about Calamus+ Doyle

, 158, 253n Dostoyevsky, Fyodor M., 140 Gand, Eric, 226 Dowden, Edward, 212n Garland, Hamlin, 230n Doyle

Whitman thought Doyle was born in Limerick on June 3, 1845, while Pete's death certificate gave 1848

Pete's parents were Peter Doyle and Catherine Nash. The couple were married in St.

The following day, Doyle's sister-in-law Ellen (nee Branzell) Doyle and Skip Branzell, visited Pete at

A James Doyle (Pete's brother?)

With the death of Catherine Doyle, Pete's primary emotional tie to D.C. ended.

was happy Schlaf was resisting Bertz's assertions: "The question you raise about Calamus & [Peter] Doyle

The night before, in Washington, Peter Doyle, who liked the theater and was attracted by celebrities,

For his commemorative Lincoln lectures, which began in 1879, Whitman drew on Doyle's eyewitness account

Consider the memoirs ofPri vate Henry Robinson Berkeley, a Confederate soldier who, like Peter Doyle,

In corre spondence with Whitman, Doyle's love of the theater, including burlesque, is evident.

In reviewing a collection ofWhitman's letters to Peter Doyle, issued significantly under the title Calamus

Whitman's former lover Peter Doyle, whom he had seen only infrequently since leaving Washington seven

But before making that trip, Walt and Pete spent a short time together in the nation's honeymoon capi

He told her that the next issue of his newspaper was to be about Peter Doyle.

"There are some things about Pete that I've not yet said."

M s: Feinberg Collection, Library of Congress To Pete Doyle Brooklyn, September 2,1870 Dear Pete, . .

Walt M s: Feinberg Collection, Library of Congress To Pete Doyle Brooklyn, July 14, 1871 Dear Pete, It

M s: Feinberg Collection, Library of Congress To Pete Doyle Coney Island, July I6and 2I, I87I Dear Pete

M s: Feinberg Collection, Library of Congress To Pete Doyle Camden, August I4and 15, 1873 Pete, dear

M s: Feinberg Collection, Library of Congress To Pete Doyle Camden, September 26, I873 Dear son Pete,

indispensable source for the issue in question is the Boston Calamus edition of the letters to Peter Doyle

44-48. 2 Calamus—A Series of Letters Written During the Years 1868-1880 by W.W. to a Young Friend (Pete

Doyle).

Tree,” as we shall see, creates poetry just as much, and perhaps more so than the dramatic scene of Pete’s

s letterto his mother and to Peter Doyle.

Portraitof Whitman and Doyle together,by Harry D.

Wiksell's personal recollectionsof Pete Doyle.

J., I give to my friend,Peter Doyle, my silverwatch. I give to H.

Doyle, Peter, 261. Finta, Alexander, 118, 119.

W. " I should like to see Pete ] Doyle" while I am here. Can you give me his address? W. W.

where Pete is as I am rather uneasy about him.

So I don't know where Pete is now." " /. W. W.

I said that one reason why I wanted to see Pete Doyle was that he perhaps represented the average American

Pete hardly does. For years past Pete has been whirled among the sophistications."

"I should like to see Pete Doyle while I am here. Can you give me his address?" W. W.

I should like to know where Pete is as I am rather uneasy about him.

So I don't know where Pete is now." J. W. W.

I said that one reason why I wanted to see Pete Doyle was that he perhaps represented the average American

Pete hardly does. For years past Pete has been whirled among the sophistications."

Doyle, which is given by Dr.

Bucke in his edition of Whitman's lettersto Pete 1— one of the best running accounts of Walt which we

have, though of course quite extempore— Pete says in one pas- — sage : 'I never knew a case of Walt's

to Pete are veritablelove-letters.

And there is a passage in Pete Doyle's already quoted interview which curiously corroborates this.

fancy. suppose," he replied, "myking for and associa tion with car drivers stage drivers, (Pete

Doyle, my friend, was a car driver),and boat hands attracted and attracts atten tion and produces inquiries

Elephant, his brother Young Elephant (who came afterward,) Tippy, Pop Rice, Big Frank, Yellow Joe, Pete

walks out from Washington, five, seven, perhaps ten miles and back; generally with my friend Peter Doyle

We had a good time here last night when Wallace read to us extracts from your letters to Pete Doyle which

Despite his status as a veteran of the Confederate Army, Doyle's uneducated, youthful nature appealed

limited the time the two could spend together, their relationship rekindled in the mid-1880s after Doyle

After Whitman's death, Doyle permitted Richard Maurice Bucke to publish the letters Whitman had sent

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.

Our Pete hit in a cavalry skirmish and to die; the boy shot in the abdomen, "face as white as a lily;

I think it a blessed Providence that led the D to shew me the letters he has that you wrote to Pete Doyle

Despite his status as a veteran of the Confederate Army, Doyle's uneducated, youthful nature appealed

limited the time the two could spend together, their relationship rekindled in the mid-1880s after Doyle

After Whitman's death, Doyle permitted Richard Maurice Bucke to publish the letters Whitman had sent

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.

spent the rest of the morning in looking over the papers you sent, & in copying some of the letters to Pete

Doyle that the doctor has.

Despite his status as a veteran of the Confederate Army, Doyle's uneducated, youthful nature appealed

limited the time the two could spend together, their relationship rekindled in the mid-1880s after Doyle

After Whitman's death, Doyle permitted Richard Maurice Bucke to publish the letters Whitman had sent

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.

And this afternoon I have been reading some old letters of yours to Pete Doyle, & their wonderful loving

Despite his status as a veteran of the Confederate Army, Doyle's uneducated, youthful nature appealed

limited the time the two could spend together, their relationship rekindled in the mid-1880s after Doyle

After Whitman's death, Doyle permitted Richard Maurice Bucke to publish the letters Whitman had sent

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.

COME up from the fields father, here's a letter from our Pete, And come to the front door mother, here's

sobs, The little sisters huddle around speechless and dismay'd,) See, dearest mother, the letter says Pete

COME up from the fields father, here's a letter from our Pete, And come to the front door mother, here's

sobs, The little sisters huddle around speechless and dismay'd,) See, dearest mother, the letter says Pete

COME up from the fields father, here's a letter from our Pete, And come to the front door mother, here's

sobs, The little sisters huddle around speechless and dismay'd,) See, dearest mother, the letter says Pete

Washington and later visited him in Camden (which Whitman reported in his November 9, 1873, letter to Peter Doyle

Washington and later visited him in Camden (which Whitman reported in his November 9, 1873, letter to Peter Doyle

Whitman heard Brignoli sing in 1867, in 1872 (see the letter from Whitman to Peter Doyle of March 15,

Peter Doyle called on June 4, Edward Carpenter was in Camden from June 18 to 20, and Whitman's brother

Camden N J Dec 9 '83 A young workingman & engineer, Edward Doyle, (brother of my dear friend Peter D.

Doyle spent the afternoon of December 7 with Whitman (Whitman's Commonplace Book, Charles E.

When Doyle's mother was dying, on May 23, 1885, Whitman sent $10, and he lent Doyle $15 when he came

In the 1870s Edward Doyle, like Peter, had been a streetcar conductor.

Pete, do you remember —(of course you do—I do well)—those great long jovial walks we had at times for

Pete, give my love to dear Mrs. and Mr.

Walt Whitman to Peter Doyle, June 1883

This note is written on the fly-leaf of a copy of Specimen Days, sent to Peter Doyle at Washington, D.C

The note is significant, because it constitutes the first correspondence from Whitman to Doyle since

It appears that writing Specimen Days stirred Whitman's memories of the times he shared with Doyle in

Michael Nash were old, mutual friends of Whitman and Peter Doyle in Washington.

Whitman referred to them often, especially in closing, in his letters to Doyle.

Whitman visited the Channings in 1868 (see the letters from Whitman to Peter Doyle of October 18, 1868