The Walt Whitman Archive
Life & Letters
Correspondence
About this Item
Title: George Washington Whitman to Louisa Van Velsor Whitman, 6 March 1864
Date: March 6, 1864
Whitman Archive ID: duk.00349
Source: Trent Collection of Whitmaniana, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Transcribed from digital images or a microfilm reproduction of the original item. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Alex Kinnaman, Elizabeth Lorang, Bev Rilett, Kathryn Kruger, Gillian Price, April Lambert, Stefan Schöberlein, and Nicole Gray
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Nashville Tennessee1
March 6th '642
Dear Mother
We arrived here last night, and will leave for Knoxville in the course of an hour or two. I am very well indeed and we have had a very pleasant trip out this far. We staid in Louisville Ky. 4 days, boarding at a first rate Hotel, and I am trying to eat enough to last me for a week or two after I get to the front. I found my trunk up at Fort Schuyler all right the morning I left home. Everything seems to be quiet just now in this Department we are ordered to proceed to Knoxville by way of Chatanooga. I have not written to Walt since I left home but I shall write as soon as we get to our destination. Mother when you write direct to Knoxville and when you write to Walt tell him to not wait to get a letter from me, but to let me hear from him immediately.
How are you all at home the baby you know was not well when I left, but I hope she is all right before now, When you write to Han tell her I shall write to her Soon, and if you hear from her tell me all about her in your next letter. I must stop now as it is about time for me to get ready to start. Kind regards to all
George W. Whitman
Notes:
1. After successfully defending Knoxville against General Longstreet's siege (November 17–29, 1863), General Burnside transferred the Department of Ohio to General John G. Foster (December 11, 1863) and returned to his home in Rhode Island. The men of the Ninth Army Corps were sent home to their respective states for furloughs and re-enlistment. In January, 1864, George Whitman returned home on a thirty-day leave to Brooklyn, New York, where he re-enlisted. On February 25, 1864, he went back with his regiment to the Department of Ohio. [back]
2. On March 19, 1864, Thomas Jefferson Whitman forwarded this letter to Walt Whitman, including a letter of his own on the back. [back]