Brooklyn, N. Y.,
May 4th 1865
Dear Walt,
We received your letter1 and [were] glad to get it too—We had all begun to feel a little worried about George—glad to hear that you are getting along so nicely—The Expressman did not come for your trunk yesterday as he promised so I called last night and [a]gain left the order—to-day at noon they came and got it giving a receipt for it Enclosed I send the Key. I like to get letters from you Matters are going about as usual with us. Mother is pretty well Mattie and the Children very well—I hope you will enjoy your cake that they put in the trunk—It looked nice when I put it in I packed it Tuesday night and had it already Wednesday, but they did not come for it I hope to be able to make you a visit this summer yet—How would it do to come when the review of the Army happens2—could i see it or would it be like our New York shows—how long do you suppose George will remain around Washington?3 I should like to come before he goes away—Write
Jeff
Notes
- 1. Whitman's letter of
about May 3, 1865, is not extant. [back]
- 2. The Grand Review of the
Union armies took place in Washington, D.C., on May 23 and 24, 1865. Jeff was
unable to attend, but Walt wrote him about it in a letter to Louisa Van Velsor
Whitman (Gay Wilson Allen, The Solitary Singer: A Critical
Biography of Walt Whitman [New York: Macmillan, 1955; rev. ed., New
York University Press, 1967], 336–337, and Edwin Haviland Miller, ed., The Correspondence [New York: New York University Press,
1961–77], 1:260–263). [back]
- 3. On February 22, 1865,
George gained his freedom as part of a general prisoner exchange. He was soon
granted a thirty-day furlough, which was extended, because of his poor health,
until about April 24. On his return to military duty he was assigned command of
a military prison in Alexandria, Virginia, where he remained until July 27, 1865
(Jerome M. Loving, ed., Civil War Letters of George Washington
Whitman [Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1975],
134–136). [back]