Title: Walt Whitman to Louisa Van Velsor Whitman, 10 July 1863
Date: July 10, 1863
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00776
Source: Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. The transcription presented here is derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), 1:116-117. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Elizabeth Lorang, Tim Jackson, Vanessa Steinroetter, and Alyssa Olson
Washington,
July 10 1863.1
Dear mother,
I suppose you rec'd a letter from me last Wednesday as I sent you one Tuesday, (7th)—dear mother, I was glad enough to hear from George, by that letter from Snyder's Bluffs, June 28th—I had felt a little fear on acc't of some of those storming parties Grant sent against Vicksburgh the middle of June & up to the 20th—but this letter dispels all anxiety—I have written to George many times, but it seems he has not got them—Mother, I shall write immediately to him again—I think he will get the letter I sent last Sunday, as I directed it to Vicksburgh—I told him all the news from home. Mother, I shall write to Han & inclose George's letter—I am real glad to hear from Mat & the little one, all so favorable—We are having pleasant weather here still—I go to Campbell Hospital this afternoon—I still keep going, mother—the wounded are doing rather badly I am sorry to say, there are frequent deaths. The weather, I suppose, which has been peculiarly bad for wounds, so wet & warm, (though not disagreeable outdoors)—
Mother, you must write as often as you can, & Jeff too—you must not get worried about the ups & downs of the war—I don't know any course but to resign onesself to events—if one can only bring one's mind to it—Good bye once more for the present, dearest mother, Mat & the dear little ones.
Walt
Mother, do you ever hear from Mary—
1. Endorsed (by Walt Whitman): "for Mother." [back]