The Walt Whitman Archive
Life & Letters
Correspondence
About this Item
Title: Byron Sutherland to Walt Whitman, 8 April 1870
Date: April 8, 1870
Whitman Archive ID: loc.01954
Source: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 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.
Editorial note: The annotation, "Byron Sutherland," is in the hand of Walt Whitman.
Contributors to digital file: Alex Kinnaman, Elizabeth Lorang, Kathryn Kruger, Ashley Lawson, John Schwaninger, Caterina Bernardini, Amanda J. Axley, Cristin Noonan, and Stephanie Blalock
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Jamestown N.Y.1
April 8th. 1870.
Dear Friend
Your letter of the 4th2 instant found me yesterday—somewhat, agreeably, disapointed in hearing from you so soon again or at all—thinking that prehaps, with your duties and cares you had forgotten the bright memories that I so tenderly cherish, or if remembered with out time to attend to it.
You remember me in 1865 a green raw lad of eighteen—without, even, an imperfect knowledge of the rudimentary English branches, I came home from Washington and applied myself, as soon as possible, to school and to study; since then I have acquired a little better knowledge of the English—done something in Mathematics,—dipped into Latin and German a little.
My life since we parted that July day upon the Treasury steps, has been one of hard work and little recreation—
I find on looking back to that time, that I am not so pure or trusting,—that the world isint quite so fair and beautiful as it seemed then—That the world is not precisely a green pasture for unsophisticated human lambs to skip in—That I like dreaming less, and work or excitement better—That I have lost a great deal of Ambition, and gained a like quantity of stupidity—That I dont know nearly so much as I once supposed I did.
I have written so much of myself simply because you asked me of myself—
My Dear Friend I hope and believe we shall meet sometime in the coming years again.
Hoping to hear from you again before long
I am respectfully &c
By. Sutherland
Correspondent:
Noah Byron Sutherland (1846–1915?) was
born in New York; he was the son of John G. Sutherland (b. 1798), a farmer,
and Anna (Anny) Sutherland (1807–1880). Byron Sutherland was a Union soldier during the
U. S. Civil War, and he served in the 145th Pennsylvania Infantry. He met
Whitman in Washington, D. C., and the two began corresponding on August 26, 1865.
Sutherland did farm work in Pennsylvania after the Civil War, and he also
studied law and teaching (among other subjects) at the State Normal School in Erie County, Pennsylvania.
In April 1870, Sutherland was teaching in Jamestown, New York. In reply to
Whitman's request for further information about his life, the former soldier
observed on April 8, 1870: "You remember me in
1865 a green vain (?) lad of Eighteen—without, even, an imperfect knowledge
of the rudimentary English branches, I came home from Washington and applied
myself, as soon as possible, to school and to study . . . My life since we
parted that July day upon the Treasury steps, has been one of hard work and
little recreation—I find on looking back to that time, that I am not so
pure or trusting—that the world isint quite so fair and beautiful as it
seemed then—That the world is not precisely a green pasture for
unsophistocated human lambs to skip in—That I like dreaming less, and work
or excitement better—That I have lost a great deal of Ambition, and gained
a like quantity of stupidity—That I dont know nearly so much as I once
supposed I did." By 1877, Sutherland had moved to Minnesota, where he married
Sarah Raymond Brown Peck (1848–after 1915?), practiced law, and worked as a farmer.
Notes:
1. This letter is addressed: Walt Whitman | Attorney Gens. Office | Whashington D.C. It is postmarked: [JAMESTOWN] | 1 [illegible]. CARRIER | APR | 15 | [illegible]. [back]
2. See Whitman's letter to Sutherland of April 4, 1870. [back]