The Walt Whitman Archive
Life & Letters
Correspondence
About this Item
Title: Benton H. Wilson to Walt Whitman, 3 May 1868
Date: May 3, 1868
Whitman Archive ID: loc.01993
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, "B H Wilson," is in the hand of Walt Whitman.
Contributors to digital file: Alex Kinnaman, Elizabeth Lorang, Kathryn Kruger, John Schwaninger, Nima Najafi Kianfar, Caterina Bernardini, Marie Ernster, Cristin Noonan, Amanda J. Axley, and Stephanie Blalock
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Syracuse
May 3rd
1868.1
Dear Walt
I received a letter from you some time since2 but have been obliged to delay answering it on a/c of an accident which happened to me about that time. I got the thumb of my right hand in to some Cog Wheels and smashed it pretty fine so that I have not been able to do anything since nor am I likely to be able for a month yet.3
At what time do you expect to visit New York this Summer if at all.
My thumb is very Painful so that I can not write much at present but will do so as soon as it gets well. My family are all well.4
Write soon
Yours with Love
B. H. Wilson.
Correspondent:
Benton H. Wilson (1843–1914?)
was the son of Henry Wilson (1805–1870)—a harness and trunk maker—and
Ann S. Williams Wilson (1809–1887). Benton Wilson was a U. S. Civil War soldier recovering in Armory Square Hospital
in Washington, D.C., when he met Whitman. Later, Wilson was employed selling melodeons and sewing machines. He also
sold life insurance and may have worked as a pawnbroker. He married
Nellie Gage Morrell Wilson (ca. 1841–1892). Nellie had two children, Lewis
and Eva Morrell, from a previous marriage, and she and Benton were the parents of five children.
Wilson named his first child "Walter Whitman Wilson," after the poet; their other
children were Austin, Irene, Georgie, and Kathleen Wilson. Benton Wilson's
correspondence with Whitman spanned a decade, lasting from 1865 to 1875.
Notes:
1. This letter is addressed: Walt. Whitman | Atty. Gen. Office | Washington D.C. It is postmarked: SYRACUSE | MAY | 4 | N.Y. [back]
2. It is uncertain which letter is being referred to here. [back]
3. In a letter to Whitman dated March 30, 1868, Henry Wilson—the father of Benton Wilson—wrote to Whitman, noting that Benton had taken a job involving mowing machines. This is likely how Benton injured his thumb. [back]
4. Nellie E. Gage (1841–1892), daughter of Ichabod Lewis Gage, married Benton H. Wilson in 1865 or 1866. She had two children from a previous marriage: Lewis and Eva Morrell, and she and Benton were the parents of five children. Wilson named his first child "Walter Whitman Wilson," after the poet; their other children were Austin, Irene, Georgie, and Kathleen Wilson. [back]