The Walt Whitman Archive
Life & Letters
Correspondence
About this Item
Title: Dr. F. B. Gillette to Walt Whitman, 23 December 1867
Date: December 23, 1867
Whitman Archive ID: loc.02116
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 notes: The annotation, "from Dr. Gillette on "Democracy"—no answer," is in the hand of Walt Whitman. The annotation, "see notes Jan 5 1889," is in the hand of Horace Traubel.
Contributors to digital file: Alex Kinnaman, Elizabeth Lorang, Kathryn Kruger, Ashley Lawson, John Schwaninger, Caterina Bernardini, Cristin Noonan, Marie Ernster, Paige Wilkinson, Amanda J. Axley, and Stephanie Blalock
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Post Hospital
Natchez, Miss
Dec 23d, 18671
Walt Whitman;
Dear Sir,
I write this, to let you know, how glad I am Walt Whitman was born; and that he writes—Oh! that there were more of the same sort, our country needs them. I hope some day to grasp your hand, and hear you speak.
"Democracy"2 made me yell with delight; it put things into shape that I ran all in a heap before.
Go on, and may God bless you and your efforts, as a true American.
Respectfully
F. B. Gillette
acting
[illegible] in chg—
Correspondent:
Dr. F. B. Gillette was the acting assistant surgeon at
Port Hospital in Natchez, Mississippi.
Notes:
1. This letter is addressed: Walt Whitman. [back]
2. Whitman's essay "Democracy" was first publishied in The Galaxy 4 (December 1867), 919–933. It was later incorporated into Democratic Vistas (New York: J. S. Redfield, 1871). [back]