Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Letters
  3. Correspondence
  4. loc.02354

Robert G. Ingersoll to Walt Whitman, 6 February 1892

About This Item

  • Title: Robert G. Ingersoll to Walt Whitman, 6 February 1892
  • Date: February 6, 1892
  • Creator(s): Robert G. Ingersoll
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.02354
  • 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.
  • Contributors to digital file: Cristin Noonan Amanda J. Axley Stephanie Blalock
  • Cite this page: Ingersoll, Robert G.. "Robert G. Ingersoll to Walt Whitman, 6 February 1892." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 23 April 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.02354.xml (TEI)
 loc.02354.001_large.jpg New York,1 Feby 6/92 My dear Mr. Whitman:

I hear from you every day, and every day I am glad that you are alive, and every day I am sad that you are sick.2

Do the best you can to stay in this country—and stay as long as you can.

There are plenty of thoughts in that brain that have not yet been given to the world.

I hope to see you again  loc.02354.002_large.jpg  loc.02354.003_large.jpg in a few days.

Mrs. Ingersoll3 was greatly gratified with your message, and she writes with me in sending words of love and hope.

Yours always, R G. Ingersoll  loc.02354.004_large.jpg  loc.02354.005_large.jpg  loc.02354.006_large.jpg Notes 1892 Feb. 7

Correspondent:
Robert "Bob" Green Ingersoll (1833–1899) was a Civil War veteran and an orator of the post-Civil War era, known for his support of agnosticism. Ingersoll was a friend of Whitman, who considered Ingersoll the greatest orator of his time. Whitman said to Horace Traubel, "It should not be surprising that I am drawn to Ingersoll, for he is Leaves of Grass. He lives, embodies, the individuality I preach. I see in Bob the noblest specimen—American-flavored—pure out of the soil, spreading, giving, demanding light" (Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Wednesday, March 25, 1891). The feeling was mutual. Upon Whitman's death in 1892, Ingersoll delivered the eulogy at the poet's funeral. The eulogy was published to great acclaim and is considered a classic panegyric (see Phyllis Theroux, The Book of Eulogies [New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997], 30).

Notes

  • 1. This letter is addressed: Walt Whitman,| Camden, | N.J. It is postmarked: New York | FEB6 | 3PM | 92; Camden, N.J. | FE 7 | 130[illegible] | 92 | Rec'd. [back]
  • 2. On December 17, 1891, Whitman had come down with a chill and was suffering from congestion in his right lung. Although the poet's condition did improve in January 1892, he would never recover. He was confined to his bed, and his physicians, Dr. Daniel Longaker of Philadelphia and Dr. Alexander McAlister of Camden, provided care during his final illness. Whitman died on March 26, 1892. [back]
  • 3. Eva Amelia Parker Ingersoll (1841–1923) of Groveland, Illinois, was the daughter of Benjamin Weld Parker and his wife Harriet E. Lyon Parker. She married Robert G. Ingersoll in 1862, and they had two daughters, Eva Ingersoll Brown (1863–1928) and Maude Ingersoll Probasco (1864–1936). [back]
Back to top