Title: Joseph C. Baldwin to Walt Whitman, 21 September 1877
Date: September 21, 1877
Whitman Archive ID: loc.04070
Source: The 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 Calamus Lovers: Walt Whitman's Working Class Camerados, ed. Charley Shively (San Francisco: Gay Sunshine Press, 1987), 135. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Alicia Bones, Nima Najafi Kianfar, Eder Jaramillo, and Nicole Gray
Elliottstown, Illinois,
September 21, 1877
Dear Walt
I just re[ceived] the money all right.1 many thanks until you are better paid
I am very weak yet but I Have [got] out to sow some Wheat
I Had a very Hot fever last night Im in Hopes I will come all right soon. I cant write much this time.
I will return your money just as soon as I can,
yours,
Jos C. Baldwin
1. Joseph C. Baldwin was a young sharecropper living in Elliottstown, Illinois, who Whitman likely met in Camden in 1873. Baldwin is discussed in Calamus Lovers: Walt Whitman's Working Class Camerados, ed. Charley Shively (San Francisco: Gay Sunshine Press, 1987), 122–135. [back]