The Walt Whitman Archive
Life & Letters
Correspondence
About this Item
Title: Percy W. Thompson to Walt Whitman, 13 June 1888
Date: June 13, 1888
Whitman Archive ID: loc.04266
Source: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, DC. 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: Kirby Little, Stefan Schöberlein, Caterina Bernardini, and Stephanie Blalock
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U.S.S. "Dallas"
Portland, Maine.
June 13, 18881
Hon. Walt Whitman.
Dear Sir:
As a constant reader and ardent admirer of your poetry, will you kindly send me one of your autographs?
Very truly yours,
Percy W. Thompson, Lieut. U.S.R.N.
Correspondent:
Percy Wallace Thompson
(1858–1935?) was born in Washington D.C., and he attended the Virginia
Military Institute and Columbian (now George Washington) University. He was a
graduate of the Revenue-Cutter Service Academy in 1881 and was the commanding
officer of the U.S.S. Corwin during the Spanish-American
War. He wrote articles on the Revenue-Cutter service and on maritime history for
several publications, including Scribner's Magazine, the
New York Sun, and the Boston
Herald (Albert Nelson Marquis, ed., The Book of
Chicagoans: A Biographical Dictionary of Leading Living Men of the City of
Chicago, Vol. 2 [Chicago: A.N. Marquis & Company, 1911],
669).
Notes:
1. Thompson enclosed blank sheet of stationery and a self-addressed stamped envelope with his request for Whitman's autograph. The envelope is addressed: Lieut. Percy W. Thompson, | U.S.S. "Dallas," | Portland, | Maine. [back]