Leland was an early supporter of Whitman, and Whitman credited Leland with providing him renewed inspiration during a period of despair by sending an encouraging personal letter of support.
The younger brother of Charles G. Leland, Henry Leland was also a writer. His works include Americans in Rome, Grey-Bay Mare and Other Humorous American Sketches, and he is the supposed author of Americans in Paris. Fatally wounded in the Civil War, he died five years later.
Leland's article "Walt Whitman" in the Saturday Press (1860) was an enthusiastic endorsement of the poet which urged readers to discover Whitman.
Bibliography
Leland, Charles Godfrey. Memoirs. 2 vols. London: William Heinemann, 1893.
Stovall, Floyd. The Foreground of "Leaves of Grass". Charlottesville: UP of Virginia, 1974.