Benton H. Wilson to Walt Whitman, 24 February 1868

 loc.01992.001_large.jpg Syracuse Feb 24th/18681 Dear Friend Walt,2

at last I have got started to reply to your letter,3 recd some weeks ago. I do not know but you think by this time that I have forgotten you, but far from it I think of you every day and always with Love.

I have promised myself every week since I received your letter that I would write to you and as often I have failed to keep my promise.

Mother recd a letter from Father4 to day stating that he had seen you several  loc.01992.002_large.jpg times since he came to Washington.

I do not remember whether I ever told you or not that Father was insane at times, we have had him in the asylum at Utica nearly two years, but it is now two years since he left that place, & he has been a source of anxiety to Us since as well as before he went there, we are afraid he is out of his head now a little.

When he left here he said he was going to New York as agent for a firm in this city & the next we hear of him he is in Washington trying to get some Patent which we would be very glad if he would come home & let it alone.

 loc.01992.003_large.jpg

I have commenced work again after being idle nearly three months, and I am very glad to have something to do once more.

The weather has been very cold for the last three days & we have had good sleighing nearly all winter.

Mother5 & My Wife6 send their regards to you.

I will try and write more promptly next time, so good bye for the Present.

from your Friend B.H. Wilson.  loc.01992.004_large.jpg  loc.01992.005_large.jpg B. H. Wilson—Feb. 24 '68 ans. March 4  loc.01992.006_large.jpg

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Notes

• 1. This letter is addressed: Walt Whitman Esq. | Atty Gens Office. | Washington | D.C. B. H. Wilson—Feb 24 '68 ans. March 4 It is postmarked: SYRACUSE | FEB | 25 | N.Y.; CARRIER | FEB | 27 | 2 DEL. [back]
• 2. The friendship between Whitman and Wilson, a former U. S. Civil War soldier, can be reconstructed from Wilson's letters (Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). On July 18, 1869, Wilson recalled his confinement in Armory Square Hospital (as mentioned in Whitman's November 8–9, 1863, letter to Lewis K. Brown), "when your kind face & pleasant words cheered the soldier Boys & won their hearts. I never shall forget the first time you came in after David & I got there. We Loved you from the first time we spoke to you." In Wilson's first letter, written on November 11, 1865, he began: "I suppose you will think that I have forgotten you long before this time but I have not, your kindness to me while in the hospital will never be forgotten by me." After a lapse in the correspondence, he wrote on December 16, 1866: "I wish if aggreeable to yourself to keep up a regular correspondence between us ... I think it will be of benefit to me morally, and perhaps will not be of any detriment to you." In this letter he admitted that he had just discovered that Whitman was a poet. On January 27, 1867, he informed Whitman that he had been reading Leaves of Grass, but complained: "I wrote to you a year and more ago that I was married but did not receive any reply, so I did not know but you was displeased with it"; he concluded the letter: "I remain as ever your 
    Boy Friend 
    with Love 
    Benton H. Wilson." Walt Whitman replied (lost), and sent The Good Gray Poet, which Wilson acknowledged on February 3, 1867. On April 7, 1867, after he informed Whitman that his wife had gone to the hospital for her first confinement (the child was to be named Walt Whitman), Wilson complained: "I am poor and am proud of it but I hope to rise by honesty and industry. I am a married man but I am not happy for my disposition is not right. I have got a good Woman and I love her dearly but I seem to lack patience or something. I think I had ought to live alone, but I had not ought to feel so." On April 21, 1867, Wilson acknowledged Whitman's reply of April 12, 1867: "I do not want you to misunderstand my motives in writing to you of my Situation & feelings as I did in my last letter or else I shall have to be more guarded in my letters to you. I wrote so because you wanted me to write how I was situated, and give you my mind without reserve, and all that I want is your advice and Love, and I do not consider it cold lecture or dry advice. I wish you to write to me just as you feel & express yourself and advise as freely as you wish and will be satisfied." On September 15, 1867, Wilson wondered why Whitman had not replied. In his letter of December 19, 1869, Wilson reported that he had moved to Greene, N. Y., but was still selling melodeons and sewing machines. On May 15, 1870, Wilson informed Whitman of his father's death two weeks earlier and related that his son "Little Walt . . . is quite a boy now . . . and gets into all kinds of Mischief." Evidently Wilson wrote to the poet for the last time on June 23, 1875, when he wanted to know "what I can do to contribute to your comfort and happiness." [back]
• 3. It is uncertain which letter is being referred to here. [back]
• 4. Henry Wilson (1805–1870) was the father of Benton H. Wilson—a former U. S. Civil War soldier and one of Whitman's correspondents (for Benton Wilson, see Whitman's letters of April 12, 1867, and April 15, 1870). On May 15, 1870, Wilson informed Whitman of his father's death two weeks earlier; Benton's father, who "was insane at times," had written to Whitman on January 17, 1867, and on March 30, 1868. [back]
• 5. Ann S. Williams Wilson (1809–1887) was the wife of Henry Wilson (1805–1870) and the mother of Whitman's friend, the former Civil War soldier, Benton H. Wilson. [back]
• 6. Nellie E. Gage (1841–1892), daughter of Ichabod Lewis Gage, married Benton H. Wilson in 1865 or 1866. She had two children from a previous marriage: Lewis and Eva Morrell, and she and Benton were the parents of five children. Wilson named his first child "Walter Whitman Wilson," after the poet; their other children were Austin, Irene, Georgie, and Kathleen Wilson. [back]