Benton H. Wilson to Walt Whitman, 15 May 1870

 loc_vm.01413_large.jpg Greene May 15th/70 Dear Friend1 Walt Whitman

Your letter2 was welcomed of april 15th [illegible] some time ago but I have been very busy and haven't [illegible] time to answer it before. It gives me great pleasure to receive a letter from you and be able to hear the [illegible] on [illegible] well.

My Father3 died May 2nd and was buried on the 4th I was in Syracuse a few days before he died to see him for the Last time alive He waited anxiously for the [illegible] and welcomed death as a friend to take him  loc_vm.01414_large.jpg to a better country

he Died as he has always lived a good man & a Christian.

The Syracuse Journal says A Good Man Gone—

For years Henry Wilson has proved [illegible] honesty and Efficiency as [illegible] with itinerary [illegible]ing and repairing Clocks [illegible] always earned an[illegible] thought the [deletion] he could give to God, [illegbile] his fellow men. The poor, especially wil [illegible] his kindly words and services The meaning of the first is blessed."

My Mother4 is not very well this summer [illegible]

Little Walt5 and the rest of my family are  loc_vm.01415_large.jpg all well.6 he is quite a boy now and can run out doors and get into all kinds of mischief.

It is a beautiful quiet day here today and I would like it very much if we could be together to day and take a pleasant stroll through the green Fields and Woods.

Write as soon as convenient

With Love to you

Yours B. H. Wilson  loc_vm.01416_large.jpg BH Wilson

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Notes

• 1. 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]
• 2. See Whitman's letter to Wilson of April 15, 1870. [back]
• 3. 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]
• 4. 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]
• 5. Wilson's son was named Walt, in honor his friendship with the poet. [back]
• 6. Benton Wilson was married to Nellie Gage Morrell Wilson (ca. 1841–1892). Nellie had two children, Lewis and Eva Morrell, from a previous marriage, and she and Benton Wilson 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]