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Executive
Mansion,
Washington D.C.
Mch 6th 1874,
Dear Sir:
The President1 desires me to acknowledge the receipt of
your very kind letter of the 27th ultimo,2 also the numbers of the N.Y. Weekly Graphic, containing
your reminiscences of the war.3
He wishes me to assure you of his appreciation of the polite attention, and his best
wishes for your speedy recovery.4
Very resptly, Yours
Leon P. Luckey5
Secretary.
Mr. Walt Whitman
Camden, New Jersey
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Miscellaneous
Mostly 1874–'5—('3 & '6 too)
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Correspondent:
Leon P. Luckey was the secretary to
President Ulysses S. Grant.
Notes
- 1. Ulysses Simpson Grant
(1822–1885) was the highest ranking Union general of the Civil War. As
commander of the Army of the Potomac, he accepted the surrender of the
Confederate General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox. Grant was elected to two
consecutive terms as president, first in 1868 and again in 1872. [back]
- 2. See Whitman's letter to
Ulysses S. Grant of February 27, 1874. [back]
- 3. The series of articles "'Tis But Ten Years Since,"
which detailed events of the Civil War, appeared in the Weekly
Graphic in six installments: January 24,
1874; February 7, 1874; February 14, 1874; February
21, 1874; February 28, 1874; and March 7, 1874. For a discussion of these articles,
see Thomas O. Mabbott and Rollo G. Silver, American
Literature, 15 (1943), 51–62. [back]
- 4. In January 1873, Whitman
suffered a paralytic stroke that made walking difficult. He first reported it in
his January 26, 1873, letter to his mother, Louisa
Van Velsor Whitman (1795–1873), and continued to provide regular notes on
his condition. By mid-March Whitman was taking brief walks out to the street and
began to hope that he could resume work in the office. See also his March 21, 1873, letter to his mother. [back]
- 5. The script of the letter is by a government calligrapher, but Luckey has signed his own name. [back]