Walt Whitman by Thomas Faris, 1859–1863

Henry S. Saunders, quoting Putnam's (where the photo appeared in November 1908), dates it "Just before the Civil War," and the Library of Congress and Ohio Wesleyan University date it 1864. A copy of this photograph in the Kendall Reed Collection, however, includes the backmark of Faris and Gray, making it possible to date this photograph more accurately.

In October 1863, Whitman had his hair and beard closely cropped. To his mother, he wrote: "O I must not close without telling you the highly important intelligence that I have cut my hair & beard—since the event, Rosecrans, Charleston, &c &c have among my acquaintances been hardly mentioned, being insignificant themes in comparison" (loc.00794). Similarly, he wrote to Hugo Fritsch: "I have cut my beard short, & hair ditto: (all my acquaintances are in anger & despair & go about wringing their hands)" (loc.00795). When Whitman visited New York in November 1863, his hair would have still been quite short.

Whitman was dressing more conventionally now—in suits of dark colors. John Townsend Trowbridge, who had seen Whitman during his wild days on the streets of Boston, was surprised to see the poet “more trimly attired, wearing a loosely fitting but quite elegant suit of black,—yes, black at last!” ( The Atlantic Monthly , February 1902). David S. Reynolds has pointed out that Whitman was part of a movement toward standardized men’s clothing during the Civil War. In general, attire became more formal and tended toward dark, somber colors (see Reynolds, "'My Book and the War Are One': The Washington Years," Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography, 1995, p. 432). Earlier in 1863, Whitman wrote his mother: “I have a nice plain suit, of a dark wine color, looks very well, & feels good, single breasted sack coat with breast pockets &c. & vest & pants,” with which he was wearing “a new necktie, nice shirts” (loc.00771).

Faris appears to have been a long-time acquaintance and mutual friend of Charles W. Hine, who had painted Whitman's portrait in 1860. Ted Genoways has argued that this daguerreotype was in fact taken in 1859 and points to a New York Tribune article (November 11, 1859, p. 7) that talks about a new photo of “the eccentric poet” on display at Root’s Daguerrian Gallery in New York City, near Pfaff’s beer hall. Faris had left Ohio to take over Root’s establishment that year. Genoways then argues that Charles Hine based his painting of Whitman on this image, which in turn served as the model for Stephen Alonzo Schoff’s 1860 engraving of Whitman. In 1864 Thomas Faris left New York for Washington, D.C. Though no record exists of their friendship in Washington, Faris did visit Whitman in New York in May 1868, and Whitman records seeing Faris again (after his return to New York) in 1871 to deliver the news that Charles Hine was dying. There is a copy of this daguerreotype in a velvet display box in the Whitman House in Camden, New Jersey. (See Ted Genoways, "'Scented herbage of my breast': Whitman's Chest Hair and the Frontispiece to the 1860 Edition of Leaves of Grass," Huntington Library Quarterly, vol. 73, no. 4, 2010, pp. 693–702.)

Note same clothing as in "Walt Whitman by Alexander Gardner, 1863."

For more information on Thomas Faris, see "Notes on Whitman's Photographers."