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I have neglected it so long I suppose you thought I had quit forgotten you, but I can asure you my Dear

your will I should be very happy to keep up a coraspandenc Now I will try and give you an account of my

morning changed cars there fore Pittsburg arrived there about noon I went to the Soldiers home and got my

about two months before that so in the evening I took the cars again and the next morning I arrived at my

estimated 15,000 Majority for the Union that is the home vote the copperheads are completely played out My

not received the letter  I hope wen those few lines reach you they will find yo well i am quite well my

friday i was exazamend by the beast of dockters i would not go in the invalid corps so they send me to my

ridgement i am willing to go and try and do my duty thair and if the Rebs hit me a gen all rite i will

thair i have ben home sence i left Washington i wish yo would see dockter blis and have him to send my

write and let me know how yo are geting a long and how the boys is gets a long tel them i am going to my

Friend witman I now take the plesure of fulfilling my promace of writing to yo hoping to find yo en Joying

good hlth I am not very well i am worse now than wen i got out of bed i tore my wound acoming home the

i have been home i have had the docter and he ordered me to bathe in sider soaky i will hef to have my

better here than they do in washington I find a grate many that donte know me when i arrived in york my

cosin was thare and he brought me to my home it has ben rainy ever since I have been home— give my love

yo and i was glad to here from yo i am not very well and have not ben for some time i have pain in my

head and breast i think the clorform that i have taken is the caus of it my hip is very painful to day

i was exasamend i think that i will go before the board in a day or two i may get my discharge i have

hurd that my ridgement is going home for the winter to recruit thair is only 17 men left inny more for

could get detailed in washington at some thing that i coud do i woud be very glad and would try to do my

news here we had a good dinner here to day father yo must excuse me for not writing a long letter for my

Dear Father I now take the plesure of fulfilling my promace a writing to you hoping those few lines will

find you well 1 am getting better fast i am at home now i got home after noon my famly is well i left

long to see yo and have a long talk with yo It rains here this morning and to day is lection one of my

lost] yesterday and was glad to heer from yo and yo were en Joying good helth as for me i am not well my

very slow the warm wether chafed me all to peces and now with all the rest i have got a large boil on my

left knee my famly is well my little girl has ben quite sick but is well agen— the wether has ben very

and came horn and kep hid 3 weeks thare is 30 dollars reward on him i think they had or to hang him my

mornin dated the 13 and was very glad to hear from yo i am not very well i have good dele of pain in my

away an then we must all sooner or later give up this world— i had a few lines from home this morning my

little girl is sick and i feeling bad to think that i cant see her now but my prays is that she may

start for elickazandry [Alexandria] to the convalesent camp if i could get to the city i could get my

discharge but i cant father i thank yo for seeing about my discriptave list for they owe me now six

I have very little time tis true, yet I endeavor by writing rapidly to have time to keep up my correspondence

Have I not my hands full by the way you wish to know what Jones Hotel is.

I send my Photo and shall expect one of the Prince of Bohemia by return I will write in a few days.

I immediately appealed to my lady friends and patriots in Philadelphia, and they have sent me on a fine

I have never had better health in my life, perhaps I can explain it to you.

My regards to them and hope they are out of Campbell Hospital. What became of poor Dick?

My ambition points to this branch for myself I feel qualified for an inspector of Hospitals and I think

Give my kind regard to Amos [Herbert] and others of Campbell Hospital.

The Army of the Potomac "Oh my" what has to come of it I hope to hear of brilliant achievements in that

children in age yet—so good, so sweet, so brave, so decorous, I could not feel them nearer to me if my

Dear brother, You did not write any answer to my last two letters, now quite a while ago, still I will

I still remain here in Washington, finding just about work enough to pay my expenses.

he has returned from his furlough, he told me a few days ago he had written to you, & had sent you my

best respects—I told him he must never send my respects to you but always my love.

My thoughts are with you often enough, & I make reckoning when we shall one day be together again—yet

a letter was received by me April 28th, (very pretty written)—but I have not heard whether you got my

I enclosed in it an envelope with my address on, in hopes you would write to me.

There is no particular change in my affairs here—I just about manage to pay my way, with newspaper correspondence

My dearest comrade, I cannot, though I attempt it, put in a letter the feelings of my heart—I suppose

I was sorry you did not come up to my room to get the shirt & other things you promised to accept from

O my dear comrade & brother, I hope it will prove your good luck to come safe through all the engagements

Now, my dearest comrade, I will bid you so long , & hope God will put it in your heart to bear toward

Lew is so good, so affectionate—when I came away, he reached up his face, I put my arm around him, and

As to me, there is nothing new with me, or my affairs.

I manage to pay my way here in Washington, what I make writing letters for the New York papers, &c.

My love you have in life or death forever.

Good bye, my darling comrade, my dear darling brother, for so I will call you, and wish you to call me

However, on April 12, 1863, Sawyer himself had written to Brown: "I want you to give my love to Walter

Whitman and tell him I am very sorry that I could not live up to my Prommice because I came away so

soon that it sliped my mind and I am very sorry for it, tell him that I shall write to him my self in

a few days, give him my love and best wishes for ever" (Henry W. and Albert A.

reply until January 21, 1864: "Dear Brother, I hardly know what to say to you in this letter for it is my

Dear brother, I am here in Brooklyn, New York, spending a few weeks home at my mother's.

I am well & fat, eat my rations regular, & weigh about 200—so you see I am not very delicate.

But the greatest patriot in the family is my old mother.

My room is 456 Sixth street.

But my letters are still addrest care of Major Hapgood, paymaster U S A, Washington D C.

About what is called the Conscript Bill (an improper name) I hope and pray from the bottom of my heart

every man in the land—I would like to see the people embodied en-masse —I am very sure I shall see that my

name is in its place on the lists, and my body in the ranks, if they do it that way—for that will be

With my office-hunting, no special result yet. I cannot give up my Hospitals yet.

I never before had my feelings so thoroughly and (so far) permanently absorbed, to the very roots, as

The Hospitals still engross a large part of my time and feelings—only I don't remain so long and make

It comes from a bad cold, gathering I think in my head.

Things here are just the same with me, neither better nor worse—(I feel so engrossed with my soldiers

, I do not devote that attention to my office-hunting, which is needed for success.)

Jeff, you must give my best respects to Mr. and Mrs.

Lane and Probasco, a pretty plain schedule of the manner of my outlays of the sums sent by them to the

Nothing definite appears to-day about the status or movements of the Army of the Potomac, but my guess

one of the putty nosed scoundrel's temporary fits of ugliness, but a deliberate thing meant for good, my

About my own concerns here—I must tell you dear brother, my general idea was, (and is) to make application

, one letter to Seward, and one to Chase, which I hope, (and though I have well learnt not to count my

Meantime I make about enough to pay my expenses by hacking on the press here, and copying in the paymasters

thing is favorable here, namely, pay for whatever one does is at a high rate—I have not yet presented my

letters to either Seward or Chase —I thought I would get my forces all in a body, and make one concentrated

Dear boy, death has not blotted out my love for him, the remembrance will be not sad only but sweet.

You will either see me or hear of me in Brooklyn at my mother's, Louisa Whitman, Portland avenue, 4th

They find me still hanging around here—my plans, wants, ideas, &c gradually getting into shape.

Not to fly off to these clouds, however, I must abruptly say to my friends, where interested, that I

letters)—some like to have me feed them (wounded perhaps in shoulder or wrist) perhaps a few bits of my

succoring of the stomach (which is of course most welcome & indispensable) I should say that I believe my

I have formed attachments here in hospital, that I shall keep to my dying day, & they will the same,

neck, draws my face down, &c. quite a scene for the New Bowery.)

My beard, neck, &c. are woolier, fleecier, whiteyer than ever.

Now you write to me good long letters, my own boys.

This room is up on the fifth floor, (a most noble and broad view from my window.)

Fred, I wish you to present my best respects to your father.

John Frederick Schiller Gray was a captain in the Twentieth New York Infantry and later held the same

.On May 1, 1863, Gray excused his neglect in replying because of his military duties and "bothering my

brain with the detestable clerical duties incidental to my position": "I have just come from my Mother

, who, together with my Father, desires to be kindly remembered to you. . . .I lead a very different

I'm damned if I wouldn't have given up all my hopes in the future to have had you and my little girl

What a difference it is with me here—I tell you, Nat, my evenings are frequently spent in scenes that

a few hours a day at copying &c, occasionally write a newspaper letter, & make enough money to pay my

in my room, (have a little spirit lamp) & rub on free & happy enough, untrammeled by business, for I

make what little employment I have suit my moods—walk quite a good deal, & in this weather the rich

love to Fritschy, & Fred Gray—I desire both to write to me—Nat, you also, my dear comrade, & tell me

when I would come in, he woke up, & I would lean down & kiss him, he would reach out his hand & pat my

aye even their young & precious lives, in their country's cause—Poor dear son, though you were not my

So farewell, dear boy—it was my opportunity to be with you in your last rapid days of death—no chance

(in Portland avenue, 4th door north of Myrtle, my mother's residence.)

My address here is care of Major Hapgood, paymaster U S A, cor 15th & F st, Washington D C.

Cotrel, Nicholas Wyckoff, & Thomas Sullivan, for my poor men here in hospital.

My health, thank God, was never better—I feel strong & elastic—an obstinate cold & deafness some weeks

Richmond & Jeff Davis, by this short but tremendous little campaign, of 2d, 3d, 4th & 5th inst's, is in my

Love & thanks to you, dear friend, & to those who are aiding my boys.

I had certainly made up my mind that we should meet with partial success certainly, but it seems otherwise

tender heart, & your goodness to those wounded & dying young men—for they have grown to seem to me as my

On October 1, 1863, Babbitt was depressed—"dark clouds seem to be lying in my pathway and I can not remove

them nor hide them from my mind"—until he mentioned his beloved, Nellie F.

Dear sister, You have heard of my fortunes and misfortunes of course, (through my letters to mother and

Since I laid my eyes on dear brother George, and saw him alive and well—and since I have spent a week

The weather is perfect—I have had that in my favor ever since leaving home—yesterday and to-day it is

I write this in the place where I have my lodging room, 394 L street, 4th door above 14th street.

My Brooklyn boys were John Lowery, shot at Fredericksburgh, and lost his left forearm, and Amos H.

Sq Hospital, Sunday evening Oct 4 Dear Madam, Your letter reached me this forenoon with the $30 for my

the midst of those it was sent to aid—& best by a sample of actual hospital life on the spot, & of my

in the way of thanks—is a country boy—always smiles & brightens much when I appear—looks straight in my

face & never at what I may have in my hand for him—I mention him for a specimen as he is within reach

of my hand & I can see that his eyes have been steadily fixed on me from his cot ever since I began

After Whitman gave this letter to Horace Traubel on July 27, 1888, he observed: "My main motive would

with surprises—with fancy turns of speech—with unusual, unaccustomed words—but to say them—to shoot my

Since I last wrote you I have continued my hospital visitations daily or nightly without intermission

My dear friend, if you should be able to go, or if not able yourself give this to your sister or some

friend who will go—it may be that my dear boy & comrade is not so very bad, but I fear he is.

I send my thanks & love to yourself, your sister, husband, & the sisters Wigglesworth.

Mother, I am feeling very well these days—my head that was stopt up so & hard of hearing seems to be

hulls on—I go down to market sometimes of a morning & buy two or three quarts, for the folks I take my

little girl, (lost a fine boy about a year ago)—they have two rooms in the same house where I hire my

will have it so—that's the way it has gone on now over five months, & as I say they won't listen to my

insisted on going to market, (it is pleasant in the cool of the morning,) and getting the things, at my

Of the O'Connors, Jeff wrote on June 13, 1863: "I am real glad, my dear Walt, that you are among such

there, for any purpose—In some haste, dearest mother, as I am off to visit for an hour or so, one of my

$5 from Mr Lane had miscarried—this morning when I came down to Major Hapgood's office I found it on my

Mother, what to do about Andrew I hardly know—as it is I feel about as much pity for you as I do for my

cheerfully I would give them, whether they availed any thing for Andrew or not—yet I have long made up my

all do what we can for Andrew—Mother, I think I must try to come home for a month—I have not given up my

Well, dear mother, I must close—I am first rate in health, so much better than a month & two mo's ago—my

ought to be," but attributed the condition to his mother's frugality: "I have not the least doubt in my

got lost I am more on the alert and mention them)— The poor Frenchman d'Almeida I told you about in my

Mother, my heart bleeds at all sorts of such damnable things of one kind or another I meet with every

, to the Hospital, &c. but I could not bring myself to go again—when I meet black men or boys among my

wards of a hospital, & trying to give a word of cheer, if nothing else, to every one, then confining my

opinion that the 51st is still in Kentucky at or near where George last wrote, but of course that is only my

such a misfortune to have such sickness, & always do any thing for him that you can in reason—Mat, my

little room 394 L st., get my own breakfast there, had good tea this morning, & some nice biscuit, (

They are truly friends to me—I still get my dinner at a restaurant usually.

mind again before me— Mother, did you see my letter in the N Y Times of Sunday Oct 4?

Mother, I am quite in hopes George will get a furlough—may-be my expectations are unfounded, but I almost

On February 6, 1863, Jeff wrote: "I think I shall be able to carry through my little 'real estate' scheme

I want Han to come home, from the bottom of my heart.

I have almost made up my mind to do what I can personally, & not seek assistance from others.

Mother, when you or Jeff writes again, tell me if my papers & MSS are all right—I should be very sorry

ground is an inch and a half deep with snow—and it is snowing & drizzling—but I feel very independent in my

I have felt quite well of my deafness and cold in my head for four days or so, but it is back again bad

Dear mother, I wrote the above, in my room—I have now come down to Major Hapgood's office.

I find a good letter from one of my New York boys, (Fifth Avenue)—a young fellow named Hugo Fritsch,

Captain John Mullan (1830–1909), an army engineer, was associated with General Isaac I.

have not had a word from George yet—Mother, I have had quite an attack of sore throat & distress in my

a great effect upon him, & although I told the truth this time it did not have as good a result as my

The equipage is rather shabby, horses indeed almost what my friends the Broadway drivers would call old

here, sat in his carriage while Stanton came out & had a 15 minutes interview with him (I can see from my

sixteen, (about ten bugles, the rest cymbals & drums)—I tell you, mother, it made every thing ring—made my

by the window in Major Hapgood's office—all the Potomac & Maryland & Virginia hills in sight—writing my

shall send him some papers to-day—I send papers quite often—(why hasn't Jeff sent me the Union with my

are well—I have rec'd another letter from Mrs Price, she has not good health, I am sorry for her from my

Mary's mother-in-law, wrote to Whitman from Farmingdale, Long Island, on September 25: "I have raiced my

About four days ago, I told Doctor he would in my opinion lose the boy without doubt—but F. again laugh'd

would take 10 cts I send in this letter & get me ten copies of the Eagle with it in—put in 5 more of my

Give my respects to Mr. & Mrs. Brown. Tell Jeff I am going to write to Mr.

If my letters home don't show it, you don't get 'em.

Matty, I send you my best love, dear sister—how I wish I could be with you one or two good days.

Give him my love—& tell Mannahatta her Uncle Walt is living now among the sick soldiers.

Lane promised to "make an effort among my friends here to keep you supplied with funds all summer."

soldier boys should ever call upon you, (as they are often anxious to have my address in Brooklyn,)

I was with him a good deal, & the old man & his wife have written me, & asked me my address in Brooklyn

They will make you cry—There is nothing new with my hospital doings—I was there yesterday afternoon &

, & the house smells clean, & the room too—my old room they just left every thing lay where it was, &

singers are so good—when I come home we'll all try to go — Mother, I am very well—have some cold in my

had it here, as I must have a trunk—but do not wish you to send it, until I send you word—I suppose my

some of those battles—I get thinking about it sometimes, & it works upon me so I have to stop & turn my

get them—I sent them & another paper to George—Mother, you none of you ever mention whether you get my

would take away your appetite I know—Mother, I have some idea Han is getting some better, it is only my

idea somehow—I hope it is so from the bottom of my heart—did you hear from Mary's Fanny since?

them, for grandmother will perhaps leave them to you in her will, if you behave like a lady—Matty, my

Mother, I have nothing particular to write about—I see & hear nothing but new & old cases of my poor

would literally sink & give up, if I did not pass a portion of the time with them—I have quite made up my

the way I shall put it in operation—you know, mother, it is to raise funds to enable me to continue my

everywhere & receive no pay — Dear, dear mother, I want much to see you & dear Matty too, I send you both [my