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want more than two or three days)—I want to see George, (I have his photograph on the wall, right over my

probably George will come out & see her, & that if he does you will send her word beforehand— Jeff, my

best way to enjoy a visit home, after all—When I come home again, I shall not go off gallivanting with my

& more shaky—how they can make any headway against our new, large & fresh armies next season passes my

it was made to me only as there was no one else in hearing at the moment—(he is quite an admirer of my

there also, but I do not go myself at present—it is probable that the hospital poison has affected my

system, & I find it worse than I calculated—I have spells of faintness & very bad feeling in my head

, fullness & pain—& besides sore throat—my boarding place, 502 Pennsylvania av, is a miserable place,

written to George since—I shall write again to him in a day or two—if Mary comes home tell her I sent her my

all, as there is confusion in the opposition camp—the result of course I do not pretend to foretell— My

to Coney Island—& occasionally a tour through New York life, as of old—last night I was with some of my

I got a letter from Charley Eldridge yesterday—I suppose he is now in Boston—My dear friend, I often

count on our being together again, may be quite soon—meantime good bye & God bless you & I send you my

—O how the rain is pouring down as I write—at the other window sits my mother reading the Sunday Herald—quiet

My Dear Friend Walter I now take my pen to Write you a few lines to let you know that I am Well and I

opens We Will have enof to do I think that this summer is agoing to settil this War I am Willing to do my

My dear Walt,— Your letter to Wm. of July 24. he forwarded to me in a letter that I got last evening.

Did you like my picture?

You told William you got my letter, so you must have got the picture enclosed.

It was in my first letter—I have sent you three, this is my fourth to you, have you got them all?

Just think, Walt, of my being a lion down here on your account, because it is known that I have the honor

We have a letter from my brother George, down to 18th inst. he was all safe.

My mother & folks are all well— I rece'd the letter enveloped to me 25th—I sent a line to Wm O'Connor

Ashton with friendship—also to Arnold Johnson with sincere thanks & tell him I am getting well—& give my

Mr Whitman Dear Sir I once more take my pen in hand to write a few lines to you And if I dont get an

Yours Truly I have my Photograph when I receive yours I will send you Give my respects to Mrs.

Mother, every thing is the same with me, I am feeling very well indeed, the old trouble of my head stopt

& my ears affected, has not troubled me any since I came back here from Brooklyn—I am writing this in

Major Hapgood's old office, cor 15th & F st., where I have my old table & window—it is dusty & chilly

seen, the arrival of the wounded after a battle, & the scenes on the field too, & I can hardly believe my

a week —so I thought I would write you a few lines now, to let you know— Mother, I suppose you got my

want to go down in camp once more very much—& I think I shall be back in a week—I shall spend most of my

you are well & in good spirits & Jeff & Mat & all, & dear little California & Hattie—I send them all my

Dear Walter, I take my pen in hand as a final resort to find out where you are. as it appears to me it

will stay untill August I get out now most every day untill six oclock but I never see you I have got my

evening as you usd to do at the old Armory but alas I never see your [old] familliar in the threshold of my

And as this is Christmas night and I alone in my Shanty will improve it in writing You althouth there

excepted it and had a verry nice time yet I think had I been in New York or Brooklyn that I would enjoyed My-Self

are now Priosners of War Who have Served and fought in the regiment Since the Orginization and for my

wrote yesterday to Han, & sent one of George's last letters from Annapolis—Mother, I suppose you got my

blessing on him, he says, I am no scholar & you are—poor dying man, I told him I hoped from the bottom of my

—dear sister Mat, I quite want to see you & California, not forgetting my little Hattie too— Walt 2 o'clock

can know the men so well as I do, I sometimes think— Mother, I am writing this in Willard's hotel, on my

Watersboro Sept 17th Mr Whitman I take the liberty of addressing you at the request of my cousin Milton

among our sick & wounded soldiers, who indeed must feel very grateful to meet with such a friend as my

My cousin seems to be gaining slowly, & his friends does not think him strong enough to return for two

know one bit more on what they are writing about than Ed does— Mother, you say in your letter you got my

I hear from him, before sending them— I remain well as usual—the poor fellow I mentioned in one of my

I send my love to you & Jeff & all—we are having a very pleasant coolish day here—I am going down to

post office to leave this, & then up to my old friends O'Connors, to dinner, & then down to hospital—Well

by, dear Mother, for present— Walt Tuesday afternoon 3 o'clock—Mother, just as I was going to seal my

burg Oct. 22 1864 Dear friend walt I arrived home the 18 I had to stop over my on account of Sheridan

to late now & I did not hear of it in time there is considerable excitement here about the election. my

like to hear about the poor young men, after I have once begun to mention them—Mother, I have changed my

house was sold & the old lady I hired the room from had to move out & give the owner possession—I like my

new quarters pretty well—I have a room to myself, 3d story hall bedroom, I have my meals in the house

all—I will surely have to come home as soon as this Richmond campaign is decided—then I want to print my

feel in health these days, dear mother—I hope you are well & in good heart yet—I remain pretty well, my

saw him this morning—I am still around among wounded same, but will not make you feel blue by filling my

neglected again to send him word—I have not heard from home now in some days—I am going to put up a lot of my

I think I never in my life felt so wholly blue and unhappy about any one's going away as I did and have

One reason that I have not written to you before is that I have been so unhappy I thought my letter would

Our affairs remain as they did when you left, & that is one cause of my delay.

hideous, William forbids my giving any of them away.

Walt that I hope he will come home soon, & see papa, & tell him I send my love to him & a kiss.

June 28th [1864] Dear Walt It was my purpose to write to you while home, but ill health prevented me

from fulfilling half my plans.

after a long spell of rain storms, but the last two or three days very fine—Mother, I suppose you got my

every thing to fight for their last chance—calling in their forces from southwest &c—Dear Mother, give my

love to dear brother Jeff & Mat & all—I write this in my room, 6th st— Walt Walt Whitman to Louisa Van

enclose you $50.00 and am sorry that I cant send you more, but Mother if you need more before I get my

I have a nice wall tent all alone to myself and if I have some one to look out for my grub, I shall be

Mother I believe I mentioned in my last letter about your haveing some of my pictures taken and sent

Dear Mother, give my love to all and let me hear from you often. Direct Capt G. W. W.  

To my knowledge it is understood by Col. M ULFORD , Major John E.

In my opinion the Secretary has taken and obstinately held a position of cold-blooded policy, (that is

B UTLER , in my opinion, has also incorporated in the question of exchange a needless amount of personal

In my opinion, the anguish and death of these ten to fifteen thousand American young men, with all the

My wishes are that this may find you enjoying good health and plenty of kind friends to associate with

close by expecting to have a better opportunity of writing some thing else when you hear from me again My

To my knowledge it is understood by Col. Mulford, Major John E.

In my opinion the Secretary has taken and obstinately held a position of cold-blooded policy, (that is

Major General Butler, in my opinion, has also incorporated in the question of exchange a needless amount

In my opinion, the anguish and death of these ten to fifteen thousand American young men, with all the

duty is verry hard now on our regiment especily for it is pretty small well now I will have to close my

letter by saying good by my dear friend walt Bethuel Smith to Walt Whitman, 28 February 1864

Washington May 18 1864 Dearest Mother, I will only write you a hasty note this time, as I am pretty tired, & my

Did you send my last letter to Han?

incursions, no more new developments in the Ginnaty affair, no more detentions by fire or water occur, my

I shall get into New York about an hour later than usual, & put my baggage upon the Stonington Boat to

soldiers], down at the depot—[It w]as one of the same [old] sights, I could not keep the tears out of my

lately as though I must have some intermission, I feel well & hearty enough, & was never better, but my

—I] wish you would write very so[on again] too—I feel uneasy about [you]—I send my love to Jeff & Mat

somewhat impressed, but I could not see any thing in it worth calling supernatural—I wouldnt turn on my

could write— Wednesday forenoon—Mother, I didn't get the letter in the mail yesterday—I have just had my

breakfast, some good tea & good toast & butter—I write this in my room, 456 Sixth st.

infantry, that wouldn't do the same, on occasion— Tuesday morning April 12th Mother, I will finish my

envelopes, & one to George—Write how you are, dear Mother, & all the rest—I want to see you all—Jeff, my

sis is—I am well as usual, indeed first rate every way—I want to come on in a month, & try to print my

it, are very serious about it—Mother, it is serious times—I do not feel to fret or whimper, but in my

—& how the dear little girls—Jeff, I believe the devil is in it about my writing you, I have laid out

Mother, I have just had my breakfast, I had it in my room, some hard biscuits warmed on stove, & a first

I lost nearly half of my Co but we won the fight and the rebel loss was pretty heavy.

We have had the best of the fighting so far and its my opinion that Genl Grant has got Lee in a pretty

and now this is my third epistle to you, so I shall claim a word from you when you are able to write.

My sister & Dr. Channing both ask for you with the greatest interest, & Jeannie , Mrs.

I have made up my mind that the camp hospitals are pretty well cleaned out, the worst cases are here

The more I see of them in the Army, the higher & broader my estimate of them.

So, doctor, I still remain here in Washington, occupying my time nearly altogether among the wounded

a bad place, armory building, where the worst wounds were, & have absorbed too much of the virus in my

ambulances—tell Jeff the $10 from Mr Lane for the soldiers came safe—I shall write to Jeff right away—I send my

Department What has become of Mr OConnors People are they still in washington if they are give them my

you will I shall be very much obliged If this letter gets to you and I receive an ans I will send you my

April 7/64— father i have been here to se yo and yo was not at home i leave my best wishes hoping yo

Mother, I have not felt well at all the last week—I had spells of deathly faintness, and bad trouble in my

—My head was the worst, though I don't know, the faint weak spells were not very pleasant—but I feel

(near 3d st)—it is not a very good place, I don't like it so well as I did cooking my own grub—& the

I am very anxious to hear something of the whereabouts of my Capt I have written several times and as

I took out an agreement for Mothers and my names at $19 33 per month Did you get my letter enclosing

My dear Walt: I am enraged and ashamed with myself to have never sent you a word responsive to your letters

It was such rain as we have often seen here from my windows, only this time I saw it all alone.

The rascally Congress taxes me in September fifty dollars in a lump, besides my usual income tax, so

Ellen O'Connor related in a letter on November 24, 1863, that the Count had said to her recently: "My

Kirkwood and is the money spoken of in my letter from Copake. The other $1 is from John D. Martin.

I should like for Jeff (some time when he is over in New York) to stop at the place where I had my pictures

I believe I have written all that I can think at present so good bye Mamy,  give my love to Mattie, Jeff

Ginnaty was not to be my neighbor.

My love to your mother, & very much to you, always, dear Walt, from Your friend Nelly O'Connor.

Then lift your white hands, and my arms From harms And troubles the baby will keep.

Ellen O'Connor related in a letter on November 24, 1863, that the Count had said to her recently: "My

morning but did not & now I am to gow tomorrow morning I guess that they wont put it off anny longer my

come home for a short time, & pretty soon—(I will try it two or three days yet, though, & if I find my

Friend Whitting, Sir, We received your kind and welcome letter inquiring for my boy Billy and in reply

Whitman: I have been very much interested in your hospital work, of which I have heard through my brother

appeal very strongly—(I sometimes think only one going among the men as I do, with personal feeling & my

writing to you, and I take the opportunity of sending a few lines in his letter , as a slight token of my