Skip to main content

Search Results

Search : As of 1860, there were no American cities with a population that exceeded
Year : 1865

100 results

Edward Ruggles to U.S. Officer Commanding Post, 3 April 1865

  • Date: April 3, 1865
  • Creator(s): Edward Ruggles
Text:

Early in the war, prisoners were treated well.

But by October 1864, the population grew from 5,000 to 10,000, and death rates soared as prisoners began

According to Encyclopedia Virginia , "hundreds and even thousands of prisoners at a time were held in

the dark, grimy warehouses from which they were forbidden even to look out the windows.

The food rations were not terrible by most standards, and the prisoners were allowed to use the unused

Annotations Text:

Early in the war, prisoners were treated well.

But by October 1864, the population grew from 5,000 to 10,000, and death rates soared as prisoners began

According to Encyclopedia Virginia, "hundreds and even thousands of prisoners at a time were held in

the dark, grimy warehouses from which they were forbidden even to look out the windows.

The food rations were not terrible by most standards, and the prisoners were allowed to use the unused

America needs her own poems

  • Date: Early 1860s
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

tropes, likenesses, piano music, and smooth rhymes — nor of This manuscript probably dates to the early 1860s

the leaf (duk.00795), which contains draft lines that contributed to poems first published in the 1860

these years I sing...]" and to "Apostroph," the opening section of "Chants Democratic and Native American

Both poems first appeared in the 1860–1861 edition of Leaves of Grass. America needs her own poems

Annotations Text:

This manuscript probably dates to the early 1860s, as it appears to have been inscribed after the writing

the leaf (duk.00795), which contains draft lines that contributed to poems first published in the 1860

these years I sing...]" and to "Apostroph," the opening section of "Chants Democratic and Native American

Both poems first appeared in the 1860–1861 edition of Leaves of Grass.

Drum Taps.—Walt Whitman

  • Date: 4 November 1865
  • Creator(s): Anonymous
Text:

not grounded in our soil; even though American in their reference, they were foreign to our New World

were not the outgrowth of that new movement in civilization which America inaugurates.

Still the poet may be said to be more truly artistic than if he were more ostensibly so.

The Indian Hunter by John Quincy Adams Ward (1860) is a bronze sculpture of a young Native American hunter

and his dog noted for its naturalist style and its American theme.

Annotations Text:

The Indian Hunter by John Quincy Adams Ward (1860) is a bronze sculpture of a young Native American hunter

and his dog noted for its naturalist style and its American theme.

Others may praise what they like

  • Date: About 1865
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

1879 or early 1880, just after Whitman's trip to the western U.S. in 1879 (The Correspondence [Iowa City

University of Iowa Press, 2004], 57), it seems more likely that the draft letter is probably from 1860

supplied—the great West especially—with copious thousands of copies" (New York Saturday Press [7 January 1860

Annotations Text:

1879 or early 1880, just after Whitman's trip to the western U.S. in 1879 (The Correspondence [Iowa City

University of Iowa Press, 2004], 57), it seems more likely that the draft letter is probably from 1860

supplied—the great West especially—with copious thousands of copies" (New York Saturday Press [7 January 1860

The Fifty-first New-York Volunteers

  • Date: 24 January 1865
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

P OOLEY and A TKINSON , and some eight or ten more officers, are there, or, rather, were, toward the

They were kept in a large tobacco warehouse, and were doing as well as men could do under such circumstances

F ERRERO , Edward Ferrero, a dance instructor at West Point before the war, was a famous Italian-American

After the war he continued teaching dance lessons at the ballroom of Tammany Hall in New York City. now

in the battles at the Wilderness and Petersburg in 1864. also Major-General by brevet, both of this city

Annotations Text:

.; Edward Ferrero, a dance instructor at West Point before the war, was a famous Italian-American leader

After the war he continued teaching dance lessons at the ballroom of Tammany Hall in New York City.;

Mr. Walt Whitman

  • Date: 16 November 1865
  • Creator(s): James, Henry
Text:

If this were the case, we had been a nation of poets.

But in those cases in which these expressions were written out and printed with all due regard to prosody

Of course the city of Manhattan, as Mr.

This were indeed a wise precaution on his part if the intelligence were only submissive!

In another you call upon the city of New York to incarnate you, as you have incarnated it.

Annotations Text:

of facts and events, copies of important documents, etc.), compiled into book-length volumes which were

Pierre-Jean de Béranger (1780-1857) was a popular and influential French poet and songwriter whose lyrics were

(Poem) Shadows

  • Date: Between 1850 and 1865
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

"The Two Vaults," a poem that is recorded in a New York notebook that probably dates to the early 1860s

A note about an editorial on "American Expansion and Settlement Inland" is written on the back of this

Annotations Text:

"The Two Vaults," a poem that is recorded in a New York notebook that probably dates to the early 1860s

Notebook (1861–1862).; Transcribed from digital images of the original.; A note about an editorial on "American

Return of a Brooklyn Veteran

  • Date: 16 March 1865
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

Next a hot and dusty little campaign, which resulted in capturing the City of Jackson, Miss.

It was fought with General Lee; the results of the battle were inconclusive.

Several of their officers and men killed were well-known Brooklynites.

The severed men fought bravely, but were pressed further away.

It was getting dark in the evening, and eventually they were taken prisoners.

Annotations Text:

.; Edward Ferrero, a dance instructor at West Point before the war, was a famous Italian-American leader

After the war he continued teaching dance lessons at the ballroom of Tammany Hall in New York City.;

It was fought with General Lee; the results of the battle were inconclusive.; The Battle of Spotsylvania

between Union Generals Grant and Meade and Confederate General Lee; the results of this battle also were

Lee.; The first two major battles of the Siege of Petersburg (Virginia, June 9 and June 15–18, 1864) were

Drum-Taps and Sequel to Drum-Taps

  • Date: 1865; 1865–1866
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

Old matron of the city! this proud, friendly, turbulent city!

CITY OF SHIPS. CITY of ships! (O the black ships! O the fierce ships!

City of the world!

City of wharves and stores! city of tall façades of mar- ble marble and iron!

what were God?)

The Soldiers

  • Date: 6 March 1865
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

This city, its suburbs, the Capitol, the front of the White House, the places of amusement, the avenue

make, I should say, the marked feature in the human movement and costume appearance of our national city

His answers were short, but clear.

His parents were living, but were very old. There were four sons, and all had enlisted.

There were several other boys no older.

Annotations Text:

(American Civil War Research Database [Duxbury, Massachusetts: Alexander Street Press]).

Lee; the results of the battle were inconclusive.; According to Martin G. Murray, D.

Anson Ryder, Jr to Walt Whitman, 25 August 1865

  • Date: August 25, 1865
  • Creator(s): Anson Ryder, Jr
Text:

I presume there can be more costly ones got up in New York and other cities and perhaps better music

enough to eat and of that which is eatable give me Cedar Lake or any other Lake in preference to any city

Are you personally or were you rather acquainted with Henry Thoreau?

Washington

  • Date: 12 March 1865
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

The members were nervous, from long drawn duty, exhausted, some asleep, and many half asleep.

For a moment, (and no wonder) the nervous and sleeping Representatives were thrown into confusion.

But it was over almost as soon as the drowsied men were actually awake.

of armed cavalrymen eight deep, with drawn sabres, and carbines clanking at their sides, and there were

excellent sun, with atmosphere of sweetness; so clear it showed the stars, long, long before they were

Annotations Text:

Building) and the "pasteboard Monitor" (a cardboard model of the Union ironclad ship, the USS Monitor) were

Douglass, who had initially been barred by guards from entering the White House because he was African-American

Our Veterans Mustering Out

  • Date: 5 August 1865
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

Ray, a boss builder of this city.

Also known as the First Battle of Rappahannock Station, there were a couple of hundred casualties, and

It was fought between Grant and Lee; the results were inconclusive. fighting, and loss severe.

Grant and Meade fought Lee; the results were inconclusive. loss slight. May 26.

Grant and Meade fought Lee; the results were inconclusive. loss slight. June 2.

Annotations Text:

Also known as the First Battle of Rappahannock Station, there were a couple of hundred casualties, and

It was fought between Grant and Lee; the results were inconclusive.; In the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse

Grant's Overland Campaign, Grant joined with Major General George Meade to fight Lee; the results were

Grant and Meade fought Lee; the results were inconclusive.; Whitman apparently refers here to the Battle

Grant and Meade fought Lee; the results were inconclusive.; The Battle of Bethesda Church was another

Walt Whitman by William Kurtz, ca. 1865 - 1873

  • Date: ca. 1865 - 1873
  • Creator(s): Kurtz, William
Text:

The time between the opening of Kurtz’s first studio in New York City in 1865 and the publication of

Robinson, “Laurence Hutton and a Newly Recovered Photograph of Walt Whitman," WWQR, p. 160; Smithsonian American

preconceived notion of what it should be” (With Walt Whitman in Camden, Thursday, May 10, 1888).Most Americans

Ellen M. O'Connor to Walt Whitman, 19 January 1865

  • Date: January 19, 1865
  • Creator(s): Ellen M. O'Connor
Text:

William got your letter last week, and we were all glad that you felt like coming to try the position

We miss him very much, it seemed as if all were gone when he left,—we had not at all got used to living

I hoped that you were really well now, but you will have to keep away from the hospitals for some time

Annotations Text:

For a time Whitman lived with William D. and Ellen O'Connor, who, with Eldridge and later Burroughs, were

O'Connor (1832–1889) was the author of Harrington, an abolition novel published by Thayer & Eldridge in 1860

Louisa Van Velsor Whitman to Walt Whitman, 3 June [1865]

  • Date: June 3, 1865
  • Creator(s): Louisa Van Velsor Whitman
Text:

g or other all the time the old brown has gone away to work at Harrisburgh Harrisburg I wish they were

one to the little girls that got up the fair the proceeds of which they sent to you I heard there were

the other so it was to go round so I suppose you have written the much expetted expected letter they were

Jefferson davis poor mr Lincoln s being murderd murdered seem to be any thing to them compared with the American

Annotations Text:

, 1860 letter to Walt Whitman).

See Jeff's April 16, 1860 and March 3, 1863 letters to Walt.

The Graysons were Southern sympathizers with a son in the Confederate Army.

After a seven-week trial, all eight were found guilty on June 30, 1865; four were hanged on July 7, 1865

, one died in prison in 1867, and three were pardoned in 1869.

Walt Whitman by William Kurtz?, ca. late 1860s

  • Date: ca. late 1860s
  • Creator(s): Kurtz, William
Text:

, ca. late 1860s Kurtz's "Rembrandt" style of light and shadow is suggested here.

A Brooklyn Soldier, and a Noble One

  • Date: 19 January 1865
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

of a Brooklyn Veteran " (March 12, 1865); and Our Veterans Mustering Out " (August 5, 1865) of this city

Brooklyn, and after a service of three months in the summer of 1861, in the 13th Regiment of this city

Grant's Overland Campaign, Grant joined with Major General George Meade to fight Lee; the results were

Frank Butler, of this city, also an officer of the 51st, who was badly wounded in the action of September

Annotations Text:

Grant's Overland Campaign, Grant joined with Major General George Meade to fight Lee; the results were

Walt Whitman by William Kurtz? or Mathew Brady?, ca. late 1860s

  • Date: ca. late 1860s
  • Creator(s): Kurtz, William | Brady, Mathew B.
Text:

, ca. late 1860s If this photograph is a Kurtz, it must be dated 1865 or later, after Kurtz opened his

Jesse Mullery to Walt Whitman, 23 January 1865

  • Date: January 23, 1865
  • Creator(s): Jesse Mullery
Text:

Friend, I have been thinking about writing you at Brooklyn but as I did not know for certain that you were

have good reason to thank her for many a kind turn which she wrought for me during my stay in that city

Annotations Text:

Probably these were the Misses Sallie and Carrie Howard listed in the 1866 Directory, or the Miss Garaphelia

Drum-Taps

  • Date: 11 November 1865
  • Creator(s): Howells, William Dean
Text:

lawlessness of this poet, and one asks himself if this is not the form which the unconscious poetry of American

Is it not more probable that, if the passional principle of American life could find utterance, it would

The people fairly rejected his former revelation, letter and spirit, and those who enjoyed it were readers

There were reasons in the preponderant beastliness of that book why a decent public should reject it;

He has truly and thoroughly absorbed the idea of our American life, and we say to him as he says to himself

Veil with their lids, &c

  • Date: about 1870
Text:

apparently based on a photograph of Whitman possibly taken by the photographer, William Kurtz, in the 1860s

Louisa Van Velsor Whitman to Walt Whitman, 25 November [1865]

  • Date: November 25, 1865
  • Creator(s): Louisa Van Velsor Whitman
Annotations Text:

Bucke's year 1865 is confirmed because the letter describes an alleged murder in Brooklyn City Park,

The reported murder occurred in the City Park, which borders the U.S.

Two suspects were identified, Theodore Martinez Pellecer and Jose Gonzales, both Spanish nationals from

Cuba; the weapons used to kill Otero were two razors and a dagger.

The newspaper covered the case avidly and editorialized on city parks as havens for crime.

Walt Whitman to William D. O'Connor, 20 January 1865

  • Date: January 20, 1865
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Annotations Text:

Eldridge and later John Burroughs, were to be his close associates during the early Washington years.

O'Connor (1832–1889) was the author of Harrington, an abolition novel published by Thayer & Eldridge in 1860

the most important, of the adulators who divided people arbitrarily into two categories: those who were

for and those who were against Walt Whitman.

John T. Trowbridge to Walt Whitman, 6 January 1865

  • Date: January 6, 1865
  • Creator(s): John T. Trowbridge
Text:

Somerville Mass Jan 6th, 1865 My Dear Friend, I have been thinking much of you lately & wondering where you were

Annotations Text:

Though Trowbridge became familiar with Whitman's poetry in 1855, he did not meet Whitman until 1860 when

Coleman, "Trowbridge and O'Connor," American Literature, 23 [1951–52], 327).

Ellen M. O'Connor to Walt Whitman, 1 November 1865

  • Date: November 1, 1865
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

Glad we were to see it, Charley & I. Have you sent one to Emerson? Do , in haste, won't you?

Annotations Text:

For a time Whitman lived with William D. and Ellen O'Connor, who, with Eldridge and later Burroughs, were

O'Connor (1832–1889) was the author of Harrington, an abolition novel published by Thayer & Eldridge in 1860

Walt Whitman to Ellen M. O'Connor, 20 October 1865

  • Date: October 20, 1865
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Annotations Text:

For a time Whitman lived with William D. and Ellen O'Connor, who, with Eldridge and later Burroughs, were

O'Connor (1832–1889) was the author of Harrington, an abolition novel published by Thayer & Eldridge in 1860

Silence

  • Date: Between 1850 and 1865
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

Based on the handwriting, Edward Grier dates the top scrap to the 1860s and the bottom scrap to the 1850s

Annotations Text:

Based on the handwriting, Edward Grier dates the top scrap to the 1860s and the bottom scrap to the 1850s

Walt Whitman to William D. O'Connor, 6 January 1865

  • Date: January 6, 1865
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

sharp-cut self assertion, One's-Self & also, or may be still more, to map out, to throw together for American

those days' efforts & aspirations—true, I see now, with some things in it I should not put in if I were

Annotations Text:

Probably these were the Misses Sallie and Carrie Howard listed in the 1866 Directory, or the Miss Garaphelia

James Speed to Charles A. Peabody, 8 August 1865

  • Date: August 8, 1865
  • Creator(s): James Speed | Walt Whitman
Text:

Louisiana New York City. Sir: Yours of July 4, tendering your resignation as U. S.

Your letter would have been more promptly answered, but for my absence from the city.

Walt Whitman to Ellen M. O'Connor, 12 October 1865

  • Date: October 12, 1865
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Annotations Text:

For a time Whitman lived with William D. and Ellen O'Connor, who, with Eldridge and later Burroughs, were

O'Connor (1832–1889) was the author of Harrington, an abolition novel published by Thayer & Eldridge in 1860

Whitman enclosed a review of his work from the London Leader of June 30, 1860, for William D.

After certain disastrous campaigns

  • Date: Between 1862 and 1865
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

Emory Holloway (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page, 1921).

Annotations Text:

Emory Holloway (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page, 1921).; This is a draft of a poem unpublished in

Emory Holloway (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page, 1921).; Transcribed from digital images of the original

Elliot F. Shepard to Walt Whitman, 16 February 1865

  • Date: February 16, 1865
  • Creator(s): Elliot F. Shepard
Annotations Text:

McReady I know to be as good a man as the war has received out of Brooklyn City" (Emory Holloway, ed.

[Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page, 1921], 2:29).

Ellen M. O'Connor to Walt Whitman, 17 October 1865

  • Date: October 17, 1865
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

Pleasants said they were well when Ashton left for Philadelphia.

Annotations Text:

For a time Whitman lived with William and Ellen O'Connor, who, with Eldridge and later Burroughs, were

O'Connor (1832–1889) was the author of Harrington, an abolition novel published by Thayer & Eldridge in 1860

[in Poetry of the Future]

  • Date: 1865–1875
Text:

1865–1875prose1 leafhandwritten; A partial draft of Poetry of the Future, first published in North American

Thomas Jefferson Whitman to Walt Whitman, 29 September 1865

  • Date: September 29, 1865
  • Creator(s): Thomas Jefferson Whitman
Text:

8 or ten years —he certainly has the prospect of it—there is an immense amount of building in the city

Louis—I think it more than likely that he will build the water works of that city—if so it will be as

Annotations Text:

See Jeff's letter to Walt from April 16, 1860.

[I'll trace this garden oer and oer]

  • Date: about 1865
Text:

transcription, probably from memory, of Johnny's Gone for a Soldier, a ballad popular during the American

Julius W. Mason to Walt Whitman, 16 February 1865

  • Date: February 16, 1865
  • Creator(s): Julius W. Mason
Text:

City Point Va Feby 16th 1865 My Dear Friend, The Box for your brother, Captain Whitman, was sent on the

J. Hubley Ashton to Joseph Casey, 8 August 1865

  • Date: August 8, 1865
  • Creator(s): J. Hubley Ashton | Walt Whitman
Text:

Joseph Casey, Oil City, Venango co. Penn.

James Speed to Robert Murray, 9 August 1865

  • Date: August 9, 1865
  • Creator(s): James Speed | Walt Whitman
Text:

New York City.

William Stewart to G. W. Brooks, 22 August 1865

  • Date: August 22, 1865
  • Creator(s): William Stewart | Walt Whitman
Text:

Brooks, Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

A. Van Rensellaer to Walt Whitman, 30 July 1865

  • Date: July 30, 1865
  • Creator(s): A. Van Rensellaer
Text:

Lincoln asked who you were, or something like that.

Lincoln didn't say anything but took a good long look till you were quite gone by.

Annotations Text:

Harlan apparently took offense at the copy of the 1860 Leaves of Grass which Whitman was revising and

James Harlan to Walt Whitman, 30 June 1865

  • Date: June 30, 1865
  • Creator(s): James Harlan | Horace Traubel
Annotations Text:

Harlan apparently took offense at the copy of the 1860 Leaves of Grass which Whitman was revising and

Thomas Jefferson Whitman to Walt Whitman, 31 January 1865

  • Date: January 31, 1865
  • Creator(s): Thomas Jefferson Whitman
Text:

course he looks so to Grant—whatever may be the fact this editor of the administration paper of the City

caught it somehow connected with his business  I understand that there is a great deal of it in the city

William E. Babcock to Walt Whitman, 21 January 1865

  • Date: January 21, 1865
  • Creator(s): William E. Babcock
Text:

Carberry, Hoyne, Groenemyer, Loughsen, Whitbeck, and Murden he did not say in his letter where the men were

Annotations Text:

Made Captain Aug. 1864—got a family in Buffalo" (Manuscripts of Walt Whitman in the Collection of American

Volunteers in April, 1861, enlisted with the 51st Regiment, New York State Volunteers in September, 1861 were

Louisa Van Velsor Whitman to Walt Whitman, 10 December 1865

  • Date: December 10, 1865
  • Creator(s): Louisa Van Velsor Whitman
Text:

next morning very much alarmed indeed there is very much house breaking and robbery going on in this city

Annotations Text:

Because the letter refers to local burglaries and fights in the City Park near the Naval Yard, the intended

The criminal activity that menaced the City Park near the Naval Yard followed mass layoffs of laborers

Louisa had described a crime near City Park a few weeks earlier (see her November 25, 1865 letter to

which occurred on Portland Avenue near Myrtle on December 5, was reported in the next day's paper ("City

Thomas Jefferson Whitman to Walt Whitman, 7 February 1865

  • Date: February 7, 1865
  • Creator(s): Thomas Jefferson Whitman
Text:

up the supply of good things—Do you have about the same experience in the Hospitals as you used to—were

the men glad to see you back—were any remaining that you used to visit  if so I know they were glad

hope not—tis so long since we have had any very large battles that I should suppose the Hospita[l]s were

not full What is it about the Exchange of prisoners—do you know it looks to me as if they were trying

to delay the exchange and yet talk about it as if they were going to do it and wished to do it all the

Annotations Text:

The hospitals were fairly full because, as Whitman noted, some soldiers remained with "bad old lingering

wounds" while others were moved to Washington as field hospitals were dismantled.

Milford C. Reed to Walt Whitman, 26 May 1865

  • Date: May 26, 1865
  • Creator(s): Milford C. Reed
Text:

I was in Washington the 2nd and I went to No 34 4 ½ Street and pawned my Watch a good American Lever,

Walt Whitman to John Townsend Trowbridge, 6 February 1865

  • Date: February 6, 1865
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

Seward are willing to avoid at present the tempest of rage which would beat about their heads, if it were

known among the Radicals that Peace, Amnesty, every thing , were given up to the Rebels on the single

If perfectly eligible, it might help me in the cause of the men, if you were to prepare a paragraph for

Shillaber's paper, if he were willing to publish it, stating that I am now as a volunteer nurse among

Thou West that gave'st him to us

  • Date: 1865
Text:

The lines were not published during Whitman's lifetime, and although they focus on Lincoln's death, do

The lines were posthumously published in a Facsimile Edition of Drum-Taps in 1959.

Back to top