Walt Whitman in Washington, D.C.: The Civil War and America's Great Poet

by Garrett Peck

Overview

Walt Whitman was already famous for Leaves of Grass when he journeyed to the nation's capital at the height of the Civil War to find his brother George, a Union officer wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg. Whitman eventually served as a volunteer "hospital missionary," making more than six hundred hospital visits and serving over eighty thousand sick and wounded soldiers in the next three years. With the 1865 publication of Drum-Taps, Whitman became poet laureate of the Civil War, aligning his legacy with that of Abraham Lincoln. He remained in Washington until 1873 as a federal clerk, engaging in a dazzling literary circle and fostering his longest romantic relationship, with Peter Doyle. Author Garrett Peck details the definitive account of Walt Whitman's decade in the nation's capital.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626199736
Publisher:	History Press, The
Publication date:	03/23/2015
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Garrett Peck is an author, historian and tour guide. This is his sixth book. A native Californian and graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and George Washington University, he lives in Arlington, Virginia. www.garrettpeck.com

Table of Contents

Foreword Martin G. Murray 9

Acknowledgements 11

Introduction 13

1 Walt Whitman, An American 21

2 The City of Army Wagons 35

3 The Wound-Dresser 55

4 Nurses, Stewards & Surgeons 69

5 The First Disciples 81

6 Hospital Malaria 89

7 Of a Youth Who Loves Me 97

8 O Captain! My Captain! 111

9 Drum-Taps 125

10 Pleasantly Disappointed 135

11 Democratic Vistas 145

12 The Good Gray Poet 159

Notes 169

Bibliography 181

Index 187

About the Author 191