"Walt Whitman's Civil War" Topic

"The poet Walt Whitman wrote about the Civil War extensively. His heartfelt observation of life in wartime Washington made its way into poems, and he also wrote articles for newspapers and a number of notebook entries only published decades later.

He had worked for years as a journalist, yet Whitman did not cover the conflict as a regular newspaper correspondent. His role as an eyewitness to the conflict was unplanned.

When a newspaper casualty list indicated that his brother serving in a New York regiment had been wounded in late 1862, Whitman traveled to Virginia to find him.

Whitman's brother George had only been slightly wounded. But the experience of seeing army hospitals made a deep impression, and Whitman felt compelled to move from Brooklyn to Washington to become involved with the Union war effort as a hospital volunteer…."
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Amicalement
Armand

Interesting aside not contained in the article: Walt Whitman attended West Point when R. E. Lee was the superintendent. He was NOT a good student ("What is Silicon? A gas" was his answer on a test) and was told that perhaps West Point was not for him, very gently, by said Lee.

Sorry--I'm reading a dual biography (on Lee and Grant) right now.

Rob