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Walt Whitman to George Wood, 17 January 1863

About This Item

  • Title: Walt Whitman to George Wood, 17 January 1863
  • Date: January 17, 1863
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: hav.00002
  • Source: Charles Roberts Autograph Collection, Haverford College. The transcription presented here is derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), 71. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Contributors to digital file: Elizabeth Lorang Brett Barney Eric Conrad Vanessa Steinroetter Alyssa Olson
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman to George Wood, 17 January 1863." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 15 February 2026. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: hav.00002.xml (TEI)
 hav.00002.001.jpg Washington, Saturday morning Jan 17 '63. Dear Mr Wood,1

So your generous heart moved you to send the sick and dying young men in the hospitals a handsome little contribution of money (toward $4). I thank you, dear sir, in their name, and in my own, as the organ of your charity. I have distributed part of it in Ward 6, (Dr. Leman, ward surgeon) Campbell Hospital—and shall to-day bestow the rest in the Patent Office Hosp.2 My friend, I must meet you soon again.

Truly yours

Walt Whitman  hav.00002.002.jpg  hav.00002.003.jpg  hav.00002.004.jpg

Notes

  • 1. Apparently George Wood (1799–1870), who went to the Treasury Department as a clerk in 1822 and held various posts in that bureau until his death. He was the author of several satirical works, Peter Schlemihl in America (Philadelphia: Carey and Hart, 1848) and The Gates Wide Open; or, Scenes in Another World (Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1858; rev. ed. 1870); see National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Undoubtedly he became acquainted with Whitman through William and Ellen O'Connor. Ellen mentions a Mr. Wood in her letter of July 5, 1864. See also Wood's letter to Whitman dated "Thursday" probably [January 15, 1863] and Whitman's December 29, 1866, letter to Wood. [back]
  • 2. Whitman described the Patent Office Hospital in the New York Times, February 26, 1863 (The Complete Writings of Walt Whitman, 10 vols. [New York: GP Putnam's Sons, 1902], 7:82–84). [back]
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