Published Works
Manuscripts
Biography & Correspondence
Criticism
Resources
Pictures & Sound
About the Archive
Correspondence
Letter from Thomas Jefferson Whitman to Walt Whitman, 12 March 1863
Brooklyn, N. Y.
March 12th/6[3]
Dear Walt,
I wrote you last Monday 1 asking if you could send me any information in regard to George's getting his money in New York. I have not heard from you yet but hope to to-day. I [want you] now, if you possibly can get them to me by or before Tuesday morning next to send me those two shirts for George He wants them very much indeed Nothing that he can buy will make him half as comfortable. The thought just strikes me that perhaps you are using them yourself, if so all right, or if you want one and can send him one why do so. If you are not using them I think it would be a "big thing" for George to get them as they would be very useful both winter and summer. If you send them direct either to George or myself. 2
We are all well. George is enjoying himself hugely and I shall feel sorry enough when he has to go back. All send love to you.
affectionately Jeff.
Mother wrote you a letter asking you to send on the shirts but when I left home this morning I forgot it so I wrote this one. will send mothers letter this P. M. 3
About the Text
The text presented here is derived from Dennis Berthold and Kenneth Price, eds., Dear Brother Walt: The Letters of Thomas Jefferson Whitman (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1984). For a detailed description of discrepancies between this electronic edition and the print source, see our statement of editorial policy .
The manuscript of this letter, dated March 12, 1863, is held in the Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839-1919, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
For more information on the letters of Thomas Jefferson Whitman, see Dennis Berthold and Kenneth Price's introduction to the print edition.
Notes
1. See Letter from Thomas Jefferson Whitman to Walt Whitman, 9 March 1863. (Back)
2. In a letter of March 18 to Jeff, WW wrote: "I suppose the bundle of George's shirts, drawers, &c came safe by Adams express. I sent it last Saturday [March 14], and it ought to have been delivered Monday in Brooklyn" (Edwin Haviland Miller, ed., Walt Whitman: The Correspondence [New York: New York Univ. Press, 1961-77], Vol. I, p. 79). (Back)
3. In her letter to WW of March 11, 1863, LVVW asked the poet to send "those flannel shirts" by express because George thought "he could get them better from here than to send them to fortress monroe" (Trent Collection, William R. Perkins Library, Duke University). (Back)
Whitman Archive ID
loc.00402