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Edward P. Cattell to Walt Whitman, 21 October 1877

About This Item

  • Title: Edward P. Cattell to Walt Whitman, 21 October 1877
  • Date: October 21, 1877
  • Creator(s): Edward P. Cattell
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.01253
  • Source: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839-1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Transcribed from digital images or a microfilm reproduction of the original item. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.

    Notes for this letter were created by Whitman Archive staff and/or were derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller, 6 vols. (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), and supplemented or updated by Whitman Archive staff.
  • Contributors to digital file: Eder Jaramillo Vince Moran Nicole Gray
  • Cite this page: Cattell, Edward P.. "Edward P. Cattell to Walt Whitman, 21 October 1877." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 18 February 2026. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.01253.xml (TEI)
 loc.01253.001_large.jpg Sunday 21th

old man i got your kind and welcom​ letter last week and was glad to hear from you my loving old friend1 i love to hear from you and to know that you ar​ well and i would Com​ up to see you But i cant​ get of​ a day now for we ar​ so Bisse​ now husking corn i went with some Boys up the Pond to day​ and i seen your old Chir floting​ down the stream Then went up to the house to gorge Stafford​ 2 then seen herbert gillchrist​ 3  loc.01253.002_large.jpg and all of georges​ folks. i Would like to Com​ up to town i think of you old man think of the times down on the Crieek​ . i did want to Com​ up to Camden on Wensday​ to G. B. But i Cant​ get of​ i hop​ next Summer we will Be togearter​ more then we was this

May this find you well as i am so good

 loc.01253.003_large.jpg  loc.01253.004_large.jpg

dear walt i wont Com​ up to town next Sat day​ . or Sat day​ week and i would like to see you and have a talk i love you Walt and all ways​ will so may god Bless you

is my prayer from of your frend​ Edward P Cattell Kirkwood Camden County New Jersy​

Notes

  • 1. In May 1876, Whitman met Edward Cattell, a young farm hand and a friend of the Staffords. The poet took an interest in the Cattell family: "about 25 or 6—folks mother, father &c. live at Gloucester—his grand, or great grandfather, Jonas Cattell, a great runner, & Revolutionary soldier, spy." Whitman referred to Jonas in the Philadelphia Times on January 26, 1879. Whitman took special interest, however, in Edward, as charged entries from one of his diaries make clear: "the hour (night, June 19, '76, Ed & I.) at the front gate by the road." Two days later he noted "the swim of the boys, Ed. [Stafford?], Ed. C. & Harry" (Diary Notes in Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). In 1877 Whitman cited "Sept meetings Ed C by the pond at Kirkwood moonlight nights" (Whitman's Commonplace Book, Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.), and in Diary Notes on October 29, "Ed. Cattell with me." [back]
  • 2. George Stafford (1827–1892) was the father of Harry Stafford, a young man whom Whitman befriended in 1876 in Camden. Harry's parents, George and Susan Stafford, were tenant farmers at White Horse Farm near Kirkwood, New Jersey, where Whitman visited them on several occasions. For more on Whitman and the Staffords, see David G. Miller, "Stafford, George and Susan M.," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
  • 3. Herbert Harlakenden Gilchrist (1857–1914), son of Alexander and Anne Gilchrist, was an English painter and editor of Anne Gilchrist: Her Life and Writings (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1887). For more information, see Marion Walker Alcaro, "Gilchrist, Herbert Harlakenden (1857–1914)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
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