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

By: Garrett Peck

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Synopsis: &“An energetic study of the famed writer&’s time in the nation&’s capital and the loves of his life&” (Washington Independent Review of Books). Walt Whitman was already famous for Leaves of Grass when he journeyed to Washington at the height of the Civil War to find his brother George, a Union officer wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg. Eventually, Whitman would serve 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. This fascinating blend of biography and history details the definitive account of Walt Whitman&’s decade in the nation&’s capital. Includes photos!