Feinberg/Whitman Box 4 Folder 37 General Correspondence Brown, Lewis K. Nov. 8, 1863 (DCN 156)Friends of the Detroit Public Library, Inc. 1863 Nov. 8 WHITMAN TO LEWIS K. BROWN; from Brooklyn. A.L.S. with envelope (8p. 25 x 20 cm.) Addressed to L.K. Brown, Armory Square Hospital, Washington, this communication was intended as a circular letter to all the wounded soldier patients he knew while working there as a nurse. Chatting on various subjects, describing a performance of an Italian opera at the New York Academy of Music, scenes of New York, giving news of his family, etc. This letter is mentioned in Glicksberg, ed. Walt Whitman and the Civil War. Philadelphia, 1933, p. 92, 98, 132, etc. and also in The Wound Dresser. With this, complete draft of this letter, written in pencil with many corrections, on ruled paper (15p, 21 x 13 cm.); the draft was reprinted in full in With Walt Whitman in C., v. 2, p. 201. Also an envelope inscribed by Walt Whitman: "To Lew Brown, sent from Brooklyn Nov. 9th '63." {156}To Lew Brown sent from Brooklyn Nov 9th '63Dear son & comrade, & all my dear comrades in the hospital, I sit down this pleasant Sunday forenoon intending to write you all a good [loy] stout letter, to try to amuse you as I am not able at present to visit you [personally as] like I [used to] did - [but] yet what I shall write about I hardly know until I get [under way] started, but, my dear comrades, I [hope] wish to help you pass away the time, for a few minutes even if big [average the] [Lews, if it would be in any gratification to [Nars] [my dear friend in the hospotal] or of the boys in the hospital that I know, I wish you to hand this letter [about any my dear] to any of them for they are all comrades, [that wish for they are all dear] & near to me, & let any of them read it , that wish for I wish them to know that I been there in mind just as much [as when I was in Washington.]] I am now home at my mothers in Brooklyn N y I am in good health as ever, & eat my rations [as] without missing one time. Lew I wish you was here with me, & I wish my dear brother & comrade Elijah Fox in ward GThrough the state too The election [here] in this state was a very big thing for the Union - the copperheads got flaxed out very handsomely. I guess [it] these [is] elections are about as great a victory for us as if we had flaxed General Lee & all his southerners - himself - [?] as for personal good will. I feel I could have more of that for Lee than for any head devil any the northern Copperheads was here with me - but perhaps he is on his way to Wisconsin. [Lews I was glad to get your long letter letter]. Dear [courudes?] I came through from Washington to N Y by day train [Monday last] 2d Nov. had a very pleasant trip every thing passed off lovely & I got home[betw in Brookly] in the evening [to] between 8 and 9. Next morning I went up to the polls bright & early. [The next morn] I suppose it is not necessary to tell you now I voted. We have gained a great victory in this city - it went union this time though it has always been largely democratic before, & went so a year ago [stry?]love that lays now up by the door just above Jenny's, that I sen[d]t them all my love. So Lewy, you see I am giving you quite a lot of messages, but I want you to do them all dear [comrade] son. I wish you to leave a letter with each of the boys to read it themselves. I wish you would inquire about Pleasant Barley in Ward A, & [tell] ask Miss Gregg to say to him that I sent him my love & the same to her too, & to little Billy the Ohio boy in ward A, & the same to [Miss] Mrs [Dolo] Doolittle in Ward B. & [If Mrs Doolittle is there] ask her to tell the boys in Ward B that I [have] sent them all my love [** [carry back*] Lewy I wish when you [would] go in ward G. [&] to find a very dear friend of mine in bed 11 named Elijah Fose, if he is still there. Tell him I sent him my best love & that I makereckoning of meeting him again yet, & that he must not forget me! [but] though I know he never will, for he has [too] a good faithful [a] heart [for that] -- I want to hear how he is & whether he has got his papers all through yet. If he is there, let him have this letter, immediately after you have read it -- don't fail. Lewis I would like you to give my love to a young man named Burns in ward I, & truly to all the boys in [that] ward I - & indeed in every ward, & as I find I cannot particularize without being tedious I send my love sincerely to each & all, for every sick & wounded soldier is dear to me as a son or brother, & [more than] furthermore [that] every [soldier] man that wears the union uniform & , sticks it, like a man, is to me a dear comrade & [that is the] I will do what I can for him though it may not be much & will add that my dear mother & all my folks feel just the same [about it] & would show it by their works too, when they canthick forest of trees without the leaves. +Then there are all classes of sailing vessels & steamers all around on the move. The ferry boat has to thread its way through them. Often they run foul of each other. Up [there] in the pilot house I can sit & see every thing, & the river & harbor & scenery all around.Lewy, dear I think I shall remain here ten or twelve days longer & then I will try to be with you once again. If you feel like it, I would like to have you write me soon, I would like hear from my dear comrades, especially from James Stilwell, from Pleasant Borley, Cunningham, & from the cavalry boy wound in right arm in Ward B. Lewy when you write to Tom Sawyer you know what to write to him from me. So he is a comrade I love [from] down in my heart, & always shall the same till death. I believe afterward too. I wish to tell a young man in Ward D, 2d bed, below the middle door (wounded in [his] left leg [is bad] it has erysypelas) that I sent him my love, & I wish him to have this letter to read, if he desires it & I will see him again before very long. his first name is Isaacso Lew I have given you a lot of messages but you can take your time to do them. - only I wish each of the boys I have mentioned to have my letter, & read it for themselves, if they [have] [any] desire [to] it & then pass it to another. [It is Sunday forenoon as I sit scribly [quiet & pleasant] bright and fine. Well Lew I must bid good bye for present [Lewy] dear son, & [to] all the rest of my dear comrades, & I pray God to bless you my darling boys, & I send all in my love, & I hope it will be God's will to [make it] let things go easy as possible with [all there] [you who] all [you] my dear [comrades] boys who are wounded or sick & that we shall all meet again my dear boys comrades not only here, but hereafterto neutralize the poison - then the lover in his confusion reproaches her, and tells her perhaps it is to poison him still more, as she has already poisoned him once - she gets into a real agony, & begs & pleads with him to take the antidote at once - she holds the little vial up [When he takes &] with one hand and with the other opens a secret door in the wall, for him to escape from the palace - so he swallows the antidote, and just as she is pushing him through the door, the husband returns with some armed guards, but the woman slams the door and stands with her back across it and spreads out her arms wide open - her eyes glassy like a wild cat so they dare not touch her. & that ends the scene. Remember all this is in singing & music & lots of it, on a big scale, in a big & splendid house light as day with a crowded audience every thing very strong & sweet, sometimes the whole band of fifty or sixty instruments putting on all the steam, [That is what] Such singing & strong fine music always give me great pleasure I have gone to the opera as my only amusement for ten or twelve years.But I must tell you a little about my folks Home here there is quite a lot of us my dear quite a house full. though big its two separate families. both died about [?] seven years ago. My mother is very well indeed for her age - she is cheerful & quite stout, & does all her own light house-work & cooking, though she is about 67 years of age. She never tires of hearing about the soldiers, & I [know she] sometimes think she is the greatest patriot I know of one of the old stock. I believe she would cheerfully give her life for the [army?] & the last mouthful in her house to any soldier that needed it. a very excellent sister-in-law, just as near [& d] to me as if she were my own sister - - I am very happy with my brother & her - [she] they live in the same house - she has two [fine] splendid young ones, one of them [about 10 months old] [that] I had never seen till now. [My] So you see I am quite happy in the woman [relations], which I consider a great thing. brother [t] I mentioned as sick is very poorly I fear will never be better. He lives near here, is married. He has been in the army - he has throat disease, & looks very bad. I believeWell my dear loving boys. what shall I tell you to pass away the time? I am going around. [On Wednesday night] A night or two ago [I w] quite a good [deal], I went to the Ny academy of Music, to [see] the Italian opera. I suppose you know [it] that is a performance, a play all in music and singing in the Italian language very sweet There is a large company of singers, & a large band, & beautiful. The [?] several hundred The opera here now The activity of music [was] is a splendid great house four stories high. has some of the greatest singers in the world - [The one] the principal lady singer, (and a great the [paragate?] on the her name is Medori) has a voice that would make you hold your breath with wonder & delight, it is like a miracle, no mocking bird, nor the clearest flute, can begin within it besides it is very rich & full & strong - & besides that she is tall & handsome, & her actions are very fascinating as she moves about the stage, playing what is in her part. In one scene, [she] in the opera, things have worked so, that she is compelled (although she tries very hard to avoid) to give a cup ofpoisoned wine to her lover. She is compelled by her husband. She plead hard, (all in [??]) but her husband, ([who] he is a king) swears that he will have both of them killed otherwise - So the lover is brought in as a prisoner, & the King pretends to make up, & asks him to [take] drink a cup of wine, & orders the wife to pour[s] it out, & the lover drinks it, then the husband smiles & walks off the stage - & [then] now came as good a piece of performance as I ever [see] saw in my life (remember this is all in singing & music) - The lady as soon as she saw that the husband was really gone away, she sprang to her lover, clutched by the arm, & poured out the greatest [music of] singing you ever heard like a swan of Isis (the band playing all the while) all so wild & passionate. she told the [?] man he was poisoned, he tries to inquire &c. She answers him - all is told & [sung?] very rapid indeed - she then gives him a little vialI told you I have still another brother [in the army] a soldier, down in the 9th army corps, he [v] kept very strong & rugged [so far] has been out now over two years, [nott] not hurt yet except cut in the face with a [shoet?] at first Fredericksburgh. Well detain comerades Brother more than war New York looks [all over] As to these draggons full of prosperity & plenty. Every where through the streets carts & trucks & carriages & vehicles on the go loaded with goods, express wagons, onmibuses cars- aroy. The wharves ships, the piers blocked with cargoes & [the] carts [coming & going] - all the stores & markets crammed, with us to you come tens think of & hundreds of thousands of people every where, nearly every body well. drest, & appearing to have enough - - the river & harbor full of -Broadway for thru a bow mules is the most splend crowded [?] in the world. ships, steamboats, sloops &c - I never saw such a crowd, and such goings on & such prosperity As I passed through Baltimore & Philadelphia it appeared just the same. Well, it looks so different here in this night city every thing going [on] with a big rush, as if there was [no] war nor hospitals elsewhereDear boys Now that I have come back after being away a year to the midst of [New York & Brooklyn] these great cities [with the harbor & rivers full of ships, ever this so active] [&] with a million & a half of people & the principal streets, [all] all day long a perpetual jam & bustle, & the ships & steamers all crowd everywhere in the harbor & rivers, - [as I have been away a year] I now realise it [?] better than before though I have lived here all my life & find That these [great] cities are indeed a big thing. I am quite fond of crossing on the ferry on the big [boats] & handsome [boats] ferry boats between New York & Brooklyn. I know most of the pilots, & I go up aloft in the pilot house, & stay as long as I choose. The scene is very curious. The shipps' along the wharves looks like aLevy, I was very glad to get your letter. I want you to tell Oscar Cunningham, in your ward that I sent him my love, & he must try to keep up good courage while he is confirmed there with his wound. I want you to give my love to Charly Cate & all the boys in Ward K, & [to] [I Levy] I want you to go in and see [Jamy] James S Stilwell in Ward C, & also Thomas Carson in the same ward, & Chambers[Dear comrades] Well dear comrades, I am [writing] scribbling all this [from] [at home at] [my mothers], from a room, [in Brooklyn NY Town] at my mothers. It is Sunday [I have been home nearly a week & have had] [where I now am. Though] [May] friends come to see me & have been yet out a good deal [am now] from my room in my mothers house. I [home] never now [bren] house in the midst of my relations and away [very many] [great] numbers of friends [whom] [of whom] some I have known [from] for years, [many] some from childhood, & [numbe] many I love very hither [and all make me welcome & mostly we] & much, not a one I might guess but I think of [every one] you [of] you [every day] dear comrades & truly I never sit down not a single time to yet the bountiful dinners & suppers to which I am taken by one or another in this land of wealth & plenty, without feeling that it would be such a comfort to all, if you too my dear darling comrades could have your share of the good things to eat & drink, [my darling comrades. Such a] & of this pleasure & amusement. [profusion of things] Several of my particular friends young men have [already] madeup little supper parties, of men only, & given me suppers, after which there is drinks, (There was one last evening. [(there are only [?] every [?] [of is] It is a great pleasure & yet [true that] often in the midst of all the profusion [last evening] [& gayety] [&] the [fine eating] dishes to eat, & the laughing & talk & behaviour &c. my thoughts, [more than twenty] many times [I think believe], silently turned to Washington, to you [& a] dear [boys] comrades and to all the rest who lie there sick & wounded, [&] - it seemed such a contrast [& I felt as if my heart was there]that lays next to him, & tell them I sent them my love. Tell James Stilwell I have writ from here to his folks at Comac, L.I. & it may be I shall go down there next Monday or Tuesday on the L I railroad Tell Manvill Winterstein that lays next to him, in Ward C, that I send him my love, & I hope his wound is healing good. In Ward B, I wish you [find] to tell a young cavalry man his first name is Edwin, he lays [?] the middle door, he is wounded in the right arm, that I sent him my love, & on the opposite side, a young man wounded in the right knee, & also a young man named Charley, wounded in left hand, & Jennings, & also a young man INassau Water [?] BROOKLYN. NOV 9 1863 U.S. POSTAGE THREE CENTS [?] NEW-YORK. Lewis K Brown Ward K Armory Square hospital Washington D CThis letter has been Read by Isaac Livensparger in Ward D I think it is a very good letter & I am very much pleased & delited with it I love to read such letters, I am yours truly Isaac LivenspargerBrooklyn, November 8, 1863. Dear son & comrade, & all my dear comrades in the hospital, I sit down this pleasant Sunday forenoon intending to write you all a good stout letter to try to amuse you as I am not able at present to visit you like I did - yet what I shall write about I hardly know until I get started - but my dear comrades I wish to help you pass away the time for a few minutes any how - I am now home at my mother's in Brooklyn NY - I am in good health as ever & eat my rations without missing one time - Lew I wish you was here with me & I wish my dear comrade Elijah Fox in ward G was here with me - but perhaps he is on his way to Wisconsin - Lewy I came through from Washington to New York by day train, 2d Nov. had a very pleasant trip, every thing went lovely, & I got home in the evening between 8 and 9 - Next morning I went up to the polls bright & early - I suppose it is not necessary to tell you how I voted - we have gained a great victory in this city - it went union this time, though it went democratic strong only a year ago, & for many years past - & all through the state the election was a very big thing for the union - I tell you the copperheads got flaxed out handsomely - indeed these late elections are about as great a victory for us as if we had flaxed General Lee himself, & all his men - & as for personal good will I feel as if I could have more for Lee or any of his fighting men, than I have for the northern copperheads - Lewy I was very glad to get your letter of the 5th - I want you to tell Oscar Cunningham in your ward that I sent him my love & he must try to keep up good courage while he is confined there with his wound.Lewy I want you to give my love to Charley Cate & all the boys in ward K, & to Benton if he is [r?] - I wish you would go in Ward C and see James S Stilwell, & also Thomas Carson in same ward, & Chambers that lays next to him, & tell them I sent them my love. Give Carson this letter to read if he wishes it. Tell James Stilwell I have writ from here to his folks at Comac L I. & it may be I shall go down there next week on the L J railroad; & let him have this letter to read if he wishes it - Tell Manvill Winterstein that lay next to him in ward C that I sent him my love, & I hope his wound is healing good. Lew I wish you to go in Ward B and tell a young cavalry man , his first name is Edwin, he is wounded in the right arm, that I sent him my love, & on the opposite side a young man wounded in the right knee, & also a young man named Charley wounded in left hand, & Jennings & also a young man I love that lays now up by the door just above Jennings, that I sent them all my love. So Lew you see I am giving you a good round job, with so many messages - but I want you to do them all dear son, & leave my letter with each of the boys that wish it, to read for themselves - tell Miss Gregg in Ward A that I send my love to Pleasant Borley if he is still there, & if so I hope it will be God's will that he will live & get strong to go home yet - I send my love to little Billy the Ohio boy in Ward A & to Miss Gregg herself - & if Mrs Doolittle is in Ward B, please ask her to tell the boys in the ward I sent them my love, & to her too, & give her this letter some evening to read to the boys, & one of these days I will come back & read to them myself - & the same to Mrs. Southwick in Ward H, if she wishes to read it to the boys for my sake.Lew I wish you would go in ward G & find a very dear friend of mine in bed 11, Elijah D Fox if he is still there. Tell him I sent him my best love & that I make reckonig of meeting him again, & that he must not forget me, though that I know he never will - I want to hear how he is, & whether he has got his papers through yet - Lewy I wish you would go to him first & let him have this letter to read if he is there - Lewy I would like you to give my love to a young man named Burns in Ward I, & to all the boys in ward I, - & indeed in every ward from A to K inclusive, & all through the hospital, as I find I cannot particularize without being tedious - so I send my love sincerely to each & all, for every sick & wounded soldiers is dear to me as a son or brother, & furthermore every man that wears the union uniform & sticks to it like a man, is to me a dear comrade, & I will do what I can for him though it may not be much - & I will add that my mother & all my folks feel just the same about it & would show it by their works too when they can - Well, dear comrades what shall I tell you to pass away the time? I am going around quite a great deal, more than I really desire to. Two or three nights ago I went to the NY Academy of Music, to the Italian opera. I suppose you know that is a performance, a play, all in music & singing, in the Italian language, very sweet & beautiful. There is a large company of singers & a large band altogether two or three hundred. It is in a splendid, great house, four or five tiers high & a broad parquette on the main floor. The opera here now has some of the greatest singers in the world - the principal lady singer (Her name is Medori) has a voice that would make you hold your breath with wonder & delight it is like a miracle - no mocking bird nor the clearest flute can begin with it - besides itis very rich & strong voice - & besides she is a tall & handsome lady, & her actions are so graceful as she moves about the stage, playing her part. Boys, I must tell you just one scene in the opera I saw - things have worked so in the piece that this lady is compelled, although she tries very hard to avoid it, to give a cup of poisoned wine to her lover - the king her husband forces her to do it - she pleads hard, but her husband threatens to take both their lives (all this is in singing & music, very fine) - so the lover is brought in as a prisoner, & the king pretends to pardon him & make up, & asks the young man to drink a cup of wine, & orders the lady to pour it out. The lover drinks it, then the king gives her & him a look, & smiles & walks off the stage. And now came as good a piece of performance as I ever saw in my life. The lady as soon as she saw that her husband was really gone, she sprang to her lover clutched him by the arm, & poured out the greatest singing you ever heard - it poured like a raging river more than any thing else I could compare it to - she tells him he is poisoned, - he tries to inquire &c and hardly knows what to make of it - she breaks in, trying to pacify him, & explain &c - all this goes on very rapid indeed, & the band accompanying - she quickly draws out from her bosom a little vial, to neutralize the poison, then the young man in his desperation abuses her & tells her perhaps it is to poison him still more as she has already poisoned him once - this puts her in such agony, - she begs & pleads with him to take the antidote at once before it is too late - her voice is so wild & high it goes through one like a knife, yet it is delicious - she holds the little vial to his mouth with one hand & with the other springs open a secret door in the wall, for him, to escape from the palace - he swallows the antidote, & as she pushes him through the door, the husband returns with some armed guards, but she slams the door to, & standsback up against the door, & her arms spread wide open across it, one fist clenched, & her eyes glaring like a wild cat, so they dare not touch her - & that ends the scene. Comrades, recollect all this is in singing & music, & lots of it too, on a big scale, in the band, every instrument you can think of, & the best players in the world, & sometimes the whole band & the whole men's chorus & women's chorus all putting on the steam together - & all in a vast house, light as day & with a crowded audience of ladies & men. Such singing & strong rich music always give me the greatest pleasure - & so the opera is the only amusement I have gone to, for my own satisfaction, for last ten years. But my dear comrades I will now tell you something about my own folks - home here there is quite a lot of us - my father is not living - my dear mother is very well indeed for her age, which is 67 - she is cheerful & hearty, & still does all her light housework & cooking - She never tires of hearing about the soldiers, & I sometimes think she is the greatest patriot I ever met, one of the old stock - I believe she would cheerfully give her life for the Union, if it would avail any thing - and the last mouthful in the house to any union soldier that needed it - then I have a very excellent sister-in-law - she has two fine young ones - so I am very happy in the women & family arrangements. Lewy, the brother I mentioned as sick, lives near here, he is very poorly indeed, & I fear will never be much better - he too was a soldier, has for several months had throat disease - he is married & has a family - I believe I have told you of still another brother in the army, down in the 9th army corps, has been in the service over two years, he is very rugged & healthy - has been in many battles, but only once wounded, at first Fredricks burgh.Monday forenoon, November 9. Dear comrades as I did not finish my letter yesterday afternoon, as I had many friends come to see me, I will finish it now - the news this morning is that Meade is shoving Lee back upon Richmond, & that we have already given the rebs some hard knocks there on the Rapphammock fighting ground. O I do hope the Army of the Potomac will at last gain a first class victory, for they have had to retreat often enough, & yet I believe a better Army never trod the earth than they are & have been for over a year. Well, dear comrades it looks so different here in all this mighty city every thing going with a big rush & so gay, as if there was neither war nor hospitals in the land. New York & Brooklyn appear nothing but prosperity & plenty. Every where carts & trucks & carriages & vehicles on the go, loaded with goods, express-wagons, omnibuses, cars, &c - thousands of ships along the wharves, & the piers piled high, where they are loading or unloading the cargoes - all the stores crammed with every thing you can think of, & the markets with all sorts of provisions - tens & hundreds of thousands of people every where, the population is 1,500,000 almost every body well - drest & appearing to have enough - then the splendid river & harbor here, full of ships, steamers, sloops, &c - then the great street Broadway for four miles, one continual jam of people, & the great magnificent stores all along on each side, & the show windows filled with beautiful & costly goods - I never saw the crowd thicker nor such goings on & such prosperity - & as I passed through Baltimore & Philadelphia it seemed to be just the same.I am quite fond of crossing on the Fulton ferry, or South ferry, between Brooklyn & New York on the big handsome boats. They run continually day & night, I know most of the pilots, & I go up on deck & stay as long as I choose. The scene is very curious & full of variety. The shipping along the wharves looks like a forest of bare trees. Then there are all classes of sailing vessels & steamers, some the grandest & most beautiful steamships in the world, going or coming from Europe, or on the California route, all these on the move. As I sit up there in the pilot house, I can see every thing, & the distant scenery, & away down toward the sea, & Fort Lafayette &c. The ferry boat has to pick its way through the crowd. Often they hit each other, then there is a time - My loving comrades I am scribbling all this in my room in my mother's house. It is Monday forenoon - I have now been home about a week in the midst of relations, & many friends, many young men, some I have known from childhood, many I love very much. I am out quite a good deal, as we are glad to be with each other, - they have entertainments &c. But truly my dear comrades I never sit down, not a single time, to the bountiful dinners & suppers to which I am taken in this land of wealth & plenty without feeling it would such a comfort to all, if you too my dear & loving boys, could have each your share of the good things to eat & drink, & of the pleasure & amusement. My friend's away the young men make supper parties, after which there is drinking &c. every thing prodigal & first rate, One, Saturday night, & another last night - it is much pleasure, yet often in the midst of the profusion, the palatable dishes to eat, & the laughing and talking, & liquors &c my thoughts silently turn toWashington, to all who lie there sick & wounded, with bread & molasses for supper -- Lewy, dear son I think I shall remain here ten or twelve days longer, & then I will try to be with you once again. If you feel like it I would like to have you write me soon, tell me about the boys, especially James Stilwell, Pleasant Borley, Cunningham, & from the cavalry bay Edwin in ward B -- tell me whether Elijah Fore in ward G has gone home -- Lew, when you write to Tom Sawyer you know what to say from me -- he is one I love in my heart, & always shall till death, & afterwards too -- I wish you to tell a young man in ward D 2d bed below the middle door, (his first name is Isaac, he is wounded in left leg, & it has had erysipelas) that I sent him my love, & I wish him to have this letter to read if he desires it, & I will see him again before long. So Lew I have given you a lot of messages but you can take your time to do them, only I wish each of the boys I have mentioned to have my letter that wishes it, & read it at leisure for themselves, & then pass to another. If Miss Hill in ward F or the lady nurse in ward E cares about reading it to the boys in those wards for my sake, you give it them some evening, as I know the boys would like to hear from me, as I do from them. Well Lewy I must bid you good bye for present dear son, & also to all the rest of my dear comrades, & I pray God to bless you my darling boys, & I send you all my love, & I hope it will be so ordered to let things go as easy as possible with all my dear boys wounded or sick, & I hope it will be God's will that we shall all meet again my real loving comrades, not only here but here after. Walt Whitman Portland avenue near Myrtle Brooklyn New YorkBrooklyn November 8 1863. [*60 A.*] Dear son & comrade,* & all my dear comrades in the hospital, I sit down this pleasant Sunday forenoon intending to write you all a good stout letter to try to amuse you as I am not able at present to visit you like I did - yet what I shall write about I hardly know until I get started - but my dear comrades I wish to help you pass away the time for a few minutes anyhow - I am now home at my mother's in Brooklyn N.Y. - I am in good health as ever & eat my rations without missing one time - Lew I wish you was here with me, & I wish my dear comrade Elijah F'ox in Ward G was here with me - but perhaps he is on his way to Wisconsin - Lewy I came through from Washington to New York by day train 2nd Nov. had a very pleasant trip, everything went lovely, & I got home in the evening between 8 and 9 - next morning I went up to the polls bright & early - I suppose it is not necessary to tell you how I voted - we have gained a great victory in this city - it went union this time, though it went democratic strong only a year ago, & for many years past - & all through the state the election was a very big thing for the union - I tell you the copperheads got flaked out handsomely - indeed these late elections are about as great a victory for us as if we had flaked General Lee himself, & all his men - and as for personal good will I feel as if I could have more for Lee or any of his fighting men than I have for the northern copperheads - Lewy I was very glad to get your letter of the 5th I want you to tell Oscar Cunningham in your ward that I sent him my love & he must try to keep up good courage while he is confined there with his wound. * Lewis K. Brown, Ward K, Armory Square Hospital, Washington DCSOCIETY FOR ETHICAL CULTURE PHILADELPHIA DR. C.N. PEIRCE, PRES'T 1415 WALNUT STREET HORACE L. TRAUBEL SEC. AND TREAS. CAMDEN, N.J. JOSEPH FELS CHAIRMAN FINANCE COM. 2100 TIOGA STREET DR. DANIEL LONGAKER CHAIRMAN LECTURE COM. 652 N. 8TH STREET[*-60-B*] Lewy I want you to give my love to Charley Cate & all the boys in Ward K, & to Benton if he is returned - I wish you would go in Ward C & see James S Stilwell, & also Thomas Carson in same ward, & Chambers that lay next to him, & tell them I sent them my love. Give Carson this letter to read if he wishes it. Tell James Stilwell I have writ from here to his folks at Comac LI, & it may be I shall go down there next week on the L.I railroad; & let him have this letter to read if he wishes it. Tell Manvill Winterstein that lays next to him in ward C that I send him my love, & I hope his wound is healing good. Lew I wish you to go in Ward B and tell a young cavalry man, his first name is Edwin, he is wounded in the right arm, that I sent him my love, & on the opposite side a young man wounded in the right knee, & also a young man named Charley wounded in left hand, & Jennings & also a young man I love that lays now up by the door just above Jennings, that I sent them all my love. So Lew you see I am giving you a good round job, with so many messages - but I want you to do them all dear son, & leave my letter with each of the boys that wish it, to read for themselves - tell Miss Gregg in Ward A that I send my love to Pleasant Barley if he is still there, & if so I hope it will be God's will that he will live and get strong to go home yet - I send my love to little Billy the Ohio boy in Ward A, & to Miss Gregg herself - & if Mrs Doolittle is in Ward B please ask her to tell the boys in the ward I sent them my love, & to her too, & give her this letter some evening to read to the boys, & one of these days I will come back & read to them myself - & the same to Mrs Southwick in Ward H if she wishes to read it to the boys for my sake Lew I wish you would go in Ward G & find a very dear friend of mine in bed 11, Elijah D F'ox if he is still there. Tell him I sent him my best love, & that I make reckoning of meeting him again, & that he must not forget me, though that I know he never will - I wantSOCIETY FOR ETHICAL CULTURE PHILADELPHIA DR. C.N. PEIRCE, PRES'T 1415 WALNUT STREET HORACE L. TRAUBEL SEC. AND TREAS. CAMDEN, N.J. JOSEPH FELS CHAIRMAN FINANCE COM. 2100 TIOGA STREET DR. DANIEL LONGAKER CHAIRMAN LECTURE COM. 652 N. 8TH STREET[*60-6 [3]*] to hear how he is, & whether he has got his papers through yet - Lewy I wish you would go to him first & let him have this letter to read if he is there - Lewy I would like you to give my love to a young man named Burns in Ward F, & to all the boys in Ward F - & indeed in every ward, from A to K inclusive. & all through the hospital as I find I cannot particularize without being tedious - so I send my love sincerely to each & all, for every sick & wounded soldier is dear to me as a son or brother, & furthermore every man that wears the Union uniform and sticks to it like a man, is to me a dear comrade, & I will do what I can for him though it may not be much - & I will add that my mother & all my folks feel just the same about it, & would show it by their works too when they can - Well dear comrades what shall I tell you to pass away the time! I am going around quite a great deal, more than I really desire to. Two or three nights ago I went to the NY Academy of Music, to the Italian opera. I suppose you know that is a performance, a play all in music & singing in the Italian language, very sweet & beautiful. There is a large company of singers, & a large band, altogether two or three hundred. It is in a splendid great house, four or five tiers high, & a broad parquette on the main floor. The opera here now has some of the greatest singers in the world - the principal lady singer (her name is Medori) has a voice that would make you hold your breath with wonder & delight it is like a miracle - no mockingbird nor the clearest flute can begin with it - besides it is very rich & strong voice - & besides she is a tall & handsome lady, & her actions are so graceful as she moves about the stage, playing her part. Boys, I must tell you just one scene in the opera I saw - things have worked so in the piece that this lady is compelled, though she tries very hard to avoid it it to give a cup of poisoned wine to her lover - the King her husband forces her to do it - she pleads hard, but her husband threatens toSociety for Ethical Culture Philadelphia Dr. C.N. Peirce, Pres't 1415 Walnut Street Horace L. Traubel Sec. and Treas. Camden, N.J. Joseph Fels Chairman Finance Com. 2100 Tioga Street Dr. Daniel Longaker Chairman Lecture Com. 652 N. 8th Street60 D 4 take both their lives (all this is in singing & music, very fine) - so the lover is brought in as a prisoner & the King pretends to pardon him & make up, & asks the young man to drink a cup of wine, & orders the lady to pour it out. The lover drinks it, then the King gives her and him a look, & smiles & walks off the stage. And now came as good a piece of performance as I ever saw in my life. The lady as soon as she saw that her husband was really gone, she sprang to her lover, clutched him by the arm, & poured out the greatest singing you ever heard - it poured like a raging river more than anything else I could compare it to - she tells him he is poisoned, he tries to inquire & and hardly knows what to make of it - she breaks in, trying to pacify him, & explains & - all this goes on very rapid indeed, & the band accompanying - she quickly draws out from her bosom a little vial, to neutralize the poison, then the young man in his desperation abuses her & tells her perhaps it is to poison him still more as she has already poisoned him once - this puts her in such agony ; she begs & pleads with him to take the antidote at once before it is too late - her voice is so wild and high it goes through one like a knife yet it is delicious - she holds the little vial to his mouth with one hand & with the other springs open a secret door in the wall for him to escape from the palace - he swallows the antidote & as she pushes him through the door, the husband returns with some armed guards, but she slams the door to, & stands back up against the door, & her arms spread wide open across it, one fist clenched, & her eyes glaring like a wild cat, so they dare not touch her - & that ends the scene. Comrades, recollect all this is in singing & music, & lots of it too, on a big scale, in the band every instrument you can think of, & the best players in the world, & sometimes the whole band & the whole men's chorus & women's chorus putting on steam together - & all in a vast house, bright as day & with a Society for Ethical Culture Philadelphia Dr. C.N. Peirce, Pres't 1415 Walnut Street Horace L. Traubel Sec. and Treas. Camden, N.J. Joseph Fels Chairman Finance Com. 2100 Tioga Street Dr. Daniel Longaker Chairman Lecture Com. 652 N. 8th Street[*60E*] crowded audience of ladies & men. Such singing and strong rich music always give me the greatest pleasure --- & so the opera is the only amusement I have gone to for my own satisfaction, for last ten years. But my dear comrades I will now tell you something about my own folks---home here there is quite a lot of us -- my father is not living --- My dear mother is very well indeed for her age, which is 64 & she is cheerful & hearty, & still does all the light housework & cooking -- She never tires of hearing about the soldiers, & I sometimes think she is the greatest patriot I ever met, one of the old stock --- I believe she would cheerfully give her life for the union, if it would avail anything -- & the mouthful in the house to any union soldier that needed it -- then I have a very excellent sister-in-law -- she has two fine young ones so I am very happy in the women & family arrangements Lewy, the brother I mentioned as sick, lives near here, he is very poorly indeed & I fear will never be much better -- he too was a soldier, has for several months had throat disease -- he is married & has a family --- I believe I have told you of still another brother in the army, down in the 9th army corps, has been in the service over two years, he is very rugged & healthy -- has been in many battles, but only once wounded, at first Fredericksburgh Monday forenoon November 9 Dear comrades as I did not finish my letter yesterday afternoon, as I had many friends come to see me, I will finish it now -- the news this morning is that Meade is shoving Lee back upon Richmond & that we have already given the rebs some hard knocks there on the old Rappalannock fighting grounds O I do hope the Army of the Potomac will at last gain a first class victory, for they have had to retreat often enough & yet I believe a better army never trod the earth than they ware & have been for over a year. Society for Ethical Culture Philadelphia Dr. C.N. Peirce, Pres't 1415 Walnut Street Horace L. Traubel Sec. and Treas. Camden, N.J. Joseph Fels Chairman Finance Com. 2100 Tioga Street Dr. Daniel Longaker Chairman Lecture Com. 652 N. 8th Street[*60F. [6]*] Well, dear comrades it looks so different here in all this nightly city everything going with a big rush & so gay as if there was neither man nor hospitals in the land. New York & Brooklyn appear nothing but prosperity & plenty. Everywhere carts & trucks & carriages & vehicles on the go, loaded with goods, express wagons, omnibuses, cars, &c - thousands of ships along the wharves, & the piers piled high, where they are loading with everything you can think of, & the markets with all sorts of provisions - tens & hundreds of thousands of people everywhere, the populations is 1,500,000, almost everybody well drest & appearing to have enough - then the splendid view & harbor here, full of ships, steamers, sloops, &c - then the great street Broadway for four miles, one continual jam of people, & the great magnificent stores all along on each side, & the show windows filled with beautiful & costly goods - I never saw the crowd thicker nor such nor such goings on & such prosperity - & as I passed through Baltimore & Philadelphia it seemed to be just the same. I am quite fond of crossing on the Fulton ferry, or South ferry, between Brooklyn & New York, on the big handsome boats. They run continually day & night. I know most of the pilots & I go up on deck & stay as long as I choose. The scene a very curious, & full of variety. The shipping along the wharves looks like a forest of bare trees. Then there are all classes of sailing vessels & steamers, some of the product & most beautiful steamships in the world, going or coming from Europe, or on the California route, all these on the move. As I set up there on the pilot lane, I can see everything, & the distant scenery, & away down towards the sea, & Fort Lafayette &c. The ferry boat has to peck its way through the crowd. After they hit each other, then there is a time.Society for Ethical Culture Philadelphia Dr. C.N. Peirce, Pres't 1415 Walnut Street Horace L. Traubel Sec. and Treas. Camden, N.J. Joseph Fels Chairman Finance Com. 2100 Tioga Street Dr. Daniel Longaker Chairman Lecture Com. 652 N. 8th Street[*60 G.*] 2) My loving comrades, I am scribbling all this in my room in my mother's house. Its Monday forenoon -- I have now been at house for about a week in the midst of relations, & many friends, many young men, some I have known from childhood. Many I love very much. I am out quite a good deal, as we are glad to be with each other -- they have entertainments to. But truly my dear comrades I never sit down, not a single time, to the beautiful dinners & suppers to what I am taken in this land of wealth & plenty without feeling it would be such a comfort to see, if you too my dear & loving boys could have each your share of the good things to eat & drink, & of the pleasure & amusement. My friends among the journey men make supper parties, after which there is drinking &c. everything prodegal & firstrate, one, Saturday night, & another last night -- it is much pleasure. Yet often in the midst of the profusion, the palatable riches to eat, & the laughing & talking & liquors &c my thoughts silently turn to Washington to all who be there sick & wounded, with bread & molasses for supper. Lewy, dear son, I think I shall remain here ten or twelve days longer, & then I will try to be with you once again. If you feel like it I would like to have you write me soon, tell my about the boys, especially James stilwell, Pleasant Banley, Cunningham, & from the cavalry boy Edwin in Ward B --- tell me whether Elijah Fox in ward G has gone home. Lew, when you write to Tom Sawyer you know what to say from me -- he is one I love in my heart and always shall till death, and afterwards too I wish you to tell a young man in ward D second bed below the middle door, (his first name id Isaac, he is wounded in left leg and has had erysipelas, that I sent him my love & I wish him to have this letter to read if he desires it, & I will see him again before long. SOCIETY FOR ETHICAL CULTURE PHILADELPHIA DR. C.N. PEIRCE, PRES'T 1415 WALNUT STREET HORACE L. TRAUBEL SEC. AND TREAS. CAMDEN, N.J. JOSEPH FELS CHAIRMAN FINANCE COM. 2100 TIOGA STREET DR. DANIEL LONGAKER CHAIRMAN LECTURE COM. 652 N. 8TH STREET[*60 H*] (3 So Lew, I have given you a lot of messages but you can take your time to do them, only I wish each of the boys I have mentioned to have my letter that wishes it, & read it at leisure for themselves & then pass [it on] to another. If Miss Hill in ward F or the lady nurse in ward E cares about reading it [in those in] to the boys in those wards for my sake, you give it them some evening, as I know the boys would like to hear from me as I do from them. Well Lewy I must bid you goodbye for present dear son, & also to all the rest of my dear comrades, & I pray God to bless you all my darling boys, & I send you all my love & I hope it will be so ordered to let things go as easy as possible with all my dear boys wounded or sick, & I hope it will be God's will that we shall all meet again my dear loving comrades, not only here but hereafter Walt Whitman Portland avenue near Myrtle Brooklyn New York SOCIETY FOR ETHICAL CULTURE PHILADELPHIA DR. C.N. PEIRCE, PRES'T 1415 WALNUT STREET HORACE L. TRAUBEL SEC. AND TREAS. CAMDEN, N.J. JOSEPH FELS CHAIRMAN FINANCE COM. 2100 TIOGA STREET DR. DANIEL LONGAKER CHAIRMAN LECTURE COM. 652 N. 8TH STREET