Walt Whitman Sets to Work on His Reminiscence of Abraham Lincoln, to Be Published Alongside Those of Grant, Frederick Douglass and Cassius Clay

Walt Whitman had a connection to Lincoln. They passed each other often on their walks around Washington, when they would famously tip hats in acknowledgement. Whitman was greatly moved by Lincoln’s assassination, and wrote his perhaps best and most renowned poem, “My Captain”, in his honor. “My Captain” was first published on November 4, 1865, and Whitman later included it in the collection “Leaves of Grass” and recited the poem at several lectures on Lincoln’s death.

This is a portion of Whitman’s poem showing his reverence for Lincoln:

“Oh Captain. “O Captain! My Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

Whitman had recently published “Slang in America” in the North American Review, which was edited and published by C. Allen Thorndike Rice. In 1885, Rice set about to compile memories of people who knew Lincoln and he went to Whitman for a piece, for which he would pay $33. The title was “Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln by Distinguished Men of His Time,” compiled by Rice and published 1886 by the North American Publishing Co. There would be contributions by Ulysses S. Grant, Frederick Douglass, Henry Ward Beecher, Walt Whitman, Cassius Clay and many others.

Excerpt from Whitman’s:
“Abraham Lincoln’s was really one of those characters, the best of which is the result of long trains of cause and effect—needing a certain spaciousness of time, and perhaps even remoteness, to properly enclose them—having unequaled influence on the shaping of this Republic (and therefore the world) as to-day, and then far more important in the future…”

Autograph Letter Signed, Camden, New Jersey; October 21, 1885, to James Redpath, an editor at the North American Review, about this Lincoln article and getting paid for his other work: “Yours rec’d with the 50 for ‘Slang in America’ which sum I heartily thank Mr Rice & you for, as it is ample – I am in miserable brain condition & half blind – waiting to feel better. Will set to work forthwith however on finishing the Lincoln article & something else for you.” Signed, “Walt Whitman.” Stamped “Answered” at top right and annotated, “file” at top left.

Whitman had recently moved into his own house at 328 Mickle Street in Camden after living with his brother since 1873 to recover from a stroke. Although he had been very productive and physically active during the years he lived with his brother, by the time he moved to Mickle Street he was bedridden and frail; he remained so for the rest of his life. A great association letter mentioning Lincoln, for whom Whitman had tremendous respect and admiration. Lincoln’s leadership and assassination had a profound impact on Whitman’s life and work.