(Photo)
Whitman's poetry now was greatly
influenced by the
war and the suffering it had produced.
In May a book
of Whitman's
war poems, "Drum Taps", was
published. After
Lincoln's assassination, Whitman was
moved to write
two of his most
popular works: "O captain! My
Captain!" and
"When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard
Bloom'd".
In 1861, while writing for New York
newspapers, Whitman began to visit the
Broadway
Hospital, working as a
volunteer aide to the wounded soldiers.
When his
brother, George, serving with the 51st
New York
Infantry, was wounded
in 1862, Walt went to Virginia to find
him. George
recovered, but Walt had witnessed the
suffering of
wounded soldiers
in Washington's hospitals and felt he
had to stay
and help. He dedicated himself to
nursing the
wounded and dying
soldiers of both the North and the
South, earning
money to live on by taking a part-time
job in the
paymaster's office.
Whitman tried to alleviate the
suffering in any way
he could, even spending some of his
scant salary to
provide small
gifts such as fruit and stationery to
the wounded.
He wrote letters for soldiers who were
not able to
write, helped
change dressings, and at times even
assisted in
surgery.