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Whitman Bicentennial
Whitman in Washington: Serving the Wounded
Walt Whitman (1819-1892) came to Washington during the Civil War, seeking his wounded Union-soldier brother, George. He devoted himself to visiting wounded and sick soldiers in the city's many makeshift wartime hospitals, particularly Armory Square. He wrote letters home on behalf of the soldiers, brought items to cheer them, and offered his emotional support to the injured and dying. Whitman converted his eyewitness notes into poetry and prose, conveying the costs of war as well as the nobility of character of those who served and those who cared for them, through poems like "The Wound-Dresser." |