Walt Whitman has never lacked for biographers, beginning with his friend John Burroughs in 1867 and continuing through the millennium. Until now, however, no one has seen fit to devote more than a passing chapter, at best, to Whitman's Civil War years, a time that the poet himself considered "the greatest privilege and satisfaction" of his life. With this book I hope to redress that somewhat surprising historical imbalance and to put, whenever possible, a human face on a most inhuman tragedy.
To all those earlier biographers I offer my thanks. I would like to cite particularly the work of the late George L. Sixbey, whose pioneering doctoral dissertation, "Walt Whitman's Middle Years: 1860-1867," is an invaluable guide to Whitman's often murky existence in the years immediately preceding the Civil War. Thanks also to my agent, Tom Wallace, for his kindness and encouragement; to my editor, Peter Ginna, for his patience, tact, and insightful advice; to my father-in-law, G. Burton Pierce, for his unfailing generosity; and to my wife, Leslie, for teaching me each day for the past twenty years how to be a better person. I don't know how well the lessons have taken, but I couldn't have asked for a more willing—or winning—teacher.