The Better Angel: Walt Whitman in the Civil War

By Roy Morris Jr.

Book Overview

On May 26, 1863, Walt Whitman wrote to his mother: "O the sad, sad things I see--the noble young men with legs and arms taken off--the deaths--the sick weakness, sicker than death, that some endure, after amputations...just flickering alive, and O so deathly weak and sick." For nearly three years, Whitman immersed himself in the devastation of the Civil War, tending to thousands of wounded soldiers and recording his experience with an immediacy and compassion unequaled in wartime literature anywhere in the world.
In The Better Angel, acclaimed biographer Roy Morris, Jr. gives us the fullest accounting of Whitman's profoundly transformative Civil War Years and an historically invaluable examination of the Union's treatment of its sick and wounded. Whitman was mired in depression as the war began, subsisting on journalistic hackwork, wasting his nights in New York's seedy bohemian underground, his "great career" as a poet apparently stalled. But when news came that his brother George had been wounded at Fredericksburg, Whitman rushed south to find him. Though his brother's injury was slight, Whitman was deeply affected by his first view of the war's casualties. He began visiting the camp's wounded and, almost by accident, found his calling for the duration of the war. Three years later, he emerged as the war's "most unlikely hero," a living symbol of American democratic ideals of sharing and brotherhood.
Instead of returning to Brooklyn as planned, Whitman continued to visit the wounded soldiers in the hospitals in and around the capital. He brought them ice cream, tobacco, brandy, books, magazines, pens and paper, wrote letters for those who were not able and offered to all the enormous healing influence of his sympathy and affection. Indeed, several soldiers claimed that Whitman had saved their lives. One noted that Whitman "seemed to have what everybody wanted" and added "When this old heathen came and gave me a pipe and tobacco, it was about the most joyful moment of my life." Another wrote that "There is many a soldier that never thinks of you but with emotions of the greatest gratitude." But if Whitman gave much to the soldiers, they in turn gave much to him. In witnessing their stoic suffering, in listening to their understated speech, and in being always in the presence of death, Whitman evolved the new and more direct poetic style that was to culminate in his masterpiece, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd."
Brilliantly researched and beautifully written, The Better Angel explores a side of Whitman not fully examined before, one that greatly enriches our understanding of his later poetry. More than that, it gives us a vivid and unforgettable portrait of the "other army"--the legions of sick and wounded soldiers who are usually left in the shadowy background of Civil War history--seen here through the unflinching eyes of America's greatest poet.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195124820
• ISBN13: 9780195124828
• Release Date: July 2000
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.6" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

A Biography Lovingly Written-Superb!

This is a sensitively written biography covering in detail the life of America's greatest poet, Walt Whitman, during the Civil War years. This story of course has been told before, but never so completely, so lovingly. The author, Roy Morris, Jr. has done a superb job.The first chapter gives some background and tells of Whitman's despair, wasting his time, his life in New York's seedy underground bohemian world, especially Pfaff's beer cellar. At 41, Whitman had lost his job as editor of the Brooklyn Daily Times newspaper, and was in a depressing downward spiral, doing only sporadic hack work as a journalist. The Civil War had begun and his brother George had enlisted. When reports reached New York that George was wounded and in a Washington, DC hospital, Walt rushed to be by his brother's side. It was this event that brought Whitman face-to-face with the terrible wartime hospitals and to his beloved dying soldiers. This was the event that turned his life around, even perhaps saved his life as Whitman himself later reported.Finding that his brother's wounds were slight, Whitman began visiting the battlefield wounded. Here he almost by accident found his calling as the "Better Angel" of the book's title: helping the soldiers, or sometimes just listening and comforting his boys with small gifts and favors. Whitman clearly loved the young soldiers he watched die miserable deaths in the dreadful hospitals. The soldiers clearly loved him in return. This book is written with such sympathy that the reader can feel the love leap of the pages.Whitman was a prolific letter writer. Much of the story recounted here comes from letters he wrote, especially to his beloved mother. Also the seeds of much of Whitman's Civil War poetry are given here in forms different from the poems themselves, but Morris also includes extensive excerpts from the poems. The scientific advances in medicine (Pasteur, etc.) were still a few years away, so it was a dangerous thing to be spending so much time in these filthy, disease-ridden hospitals. Whitman regularly touched, embraced, even kissed his dying soldiers to comfort them, so it is almost a miracle he only became seriously ill one time from this contact.With all the sad death, this book is still uplifting and inspiring. Do buy it, read it, love it. After you have finished, you will want to get out your copy of "Leaves of Grass" and read the poems all over again with new insights and understandings. This is a lovely little book.

Service takes many forms

This is a beautiful little book, informative, elegantly written, and quite moving. It reminded me that serving one's country can take many forms. Whitman had little use for Christian pieties or military rigidity, neither of which offered much comfort to the thousands of wounded and dying young soldiers the great poet visited at their bedside. What he did offer them was the gift of human connection, kindness, and respect, qualities too often lacking in our American society, then and now. My one complaint is that Morris often quotes from Whitman's poems without always giving the title of the poem in question. One would love to be able to turn from Morris to Leaves of Grass and read a given poem in its entirety, but if one doesn't have the exact edition from 1973 he used then one is out of luck. This is a small criticism, however, and I am deeply grateful to the author for having written such an important, inspiring book.

Whitman's Civil War

This book is a study of Walt Whitman's activities during the American Civil War. Prior to the War, Whitman had already written most of the poetry that would ultimately establish his reputation as the greatest and most quintisentially American poet. With the publication of his Civil War poems, "Drum -Taps" and works in commemoration of President Lincoln (primarily, "When Lilacs Last in Dooryard Bloomed", Whitman had a second flowering as a poet. These works bear eloquent testimony to the trials that the United States had undergone and to Whitman's vision of America.Morris's book begins with Whitman in New York City at the outbreak of the War with the poet living a rootless, somewhat purposeless life focused on the bohemian taverns of New York City. With the thought that his brother George might be wounded at the battle of Fredricksburg, Whitman visits the site, views the carnage of the War, and returns changed.The book details how Whitman works as a nurse in Washington D.C. visiting and tending the sick and wounded. There are graphic descriptions of Civil War Era illnesses and wounds and of the relatively primitive state of American medicine for treating the endless ranks of the sick and wounded.Whitman made the rounds of the hospitals, brought cheer and comfort to the sick, wrote letters for them home and made them small gifts of food, tobacco, and necessaries. He received the gratitude of many a young man and his family. Morris establishes the distinguished character of Whitman's war service.In some instances, Whitman became emotionally and perhaps homoerotically attached to the young men in his charge. Morris's descriptions of these relationships are models of restraint and judgment.Throughtout, Morris amplifies his discussion of Whitman's war activities by quotations from his great collection of Civil War poetry, "Drum Taps". Little is known about the precise dates of composition of the poems in this collection. They represent, however, a major literary legacy of the Civil War era. I turned and reread the poems with renewed understanding after completing Morris's biography.The Civil War was a watershed for the United States both politically and culturally. Whitman and his contemporary, Herman Melville, were among the few writers whose work encompasses both sides of the Civil War divide. Both wrote memorable books of poetry about the War. (Melville's book is titled "Battle-Pieces" and his Civil War biography is also available.)In their poignancy, variety, and sweep, Whitman's poetry can illuminate the meaning of the Civil War and the promise of the United States. This book, in turn, illuminates Whitman. A worthwhile book to read.

A well-written and entertaining narrative!

Roy Morris has done a really outstanding job in this narrative of Walt Whitman's life during the war years. Although Whitman was already an established -- if little understood -- poet by the war's beginning, Morris is right on the mark in highlighting the importance of the war in shaping Whitman's outlook on life and writing style. There is little doubt that Whitman was greatly caught up in the war and its ultimate outcome. The author explores the evolution of Whitman's political opinions, chronicles his working life, poetry, and very active social life. Throughout the book, Morris nicely intertwines Whitman's poetry in to the narrative, allowing the poet's own creative and energetic words provide the backdrop to his life. For those of us more inclined to be interested in Civil War history, the book is full of fascinating insight into life in the home front -- this includes both war-time Brooklyn and life in Washington. Even more useful in the way it depicts federal hospitals in and around Washington, DC. Several chapters are devoted to Whitman's work in these hospitals, where he enjoyed virtually untrammeled access to the suffering soldiers, many of whom were greatly affected by his warm presence. Of course, he was in turn deeply changed by this interaction as well.The book also explores Whitman's troubled family life, and many passionate relationships he maintained. For his time, he was incredibly open about a lifestyle that was widely viewed by his contemporaries as morally degenerate at the time. Again, all of this occurs in the context of the Civil War, and thereby gives those of us with an interest in this fascinating episode in American history greater depth.

A different perspective on the war

I have not read a great deal of Whitman's work(Leaves Of Grass being the exception) however I was so impressed with his observations as recorded here that I intend to dive in. This book is fascinating on several levels. For those who are avid Civil War readers here is an entirely unique perspective.The descriptions of the hospitals and Whitman's caring relationships with so many of the wounded are especially moving. I highly recommend this to anyone with an intersest in the period even if you are not overly familiar with Whitman's work.