"The Poet Patriot"

 On March 16, Walter Lafty will present “Walt Whitman: The Civil War’s Poet Patriot” at the Vineland Historical and Antiquarian Society museum at 108 S. Seventh Street in Vineland. Lafty, a Philadelphia native, is a Vietnam veteran who is active in Old Baldy, a Civil War roundtable group that researches different aspect of the conflict that divided America in the mid-19th century. Whitman’s poetry was considered highly controversial when it was first published in the 1800s. He approached topics in a candid manner that shocked many readers. One of his best-known collections, Leaves of Grass, was described as obscene for its overt language. 

Born in Huntington, New York, in 1819, Whitman later moved to Camden and continued to write and revise his poetry until his death in 1892. Lafty will discuss how the Civil War affected the course of Whitman’s work. When the Civil War started, Whitman published a poem titled “Beat! Beat! Drums!” as a rallying cry for northern troops. He continued to produce war-themed poetry based on his brother George’s experiences as a Union soldier. After discovering his brother’s name on a published list of the wounded, Whitman traveled to the hospital where George had been treated and was profoundly affected by the condition of the men.  One of his poems, “A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim,” vividly describes the silence of a morning after a battle:

A sight in camp in the daybreak gray and dim,
As from my tent I emerge so early sleepless,
As slow I walk in the cool fresh air the path near by the hospital tent,
Three forms I see on stretchers lying, brought out there untended lying,
Over each the blanket spread, ample brownish woolen blanket,
Gray and heavy blanket, folding, covering all.

When his health forced him to retire from public life, Whitman spent a lot of time in Laurel Springs, revising his earlier works. After his death, the poet was buried in Harleigh Cemetery in Camden, in a mausoleum that he had commissioned and designed. Museum doors will open at 1:30 p.m. for light refreshments. Lafty’s presentation will begin at 2 p.m. Admission is $2 per person.