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II.
(White paper, 4" x 6", four pages; envelope addressed to Charles W. Eldridge / care Major Hapgood / Paymaster U S Army / Washington D C, postmarked Brooklyn.)
I have been improving for the last two days, & think I shall be up & around soon, as well as ever—I have had the services of a good physician, who has allowed me to get well quite naturally—he decided that the only thing needing serious watching was the throat & had prepared if the disease there went beyond a certain point to call in a skilful New York doctor, for consultation, but fortunately we were saved the trouble—I felt a good deal like myself the most of yesterday, & the same to-day—so I don't think I am hurrahing before I am out of the woods.
—We have a letter from my brother George, down to 18th inst. he was all safe.
—My mother & folks are all well—
—I rece'd the letter enveloped to me 25th—
I sent a line to Wm O'Connor, 25th which I suppose he rec'd—
—Has Nelly gone yet?
—I shall write to her next time—
—Remember me to Ashton with friendship—also to Arnold Johnson with sincere thanks & tell him I am getting well—& give my best respects & thanks to Major Hapgood.
Eldridge was a member of the firm of Thayer & Eldridge of Boston who had published the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass and then had gone bankrupt when the outbreak of war had extinguished their Southern credit. Eldridge then became an assistant in Major Hapgood's office in Washington and managed to procure a desk for Whitman there and a small income for him for minor copyist duties. Eldridge had also introduced Whitman to his future biographer William O'Connor and his wife Nelly. J. Hubley Ashton was Assistant Attorney-General. He later obtained a position for Whitman in the Office of Indian Affairs. Arnold Johnson was Charles Sumner's private secretary.
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