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.
