772 



WHITMAN WHITNEY. 



Lynn. After graduating at Harvard, Is33. lie studied 

 law, was admitted to the bar, lh>, and entered upon 

 access ful practice at Boston. His reputation as an 

 authority UN the pe-culiar legal questions arising i'rum 

 the outbreak of tne rebellion and civil war uttraete-d 

 the attention of the government and caused his up- 

 ixiintuifiit HH solicitor of the war department in 1862. 

 Here he wielded great influence in u quirt wuy on the 

 counsels and activities of Lincoln'* administration. 

 His publications were confined to pamphlets, but one 

 of tin -e attracted no little utcntioti at home, and was 

 extensively sold in Kuropc. The War l^nrert of the 

 J'muirnt, anil the Leffillatiw I'uirrn of Conffrett, m 

 Ji'iliiliiin In Trnttnti. Rilu'llinn, find Sluurt/ (1862) 

 e>|H'iu-d and fully occupied a new field. This tre-atise- 

 oassed through twenty-seven editions within a few \.-i.r-. 

 In Carpenter's painting of Lincoln and his Cabinet the 

 President directed that this book should have a prom- 

 inent place. To its original chapters were added in 

 the later editions others on Military Arrests, Military 

 Government, and Reconstruction. Whiting was for 

 mine time nri'.-idc nt of the New Kngland Historical- 

 Genealogical Society, and in his las; \carwas elected 

 to Congress. He died in Boston, June L".>, 1873. 



WHITMAN. WAIT, poet, was born May 31, 1819. 

 at his parents' farm house. SVcst Hills, western Suf- 

 folk co., L. I. ; of Knglish stock from the lather's 

 hide und of Holland Dutch from that of the mother, 

 Juisa Van Velsor. The family moved to Brooklyn 

 early, and in that place and New York eitv Whit- 

 man's boyhood und early manhood passed, lie went 

 to the public echools, and in due time learned the 

 printer's trade and worked at it. lie also lived in the 

 country on Ix>ng Island, taught school, labored at 

 farm toil and house-building, und published a weekly 

 newspaper. New York and Brooklyn, however, were 

 his principal head-quarters till he was nearly 3i> years 

 of ape, when he started travelling, first to Louisiana, 

 passing a year there, and then to leisurely visits and 

 occupation, in nearly all the Southern and Western 

 States, one after the other. Then, returning to Brook- 

 lyn, he put in shape and issued (1855) the first portion 

 of Lfavft of Grits*, which has been fashioned and 

 iiiereaseel until now (1889) it is considered finished 

 by the author's la pieces, Siindi at Seraity, as annex 

 to the previous ones. 



During 1862 to 1865, inclusive. Whitman was ardu- 

 ously occupied in the area of the civil war in Mary- 

 land and Virginia and in and around Washington 

 City, with the wounded and sick of the armies, both 

 Northern and Southern, giving fully three years to 

 those special ininistcrings. He had always possessed 

 the best health and strength, but ulxuit the close of 

 the contest lie was prostrated by n severe stroke of 

 paralysis. Though he surmounted it. a broken phy- 

 hique resulted, and Home nix attacks have at times fol- 

 lowed from it since. 



His literary works are comprehended under three 

 titles, the Ijcnrn <>f (Irnia. his main work and form 

 of poetio expression, passing through five stages or 

 increment*, Itcginning in I H.'>'> and completed ii 



Ills prose book. .S'/'/H<H Itnt/s nn/l Cullrfl (I8S3), 



forming biographical notes, personal memoranda dur- 

 ing the civil war, with various ewnys, including 

 "Dcmex-ratic Vi-tas." He has never recovered from 

 the physical paralysis of the war period and agitation 

 of 1X60 to 1863; but, his mental powers remaining 

 unaffected, he has worked steadily at his literary 

 plans, and during 1888. in nis seventieth year, finished 

 the booklet of AOMMMr Bough*, his last work, con- 

 taining both poems and prose. 



'flu- time ha. probablv nut yet come for pronouncing 

 definitely on \\alt Whitman's place in literature. 

 His main characteristics may safely IK; said to be 

 daring originality In thought n.i well as in form, con- 

 teinpl for conventionalities, marvellous fecundity and 

 felicity of expression, and luindlcss admiration for 

 democracy as developed in the America of to-day, or 



rather, it may !*, in that ideal America that looms np 

 In-fore hi- poetic eye. By not a few he is held to 

 stand side by side with Kmcrsoii as one of America's 

 truly representative geniuses. Others. Marilcd by the 

 outre appearance of bin rhymeless verses, his defiance 

 of conventionalities and his frequent mysticism, see 



] little to admire in him. He is highly appreciated in 

 Kngland, and his pieces Lave been translated into sev- 

 eral modern languages. 



His tender care for the wounded and sick during 

 our civil war have endeared him personally to 

 true American. Nothing can be more touchingly 

 eloquent than some of his letters to his mother de- 

 scriptive of the scenes he witnessed in the hospital*. 

 He resides on Mickle street, Camden, in a plain frame 

 dwelling which has become a shrine where he n 

 the homage of numerous devoted admirers, not a lew 

 froin foreign lands. He is a bachelor, and his real 

 amiability and charm of character endear him to all 

 who know him. 



WHITNEY, Eu (1765-1825), the inventor of the 

 cotton-gin, was a farmer's son, born at West borough, 

 Worcester eo. , Mass., Doc, 8, 1765. His early ndvan ; 

 tages were limited, but his mechanical gifts were 

 shown and utilized in childhood. At " he began 

 to manufacture nails, and followed with pins and 

 Filtering Yale College at 24, he worked his way 

 through the course, and after graduating, in 17'J2, 



I accepted a private tutorship in Georgia, but on arriv- 

 ing found the place given to another. The widow of 

 <ien. (irccne took pity on his necessitous condition, 

 entertained him at her house near Savannah, and, 

 finding him useful in making or mending any sort of 

 implement, referred to him some neighbors who we re 

 troubled by the slow and laborious process of separat- 

 ing cotton from its seed. Whitney had then no ac- 

 quaintance with the plant, but found spcciim ns of its 

 seed and went to work. Full of inward resources, 

 though sadly lacking in external facilities, he made his 

 own tools and wire, and had success in view when the 

 eager impatience and selfish greed of unknown per- 

 sons delayed the execution of his plans and opened the 

 way to innumerable vexations and disappointments. 

 His first machine, kept secret and under lock, was 

 stolen when yet incomplete, copied, and put in . 

 tion before he was able to produce another und scciiio 

 a patent. He would now have been helpless, but that 

 Miller, tutor to Mrs. Greene's children and afterward 

 her husband, entered into partnership with Whitney 

 in May. 1 71>3, and supplied funds till his death in 

 1803. Whitney went North to construct the gins and 

 obtained a patent March 14, 1794, which was contested 

 in (ieorL'ia. His history embrace-s all the prove-il <ial 

 trials of inventors, which he met with indomita- 

 ble patience, resolution, and tenacity, (tne difficulty 

 after another arose- in his path, lie could not manu- 

 facture enough machine's to supply the ele maud of nil 

 I crop e>f cotton, planteel in reliance em the in- 

 vention, and the stolen gins, however inferior to his, 

 were eagerly purchased. Obliged to borrow money at 

 high rates, the burning of his shop with all its con 

 tents made him a bankrupt. The gins were brought 

 into discredit for a time by an unfounded idea in Kng- 

 land that they weakened the cotton in cleaning it. 

 When this prejudice subsided, the market was Mex-ke d 

 with pirated machines, which Ix'came yet more abun- 

 dant when the first suit brought lor violation of pah lit 

 was decielcd imainst the inventor. Worn out with the 

 injustice of (ieorj;ia. he sought relief in other Stales. 

 Mature of South Carolina in ISllI voted him 

 t'lO.iKN) for the State right to his gin, but many d< lays, 

 annoyances, insults, and expenses ensued before the 

 sum was paid. In Tenner e he received lair pr< 

 which weic ,-oon di-owned. In North Carolina alono 

 was he fairly treated ; a tax imposed in I MIL' for five 

 years on every saw employee! in ginning supplied him 



I with means to prose-cute his suits in (ieorcin. There 

 in I soT he obtained a tardy injunction on infringe- 



