Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman was born in 1819. He first worked at various jobs, most of which were in the newspaper department. Like Edgar Allan Poe, and unlike John Steinbeck, his first works had trouble catching on. In the meantime, he teached and worked for the newspaper industry for a little while. His first edition of Leaves of Grass, published in 1837, was not well received among some critics. It is said that one of the more famous writers of his time ended up throwing his first edition copy into the fire. Still, Whitman continued to work on Leaves of Grass, publishing many other poems along the way. When the Civil War broke out, Whitman's brother George enlisted in the Union army. When the report came out that "Lieutenant G.W. Whitman" had been injured, Walt went to check on his brother. It was merely a grazing wound to the cheek. Unfortunately, Whitman was bedbound for most of his time after 1873. Leaves of Grass eventually caught on as Whitman's greatest work. The 1891 edition, published just before he died, was known as the "Deathbed Edition." By that time, the collection whose first edition contained only a dozen poems had grown into a tome of over 400.
Whitman's Times
Whitman lived through many of the same events Longfellow did, such as the Panic of 1837, Mexican War, and Civil War. The Civil War had two main "theatres": the Western and the Eastern. The war began in 1861, when Confederates fired on Fort Sumter. In the Western Theater, Grant saw success at Forts Henry and Donelson, but McDowell and McClellan in the East was getting nowhere against Joseph Johnston. Eventually, in 1862, McClellan went on his Peninsula Campaign and reached the gates of Richmond, but Johnston stopped him in the Battle of Seven Pines. Then, Lee took command and sent McClellan retreating. Lee enjoyed a string of victories to end 1862. Grant, meanwhile, was stuck trying to figure out a way to get to Vicksburg. Lee, meanwhile, began to invade the North. Unfortunately, his first attempt ended at Antietam, while his second ended at Gettysburg. The next day, Vicksburg fell after a long siege from Grant. Lincoln then made Grant the commander of all Union forces, and the aggressive Grant campaigned against Lee in the East. Two years later, the war was over.