History

Finished January 10
Now the Drum of War: Walt Whitman and his Brothers in the Civil War by Robert Roper
This book looks mostly at Walt Whitman, but also at his brothers George and Jeff, very successful in their own fields. George was a soldier during the Civil War and a well-regarded one. He fought at several major battles including Antietam. He was a leader among the men and considered lucky. Jeff, even though he had no schooling past the age of fourteen, became one of his century's great engineers. He built the Saint Louis waterworks among other large projects. Besides being a gifted poet, Walt spent much of the war visiting wounded men in the hospitals and attending to their needs. Taken from family letters as well as other historical sources, this book opens a new window on the Whitman family and I learned a lot about not only Walt, but his immediate family as well.
This was a very interesting read.