About this Item

Title: I cross'd the Nevadas

Creator: Walt Whitman

Date: About 1865

Whitman Archive ID: yal.00009

Source: Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Transcribed from digital images of the original. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of manuscripts, see our statement of editorial policy.

Editorial note: The lines on this manuscript, apparently from either a late draft or a presentation copy, are from the poem "Rise O Days from Your Fathomless Deeps," first published in Drum-Taps. Whitman most likely wrote this manuscript in 1865, the year he published Drum-Taps and the year he met Byron Sutherland, a young soldier, whose name is written on the back of the leaf. Sutherland sent the poet a letter from Corry, Pennsylvania in September 1865.

Related item: On the back of this leaf Whitman wrote the names and addresses of Byron Sutherland and Mrs. Annie Stowe.