Today in History, February 9: 1888 – Poet Walt Whitman writes a note to the publishers of the Riverside Literature Series #32, correcting their printing of the poem that he had written amid his, and the nation’s grief over the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865.
O CAPTAIN! my captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring.
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red!
Where on the deck my captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
Mark Loves History! 