'My Dear Comrade Frederickus': Walt Whitman and Fred Gray

An exploration of Whitman's relationship with Fred Gray, who served admirably in the Union Army during the Civil War and went on to family life and a career in medicine. Blalock claims that Gray's biography sheds light on Whitman's connections with the crowd at Pfaff's as well as the broader New York medical community. Whitman held a nostalgic affection for Gray long after Gray had moved away from New York and started a family. Blalock suggests that Whitman's interests in Gray indicate Whitman's more literate and polished tastes above his associations with Pfaff's Bohemian crowd. Over the years, deaths in Gray's immediate family led to further disassociation from Whitman and Pfaff's, but Blalock contends that Whitman's role in the Fred Gray Association can be linked to his broader interests in American literary and medical practices.