Publisher Desc.  It was 1865. The United States was just beginning to recover from the shock of the Civil War when a tragic aftershock occured that caused even more sorrow. President Lincoln had been assassinated. Many felt the loss of the President, but none expressed this loss more eloquently than American poet Walt Whitman. As a voice reflecting the nation's grief over the abrupt end of so dedicated a leader, Whitman bid a poetic farewell to Lincoln, the fallen captain of the Ship of State.