Mr. Doyle.

They met on a fateful winter night. He was a horse carriage driver, cabbie, whatever you would call them in those days and Whitman was his only passenger. He claims that they were very familiar with one another at once and knew the type of friendship they would have when he placed his hand on his knee.

Now this all seems very tame, but this statement was rather brave considering the times in which it was confessed.

Now, Mr. Doyle, though marginally literate, proved to be a man quite different than Whitman. He was not a politically versed person, nor an artist or a writer, but in this he was the very man that Whitman sought for in a companion. He was the everyone man, the uneducated who was worthy of friendship, without adversity.

Most interestingly, he served on the confederate army opposing the north which Whitman so admired.

A companion for nearly thirty years, his frequent visits became less and less so as Whitman's health waned. There was an obvious conversation between the two where his concerns were brought up and whitman immediately understood. I imagine that he might have started a family or perhaps whitmans caretakers had become a nuisance, whatever reasons there maybe doyle loved the man and allowed a trusted friend to edit and publish personal letters.

Calamus is not based upon doyle and were written years prior to their relationship. Interestingly enough, certain sexually implicit lines were dropped during their relationship in later editions. (Will investigate.)

I personally believe that though peter doyle did not have a direct influence on LoG, he made Whitman happy which allowed him to open up considerably about his sexuallity and personal life.