In 1861, with the onset of the Civil War, Walt Whitman resolved to live a life of chastity. Then hearing of his brother's injury in the Battle of Fredericksburg, he travelled into the infernal fire of a hellish war.

Upon arriving at the front in Virginia, he began volunteering as a wound dresser at the Union hospitals. He spent most of his time through the war attending to the courageous soldiers in the hospitals - providing them with aid as a nurse, lending them books, giving them stationary and postage for letters home (and in many cases serving as an amanuensis for soldiers who could not write the letters themselves because of the severity of their injuries), money from his own pocket and compassion for their sacrifices.

Songs for Walt provides an account of the horrific years that sustained a nation and transformed a common man who became one of the greatest poets.