Peter Doyle was an emigrant from Ireland, also known to be Walt's companion for a very good chunk of time in his life. He was raised in the south and was actually a confederate soldier. They met on a horsecar that Peter was the conductor of and Whitman was the only passenger.
Doyle was present at the Ford's theater when President Lincoln was shot. He recollects that night and some believe he was the inspiration and main contact in writing "O Captain! My Captain!" He was quoted saying,
"I needn't tell you what I felt then, or saw. It is all put down in Walt's piece"
A poem also uses the name Pete,
"Come Up From The Fields Father," is unique in its use of a first name to identify the poem's fictional hero. The name used is "Pete". In no other poem does Walt give name to any character or model used.
Walt's calamus poems are frequently reverted back to Peter Doyle and the realtionship they has with one another, "love of comrades" celebrated in Whitman's "Calamus" poems.
His letters from Walt are published and allow for us to further study Whitman and his words.
http://whitmanarchive.org/criticism/current/encyclopedia/entry_3.html
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