Leaves of Grass

On a morning in Boston, a large crowd gathers to watch the return of Anthony Burns, a man fleeing enslavement in Virginia who was arrested in Boston under the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. Federal marshals escort Burns through the Boston streets, accompanied by large numbers of troops and police. The poem does not explain the situation in detail; Whitman wrote it shortly after the event and likely thought that he did not need to, since the incident was then so well known and reported about extensively. 

The speaker goes to see the procession and observes the military men as they march down the street. He then envisions the ghostly appearance of soldiers from the Revolutionary War marching alongside. These “Yankee phantoms” (Line 16) are very old, and some are on crutches or with arms in a slings. The speaker wonders why they are there. As the ghosts retreat, the speaker says they do not belong there anyway. 

The speaker suggests that what does belong is a different kind of procession. He proposes getting authorization from the British government to exhume the body of King George III and transport it to Boston Bay. Then there can be another procession, with the former king’s remains as the focus, with a crown on top of his skull.