Constance Cary Harrison
Encyclopedia
Constance Cary Harrison (April 25, 1843 - November 21, 1920), was a prolific American writer. She was also known as Constance Cary, Constance C. Harrison, and Mrs. Burton Harrison, as well as her nom de plume, "Refugitta." She was married to Burton Harrison
, a lawyer and American democratic politician. With two cousins she was known as the "Cary Invincibles"; the three sewed the first examples of the Confederate Battle Flag.
, into an planter aristocrat
family, to Archibald Cary and Monimia Fairfax. Archibald Cary was the son of Wilson Jefferson Cary and Virginia Randolph
. Monimia Fairfax was the daughter of Thomas Fairfax, 9th Lord Fairfax of Cameron
. Archibald Cary was a subscriber to the Monticello Graveyard (1837). They lived at Cumberland, Maryland
, where he was editor of its leading newspaper, The Cumberland Civilian
. When he died in 1854, her mother, Monimia, moved the family, in with her grandmother at Vaucluse Plantation
in Fairfax County, Virginia
, until the outbreak of the Civil War
.
, as a part of the defenses of Washington, D.C.
) she lived in Richmond, Virginia
during the American Civil War
and moved in the same set as Varina Davis
, Mary Boykin Chesnut
, and Virginia Clay-Clopton
. She was published in Southern magazines under the pen name "Refugitta."
Constance Cary lived with her Baltimore cousins, Hetty
and Jennie; her mother served as the girls' chaperone. The three young ladies became known as the "Cary Invincibles." In September 1861, they sewed the first examples of the Confederate Battle Flag
following a design created by William Porcher Miles
and modified by General Joseph E. Johnston
. According to her own account, one flag was given to General Joseph E. Johnson
, one to Confederate general P. G. T. Beauregard
, and hers to Confederate general Earl Van Dorn
. Later during the war, she assisted her mother as a nurse at Camp Winder.
She later met Burton Harrison
(1838–1904), a private secretary for Confederate President Jefferson Davis
, and helped win his release from Fort Delaware
after the war's end.
. She and Harrison were married on November 26, 1867, St. Anne's Church, in Westchester County, New York; the wedding breakfast was at Old Morrisana, the country home of her uncle, Gouverneur Morris. He held various public offices, and she wrote and was active in the city’s social scene. They were the parents of Fairfax Harrison
(March 13, 1869 - February 2, 1938), who was a President of the Southern Railway Company, and Francis Burton Harrison
(December 13, 1873- November 22, 1957), who served as a Governor-General of the Philippines
.
Among her other contributions to American Literature
, Constance Cary Harrison persuaded her friend Emma Lazarus
to donate a poem to the fundraising effort to pay for a pedestal for the Statue of Liberty
.
In 1871, the Harrisons first visited Bar Harbor, Mount Desert Island
, Maine
, staying at the cottage of Captain Royal George Higgins. Sometime in the 1880s, they commissioned Arthur Rotch
of the architectural firm Rotch & Tilden
to build a seaside cottage called Sea Urchins, with a garden designed by Beatrix Farrand
. The property now is owned by the College of the Atlantic
, transformed into Deering Common, student center. Sea Urchins was the center of hospitality during the "Gilded Age" in Bar Harbor and she entertained many noted visitors there, including friend and neighbor James G. Blaine
, who lived at Stanwood. The Harrison's winter home was a mansion on East 29th Street, New York.
Constance Cary Harrison died in Washington, D.C.
, in 1920, at the age of 77.
appeared in the 1901 production of this play.
Burton Harrison
Burton Norvell Harrison , was a lawyer, American Democratic politician, and private secretary to Confederate States of America president Jefferson Davis.-Early life:...
, a lawyer and American democratic politician. With two cousins she was known as the "Cary Invincibles"; the three sewed the first examples of the Confederate Battle Flag.
Life
Constance Cary was born at Port Gibson, MississippiPort Gibson, Mississippi
Port Gibson is a city in Claiborne County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,840 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Claiborne County.- History :...
, into an planter aristocrat
Plantations in the American South
Plantations were an important aspect of the history of the American South, particularly the antebellum .-Planter :The owner of a plantation was called a planter...
family, to Archibald Cary and Monimia Fairfax. Archibald Cary was the son of Wilson Jefferson Cary and Virginia Randolph
Virginia Randolph Cary
Virginia Randolph Cary was the author of Letters on Female Character, Addressed to a Young Lady, on the Death of Her Mother , an influential advice book.-Life:...
. Monimia Fairfax was the daughter of Thomas Fairfax, 9th Lord Fairfax of Cameron
Thomas Fairfax, 9th Lord Fairfax of Cameron
Thomas Fairfax, 9th Lord Fairfax of Cameron , son of Bryan Fairfax. Thomas Fairfax, with his father, on December 11, 1799, was among the last guests at Mount Vernon, before Washington died....
. Archibald Cary was a subscriber to the Monticello Graveyard (1837). They lived at Cumberland, Maryland
Cumberland, Maryland
Cumberland is a city in the far western, Appalachian portion of Maryland, United States. It is the county seat of Allegany County, and the primary city of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 20,859, and the metropolitan area had a...
, where he was editor of its leading newspaper, The Cumberland Civilian
Media in Cumberland, Maryland
Cumberland, Maryland has several media outlets, most carrying some form of satellite programming. WCBC-AM and the Cumberland Times-News actively collect their local news content, while WFRB-AM/FM,WTBO-AM,WKGO-FM also offer local news content.-Print:...
. When he died in 1854, her mother, Monimia, moved the family, in with her grandmother at Vaucluse Plantation
Vaucluse (plantation)
Vaucluse was a plantation in Fairfax County, Virginia, three miles from Alexandria and from Washington, D.C., on a hill near the Virginia Theological Seminary, that was owned first by Dr. James Craik, and later by the Fairfax family, the first being Thomas Fairfax, 9th Lord Fairfax of Cameron.-...
in Fairfax County, Virginia
Fairfax County, Virginia
Fairfax County is a county in Virginia, in the United States. Per the 2010 Census, the population of the county is 1,081,726, making it the most populous jurisdiction in the Commonwealth of Virginia, with 13.5% of Virginia's population...
, until the outbreak of the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
Civil War years
After the seizure of Vaucluse and its demolition (to construct Fort WorthFort Worth, Virginia
Fort Worth was a timber and earthwork fortification constructed west of Alexandria, Virginia as part of the defenses of Washington, D.C. during the American Civil War. Built in the weeks following the Union defeat at Bull Run, Fort Worth was situated on a hill north of Hunting Creek, and Cameron Run,...
, as a part of the defenses of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
) she lived in Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
and moved in the same set as Varina Davis
Varina Howell
Varina Banks Howell Davis was an American author who was best known as the First Lady of the Confederate States of America, second wife of President Jefferson Davis.-Childhood:...
, Mary Boykin Chesnut
Mary Boykin Chesnut
Mary Boykin Chesnut, born Mary Boykin Miller , was a South Carolina author noted for a book published as her Civil War diary, a "vivid picture of a society in the throes of its life-and-death struggle." She described the war from within her upper-class circles of Southern planter society, but...
, and Virginia Clay-Clopton
Virginia Clay-Clopton
Virginia Clay-Clopton was an American memoirist and political hostess. She was also known as Virginia Tunstall, Virginia Clay, and Mrs. Clement Claiborne Clay.-Biography:...
. She was published in Southern magazines under the pen name "Refugitta."
Constance Cary lived with her Baltimore cousins, Hetty
Hetty Cary
Hetty Carr Cary was the wife of CSA General John Pegram and, later, of pioneer physiologist Henry Newell Martin. She is best remembered for making the first three battle flags of the Confederacy...
and Jennie; her mother served as the girls' chaperone. The three young ladies became known as the "Cary Invincibles." In September 1861, they sewed the first examples of the Confederate Battle Flag
Flags of the Confederate States of America
There were only three flag designs adopted, with later, minor variants made to those designs, that served as the official national flags of the Confederate States of America and used during its existence from 1861 to 1865...
following a design created by William Porcher Miles
William Porcher Miles
William Porcher Miles was among the ardent States' Rights advocates, supporters of slavery, and Southern secessionists who came to be known as the "Fire-Eaters." Born in South Carolina, he showed little early interest in politics and his early career included the study of law and a tenure as a...
and modified by General Joseph E. Johnston
Joseph E. Johnston
Joseph Eggleston Johnston was a career U.S. Army officer, serving with distinction in the Mexican-American War and Seminole Wars, and was also one of the most senior general officers in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War...
. According to her own account, one flag was given to General Joseph E. Johnson
Joseph E. Johnson
Joseph Esrey Johnson was an American government official who served with both the United States Department of State and the United Nations....
, one to Confederate general P. G. T. Beauregard
P. G. T. Beauregard
Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard was a Louisiana-born American military officer, politician, inventor, writer, civil servant, and the first prominent general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Today he is commonly referred to as P. G. T. Beauregard, but he rarely used...
, and hers to Confederate general Earl Van Dorn
Earl Van Dorn
Earl Van Dorn was a career United States Army officer, fighting with distinction during the Mexican-American War and against several tribes of Native Americans...
. Later during the war, she assisted her mother as a nurse at Camp Winder.
She later met Burton Harrison
Burton Harrison
Burton Norvell Harrison , was a lawyer, American Democratic politician, and private secretary to Confederate States of America president Jefferson Davis.-Early life:...
(1838–1904), a private secretary for Confederate President Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...
, and helped win his release from Fort Delaware
Fort Delaware
Fort Delaware is a harbor defense facility, designed by Chief Engineer Joseph Gilbert Totten, and located on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River. During the American Civil War, the Union used Fort Delaware as a prison for Confederate prisoners of war, political prisoners, federal convicts, and...
after the war's end.
After the war
In 1865, she wintered in Paris, with her mother. In 1866 Harrison had settled in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. She and Harrison were married on November 26, 1867, St. Anne's Church, in Westchester County, New York; the wedding breakfast was at Old Morrisana, the country home of her uncle, Gouverneur Morris. He held various public offices, and she wrote and was active in the city’s social scene. They were the parents of Fairfax Harrison
Fairfax Harrison
Fairfax Harrison was an American lawyer, businessman, and writer. The son of the secretary to the Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Harrison studied law at Yale University and Columbia University before becoming a lawyer for the Southern Railway Company in 1896...
(March 13, 1869 - February 2, 1938), who was a President of the Southern Railway Company, and Francis Burton Harrison
Francis Burton Harrison
Francis Burton Harrison was an American statesman who served in the United States House of Representatives and appointed Governor-General of the Philippines by President of the United States Woodrow Wilson...
(December 13, 1873- November 22, 1957), who served as a Governor-General of the Philippines
Governor-General of the Philippines
The Governor-General of the Philippines was the title of the government executive during the colonial period of the Philippines, governed mainly by Spain and the United States, and briefly by Great Britain, from 1565 to 1935....
.
Among her other contributions to American Literature
American literature
American literature is the written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and its preceding colonies. For more specific discussions of poetry and theater, see Poetry of the United States and Theater in the United States. During its early history, America was a series of British...
, Constance Cary Harrison persuaded her friend Emma Lazarus
Emma Lazarus
Lazarus began to be more interested in her Jewish ancestry after reading the George Eliot novel, Daniel Deronda, and as she heard of the Russian pogroms in the early 1880s. This led Lazarus to write articles on the subject. She also began translating the works of Jewish poets into English...
to donate a poem to the fundraising effort to pay for a pedestal for the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
.
In 1871, the Harrisons first visited Bar Harbor, Mount Desert Island
Mount Desert Island
Mount Desert Island , in Hancock County, Maine, is the largest island off the coast of Maine. With an area of it is the 6th largest island in the contiguous United States. Though it is often claimed to be the third largest island on the eastern seaboard of the United States, it is actually second...
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, staying at the cottage of Captain Royal George Higgins. Sometime in the 1880s, they commissioned Arthur Rotch
Arthur Rotch
Arthur Rotch was an American architect active in Boston, Massachusetts.Rotch was born in Milton, Massachusetts to Benjamin Smith Rotch and Annie Bigelow Lawrence...
of the architectural firm Rotch & Tilden
Rotch & Tilden
Rotch & Tilden was an American architectural firm active in Boston, Massachusetts from 1880 through 1895.The firm was organized by partners Arthur Rotch and George Thomas Tilden...
to build a seaside cottage called Sea Urchins, with a garden designed by Beatrix Farrand
Beatrix Farrand
Beatrix Jones Farrand was a landscape gardener and landscape architect in the United States. Her career included commissions to design the gardens for private residences, estates and country homes, public parks, botanic gardens, college campuses, and the White House.Farrand was one of the founding...
. The property now is owned by the College of the Atlantic
College of the Atlantic
The College of the Atlantic, founded in 1969, is a private, alternative liberal-arts college located in Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island, Maine, United States. It awards a bachelor's degree solely in the field of human ecology, though with a variety of emphases. The college is small, with...
, transformed into Deering Common, student center. Sea Urchins was the center of hospitality during the "Gilded Age" in Bar Harbor and she entertained many noted visitors there, including friend and neighbor James G. Blaine
James G. Blaine
James Gillespie Blaine was a U.S. Representative, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, U.S. Senator from Maine, two-time Secretary of State...
, who lived at Stanwood. The Harrison's winter home was a mansion on East 29th Street, New York.
Constance Cary Harrison died in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, in 1920, at the age of 77.
Other prose
Produced at Madison Square theater in 1888. Noted actress Minnie Maddern FiskeMrs. Fiske
Minnie Maddern Fiske , born as Marie Augusta Davey, but often billed simply as Mrs. Fiske, was one of the leading American actresses of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. She also spearheaded the fight against the Theatrical Syndicate for the sake of artistic freedom...
appeared in the 1901 production of this play.