Col. and Mrs. Van Wyck visit Clara Barton, future founder of the American Red Cross
On April 4, 1863, Clara Barton, "the Angel of the Battlefield," headed south via ship from New York to Hilton Head, S.C., to aid Union soldiers wounded during siege operations against Charleston. By this time, her activities as a battlefield nurse and advocate for wounded and missing soldiers had earned her a wide reputation. On board the ship Arago, she became acquainted with Col. C.H. Van Wyck's wife, who was headed to Port Royal, S.C., to visit her husband, whose 56th New York Volunteers was stationed there.
Barton set up quarters on Hilton Head Island, and regularly entertained guests there. Among these was Col. Van Wyck. In a letter Barton wrote the following month to cousin Elvira Stone, Barton reported that Van Wyck had "a most refined and delicate poetic taste." To entertain one another, Barton and her guests would recite poems from memory, and the colonel's evident skill in this regard made an impression upon her.
In 1881, Barton founded the American Red Cross and served as its first president.
In 2002, this autographed photo of Barton was found in an album of cartes-de-visite photographs of men of Co. F, 56th New York Volunteers. In addition, the album contained photographs of unidentified civilians. The Barton photograph possibly was given to the owner of the album as a keepsake of her association with the regiment in 1863.
| Col. Van Wyck meets a different kind of hero | Our very own (well, sort of) Medal of Honor recipient |