War-dated ALS signed “Clara H. Barton,” one page, lightly-lined, 5.25 x 8.25, September 13, 1862. Letter to Colonel and Mrs. Artimus Lee. In part: “I have this hour left your son at Ward K, Armory Square Hospital, he is cheerful, patient and hopeful, and meets his misfortune like a soldier, which is the highest praise I could bestow on any conduct. The ball he tells me entered the groin, (but did not pass up) and still remains, as it entered no vital part this is thought safer than searching for it, it may reveal itself. I could not learn that his wound was considered dangerous. I was Oh:so glad to find that we had met before, but pardon me dear lady, I do not like to tell you where–be not alarmed, he was in his duty. I received Mr Bacon’s letter and gave instant intelligence to M. Aldrich of the presence of his at the Office, Mr A. has visited your son to day, and sent a note to me requesting me to furnish him with such luxuries as he desired—which I have previously arranged to do,—You will require to send nothing to him, unless you prefer the pleasure of serving him direct; we shall meet every desire he names, I trust that yourself and husband and also himself may have no cause to feel that he is not among kind watchful friends. I should be happy to be able to assure you that I should see him again tomorrow and next day, but this will be impossible as I go out of town for a day or two, but have left my worthiest courier, Corp. Poor [her cousin Leander Poor, Corporal of Engineers] of the regular army, (a cousin also of Mrs. Bacon’s) who is in the same hospital, and able to visit, and do errands for him, in special charge.—they will be friends I think.” In fine condition, with tiny splits along edges of mailing folds (an old miniscule tape repair to one). Accompanied by the original mailing envelope, addressed in Barton’s hand.
Barton was working as a recording clerk in the US Patent Office in Washington, D.C. when the first units of federal troops arrived in the nation’s capital in 1861. After the Armory Square Hospital was opened in 1862, she routinely checked on and cared for the soldiers there, many of whom had suffered some of the most ghastly wounds of the war. Among those taken there for treatment was Charles F. Lee, a lieutenant in the Massachusetts 18th Infantry who saw action at Second Bull Run in late August 1862. As Lee’s father was a colonel in the Massachusetts State Militia, he would have worried about the extent of his son’s injuries given his site of hospitalization, with Barton assuring this letter’s recipients that the young officer was “cheerful, patient and hopeful, and meets his misfortune like a soldier, which is the highest praise I could bestow on any conduct.” In the last 35 years, only two letters written by Barton during the Civil War have been sold at a major public auction and neither refer to her hospital or battlefield visits as this one does. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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