Clarence Cary (March 18, 1845 – August 27, 1911)[1] was an American lawyer who was prominent in New York society during the Gilded Age.

His sister, the author Constance Cary, was married to Burton Harrison, the former private secretary for Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

[4] Among his large and prominent family members was uncle Gouverneur Morris of Morrisania,[5] who married Anne Cary Randolph.

[6] When Archibald died in 1854, his mother moved the family to his grandmother's plantation, known as Vaucluse in Fairfax County, Virginia.

Following the outbreak of the Civil War,[7] Vaucluse was seized and torn down to construct Fort Worth as a part of the defenses of Washington, D.C.

In his sailor role he served on the blockade runner, Nashville, on the Palmetto State ironclad, off the Carolina coast and on the James River fleet, proving himself a good officer.