Ruffin, Edmund

Life Span
to
    Full name
    Edmund Ruffin
    Place of Birth
    Burial Place
    Birth Date Certainty
    Exact
    Death Date Certainty
    Exact
    Gender
    Male
    Race
    White
    Sectional choice
    South
    Origins
    Slave State
    Education
    William & Mary
    Occupation
    Farmer or Planter
    Scientist or Inventor
    Writer or Artist
    Relation to Slavery
    Slaveholder
    Political Parties
    Democratic
    Southern Democratic (1860)
    Other Affiliations
    Fire-Eaters (Secessionists)
    Military
    Confederate Army

    Edmund Ruffin (American National Biography)

    Scholarship
    Although Ruffin's secessionist stance had crystallized at least as early as 1850, it was not until the last four years of the antebellum period, following his retirement from farming and the division of his property among his surviving children, that his crusade for disunion became most intense. Wherever he traveled--at Virginia summer resorts; at the Southern Commercial Convention in Montgomery, Alabama; in hotel lobbies from Washington, D.C., to Charleston, South Carolina; on steamboats and in railroad cars--Ruffin preached the message that southern rights could be preserved only through secession and the creation of a separate nation. Even more significant were his voluminous writings. These included two lengthy pamphlets, "The Political Economy of Slavery" and "African Colonization Unveiled," both published in 1858; an article, "Consequences of Abolition Agitation," which was serialized in De Bow's Review (1857), and another in The South (1858), calling for the removal, through enslavement or forced exile, of the bulk of the free black population in Virginia; a 426-page political novel entitled Anticipations of the Future (1860), which was inspired by John Brown's (1800-1859) raid on Harpers Ferry; and dozens of newspaper pieces, many printed as editorials in the Charleston Mercury. Despite these exertions, Ruffin had little influence in actually effecting secession. Certainly his voice was not heeded in Virginia.
    William K. Scarborough, "Ruffin, Edmund," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00873.html.
    Chicago Style Entry Link
    Smith, Kenneth L. "Edmund Ruffin and the Raid on Harper's Ferry." Virginia Cavalcade 22, no. 2 (1972): 28-37. view record
    Walther, Eric H. The Fire-Eaters. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1992. view record
    How to Cite This Page: "Ruffin, Edmund," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/6515.