Description:

EDMUND RUFFIN'S PROPERTIES ARE TORCHED!
Excellent content letter by 2nd Lieut. James P. Elliott, Co. I. & D., 1st Ct. Heavy Artillery, 4pp. 8vo., Harrisons Landing, Va., Aug. 4, 1862, in pencil. In part:"...our midnight revel the other night or at one o'clock of the morning of Aug. 1st...The first I knew of the affair was the report of a cannon which woke me from a sound sleep, and the next moment somewhere found 25-50 more let drive with shot and shell from the rebel shore into our camps in all directions scattering destruction among the sleeping inhabitants...as far as I have been able to learn 22 men were killed and wounded upon our side in all. Just as soon as our men could be called out we started for our siege guns which had been stationed on the bank of the river the day previous, as I passed out of our camp a shell struck a very short distance from where we stood yet none of us were hurt and we proceeded in something of a hurry for our guns and as we passed a small grove (where is quite a blacksmith shop) a shell came whizzing in there and knocked the tools in all directions, making something of a fizzing but on we went the shot & shell coming in a perfect shower of hail, the ground was slippery owing to rain we had just before, and the night was very dark and numerous were the falls the men got on our way down, but my legs served me well and I kept my feet all of the way. We soon got the range and returned the fire and in five minutes more not a rebel gun replied, one of our gunboats fired a few shots at the rebels before got to our guns, our batteries fired nearly fifty shots at them. My gun a 30 lbr. fired four shots and as no shots were returned we ceased firing. None of regiment were hurt at all, one of the Lieutenants was hit by a piece of shell but it only bruised him slightly: men were killed on three sides of us...Our troops crossed the river the next day and burnt ten buildings and cut all of the fruit trees & ornamental shrubs around them, it belonged to Judge Ruffin the man who fired the first shot at Fort Sumpter...". Edmund Ruffin was a farmer, slaveholder, and Confederate soldier. He was an ardent supporter of the Confederacy and a longstanding enemy of the North. Because of his strong secessionist views and the widely held belief that he fired the first shot of the Battle of Fort Sumter, Ruffin is credited as "Firing the first shot of the Civil War". Ruffin was so distraught after learning that Lee had surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, he committed suicide at his home on June 17, 1865. Fine.

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December 9, 2011 11:00 AM EST
Stamford, CT, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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