The Diary of Edmund Ruffin

The Diary of Edmund Ruffin PDF

Author: Edmund Ruffin

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 1989-10-01

Total Pages: 1046

ISBN-13: 9780807114186

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In this last of the three-volume printed edition of The Diary of Edmund Ruffin, the celebrated Virginia agricultural reformer and apostle of secession chronicles the increasingly melancholy events of the last two years of the Civil War and of his own life. Apart from one brief sojourn in Charleston, Edmund Ruffin spent the last two years of the war in Virginia. Failing health and the course of the war prevented the devout Confederate from traveling to important battle sites and recording events there firsthand as he had done in the earlier years of the war. Unable to move about, Ruffin nonetheless continued to follow the war closely and to keep a daily commentary on contemporary events. This commentary provides a remarkably dispassionate and astute analysis of the declining military fortunes of the Confederacy as well as an illuminating portrait of deteriorating conditions on the home front. Yet this final volume of Ruffin’s diary is more than a record of “first impressions of public events,” as Ruffin claimed. Ruffin comments on religion, race, class, and politics. The topics he discusses range from the controversy over the enrollment of black troops and the transition to free labor at war’s end to an extended discourse on de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. As the final curtain fell on the Confederacy, the embittered southern nationalist, overwhelmed by physical maladies and familial misfortunes, resolved to take his own life. Only two months after Lee’s surrender to Grant, and less than fifty miles from Appomattox, Ruffin fired the last shot in his own private war against the Yankees—a bullet through his head. Rich in detail as well as in Ruffin’s personal beliefs, this carefully edited diary stands as one of the most valuable documents of the Civil War era.

The Diary of Edmund Ruffin: The years of hope, April 1861-June 1863

The Diary of Edmund Ruffin: The years of hope, April 1861-June 1863 PDF

Author: Edmund Ruffin

Publisher:

Published: 1972

Total Pages: 752

ISBN-13:

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The day-to-day descriptions of the Civil War in Virginia are laced with illumination comments about civil and military leaders on both sides, the prospect of foreign intervention, the increasing strain upon the southern economy, the effect of the Emancipation Proclamation, and the possibility of detaching the northwestern states from the East. Written by a man totally committed to the southern cause, The Diary of Edmund Ruffin is a literate, dependable source of information about the Civil War and its effects, as well as the political and social conditions in the South during the most critical period in its history. Meticulously edited by William Kauffman Scarborough, it will be of lasting value to anyone who wishes to study the Civil War from the insider's point of view.

The Diary of Edmund Ruffin

The Diary of Edmund Ruffin PDF

Author: Edmund Ruffin

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 1977-03-01

Total Pages: 752

ISBN-13: 9780807101834

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In this second of a projected three-volume edition of The Diary of Edmund Ruffin, the fiery southern nationalist records the events of the first two years of the Civil War -- from the aftermath of Fort Sumter (where Ruffin fired the first shot) to the simultaneous disasters at Gettysburg and Vicksburg that spelled doom for the Confederacy.From his advantageous position as the resident and former owner of two Virginia plantations, Ruffin was able to write a vivid eyewitness account of the early Federal campaigns against Richmond. Both of the Ruffin homesteads, Marlbourne and Beechwood, were overrun during McClellan's Peninsular Campaign of 1862, and the journal contains interesting observations about the conduct of Virginia slaves during this campaign, as well as the change it engendered in master-slave relations. Also included is a remarkable recollection of the Nat Turner revolt.The day-to-day descriptions of the Civil War in Virginia are laced with illumination comments about civil and military leaders on both sides, the prospect of foreign intervention, the increasing strain upon the southern economy, the effect of the Emancipation Proclamation, and the possibility of detaching the northwestern states from the East.Written by a man totally committed to the southern cause, The Diary of Edmund Ruffin is a literate, dependable source of information about the Civil War and its effects, as well as the political and social conditions in the South during the most critical period in its history. Meticulously edited by William Kauffman Scarborough, it will be of lasting value to anyone who wishes to study the Civil War from the insider's point of view.

The Diary of Edmund Ruffin

The Diary of Edmund Ruffin PDF

Author: Edmund Ruffin

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 1972-05-01

Total Pages: 664

ISBN-13: 9780807109489

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Edmund Ruffin was one of the most significant figures in the Old South. A gentleman planter, writer, and political commentator, he made his greatest contribution as an agricultural reformer, but it was as a militant defender of slavery and champion of the southern cause that he gained his greatest fame.In his voluminous diary, Ruffin has left an invaluable primary account of the crucial years from 1856 to 1865. This volume, the first of a projected two-volume edition, covers the period from Ruffin's retirement from his Virginia plantation to the aftermath of the bombardment of Fort Sumter in April of 1861.Through the eyes of this outspoken secessionist, the reader views the chain of events which drove the nation steadily and inexorably toward disunion and civil war. An intelligent and astute commentator, Ruffin was personally acquainted with most of the prominent southern political leaders of the day, and his restless nature impelled him to be present at the most important events of the period.Ruffin attended several secession conventions, and as a member of the Palmetto Guard he was accorded the honor of firing the first shot on Fort Sumter. The diary contains vivid eyewitness accounts of the hanging of John Brown on December 2, 1859, and the activities and changing moods in Charleston during the hectic months of March and April of 1861. Ruffins' detailed description of the two-day bombardment of Sumter is unexcelled.The Diary of Edmund Ruffin is of supreme importance as a chronicle of political attitudes, moods, and motives in the South during the most critical period in its history. The journal also contains a wealth of information on travel conditions in the Old South, the reading habits and social customs of the planter aristocracy, and various aspects of the plantation-slave system.

The Diary of Edmund Ruffin

The Diary of Edmund Ruffin PDF

Author: Edmund Ruffin

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 1972-05-01

Total Pages: 664

ISBN-13: 9780807109489

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Edmund Ruffin was one of the most significant figures in the Old South. A gentleman planter, writer, and political commentator, he made his greatest contribution as an agricultural reformer, but it was as a militant defender of slavery and champion of the southern cause that he gained his greatest fame.In his voluminous diary, Ruffin has left an invaluable primary account of the crucial years from 1856 to 1865. This volume, the first of a projected two-volume edition, covers the period from Ruffin's retirement from his Virginia plantation to the aftermath of the bombardment of Fort Sumter in April of 1861.Through the eyes of this outspoken secessionist, the reader views the chain of events which drove the nation steadily and inexorably toward disunion and civil war. An intelligent and astute commentator, Ruffin was personally acquainted with most of the prominent southern political leaders of the day, and his restless nature impelled him to be present at the most important events of the period.Ruffin attended several secession conventions, and as a member of the Palmetto Guard he was accorded the honor of firing the first shot on Fort Sumter. The diary contains vivid eyewitness accounts of the hanging of John Brown on December 2, 1859, and the activities and changing moods in Charleston during the hectic months of March and April of 1861. Ruffins' detailed description of the two-day bombardment of Sumter is unexcelled.The Diary of Edmund Ruffin is of supreme importance as a chronicle of political attitudes, moods, and motives in the South during the most critical period in its history. The journal also contains a wealth of information on travel conditions in the Old South, the reading habits and social customs of the planter aristocracy, and various aspects of the plantation-slave system.

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