The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1911-06-29
FIRED THE FIRST SHOT.
Edmund Ruffin Started the Struggle;
Later Committed Suicide.

COF6ror OIL Luc uOiLu pOlC.
And so it is that, with the fiftieth
anniversary of the civil war, there is
a. particular interest attaching to the
man who fired the first shot.
There has been some dispute about
it, but the consensus of opinion has
settled upon Edmund Ruffin as the
one who fired the shot that freed
the slaves" Certain it is that he
suffered the i'll fortune that pursues
so many benefactors of the human
race, because he ended career of
misery by firing final shot that gave
him entrance to that bourne from
which no traveller ever returns"
Withal, he was an unwilling bene-
factor, because he was such an ar
dent secessionist that when he saw
the blue would win he ended his life
rather than endure "Yankee rule
A book that the passing of years
has made interesting is in the pos
session of Captain Noble D. Preston,
of Philadelphia. 1t is history of
the American revolution, and was
the property of Edmund Ruffin.
Captain Preston will never forget
the day that his servant Aaron hand
ed him the book, fol with it came a
handsome pair of heavy blankets.
Preston, with his comrades of the
Tenth New York cavalry, was near
the James river in May, 1854, when
one night Aaron woke his master up
by throwing the heavy blankets on
him. Aaron had been out with a
party on foraging trip. But he
never told where he got the articles.
AS Captain Preston never allowed
his men to enter a house except to
get eatables, he took the negro boy
sharply to task. But when the cap
tain looked at the blankets he no
ticed the initials ''U. S." "Well, who
ever had these blankets stole them,
so you're all right, Aaron" he re-
marked:
The history has since been in the
relic chest at Captain Preston's
home, he didn't take it out until a
few days ago, when General Pryor
announced that he had been first del
egated to fire that first shot. The
captain pasted this recent newspaper
clipping in the back of the book be-
side an old, yellow clipping which
chronicled the suicide of Rufin.
The book is the first volume of
history written by David Ramsey, M.
D., and was published by R. Atkin &
Son in Philadelphia. Besides the sig
nature and bookmark of Rufin there
are two other signatures on the front
covers. One is alexander, Mitchell
son, London" and the other wv.
Harrison, January IA, 1904"
The first clipping on the back cover
reads as follows:
"Old Edmund Ruffin, who fired the
first gun on Ft. Sumter, committed
suicide on Saturday last near Dan
vile, Va, by blowing his brains out
with a musket. He had become very
low-spirited since the capture of
Richmond, and did not wish to live
under Yankee rule. He left a note
saying, II cannot survive the loss of
the liberties of my country"
Then, after 46 years, another clip
ping throws a different light on the
firing of the first shot. 1t is this
statement of General Roger Atkinson
Pryor, the soldier, editor and law
yer. 1t reads as follows:
'The first shot on Ft. Sumter
freed the slaves, but that was not my
my intention when I viewed the can
mons fuse, prepared to touch it off.
"I was then a lawyer of 33 from
Virginia, and had made speech in
Charleston just a few days before
the 18th of April, 1861, in which I
said: Strike one blow and Virginia
will secede in an hour by the Shrews-
bury clock 1t was in compliment
for this speech that General Beaure-
gard bestowed upon me the honor of
firing the first shot. Rufin had pa
per, of which he had been editor for
many years. He was the first advo-
cate of secession as distinct from CAL
houn's doctrine of notification. Vir-
ginia did not favor Rufin's notion
strongly. That is why Rufin went
to South Carolina to PROFOUND his
doctrine. He went to Charleston in
April. Charleston was beleagured
with 5000 to 1000 young Southern
gentlemen, all in fighting trim. With
these boys Ruffin enlisted. He was
present when General Beauregard
asked me to fire the first shot. in
troduced him to the general and told