Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 244, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1911 — STORIES OF CAMP AND WAR [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

STORIES OF CAMP AND WAR

FIRST SHOT IN CIVIL WAR Consensus of Opinion Gives Credit to Edmund Ruffin—Ardent Secessionist Committed Suicide. There is always a fascination about the first, whether it’s a baby, a pair of trousers, a high hat or the discoverer of the north pole. 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." A book that the passing of years has made interesting is in the possession of Capt Noble D. Preston of Philadelphia. It is a history of tbs

American revolution, and was the property of Edmund Ruffiin. Preston, with his comrades of the Tenth New York cavalry, was near the James river in May, 1864, when one night woke his master up by throwing the heavy blankets on him. Aaron had been out with a party on a 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 captain looked at the blankets he noticed the initials “U. 8.” “Well, whoever had these blankets stole them, so you’re all right, Aaron," he remarked. The history has since been in the relic chest at Captain Preston’s home, didn't take it out until a few days ago, when General Pryor announced that he had been first delegated to fire that first shot. The captain pasted this recent newspaper clipping in the back of the book beside an old, yellow clipping, which chronicled the suicide of Ruffin. The first clipping on the back cover reads as follows: “Old Edmund Ruffin, who fired the first gun on Fort Sumter, committed suicide on Saturday last near Danville, Va., by blowing his brains out with a masket 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: 'I cannot survive the loss of the liberties of my country.*” Then, after 46 years, another clipping throws a different light on the firing of the first shot It is this statement of General Roger Atkinson Pryor, the soldier, editor and lawyer, it reads as follows: “The first shot on Fort Sumter freed the slaves, but that was not my intention when I viewed the cannon’s fuse, prepared to touch it off. “I was then a lawyer ot 33 from Virginia, and had made a speech in Charleston just a few days before the 12th of April, 1861. in which I said: Strike one blow and Virginia will secede in an hour by the Shrewsbury clock.’ It was In compliment for this speech that General Beauregard bestowed upon me the honor of firing the first shot. Ruffin had a paper, of which he had been editor for many years. He was the first advocate of secession as distinct from Calhoun’s doctrine of nullification. Virginia did not favor Ruffin's notion strongly. That la why Ruffin went to South Carolina to propound his doctrine. He west to Charleston in April. Charleston was beleaguered with 3,000 to 4,000 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 I Introduced him to the general and told the general what Ruffin had done to further the cause of the south, and persuaded him to allow Ruffin to fire it The general was persuaded. Ruffin fired the first shot Virginia thereupon seceded. uniting the entire south." The taking of the old book from his chest has brought back old memories to Captain Preston, and once again heAronders what became at Ns faithful boy Aaron.

Ruffin Fired First Shot.