Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 113, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 May 1912 — STORIES of CAMP and WAR [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

STORIES of CAMP and WAR

OPENING OF THE CIVIL WAR Edmund Ruffin of Virginia Fired First Shot at Fort Sumter —Story Told by Judge Pryor.. "The first shot fired In the Civil war,” said Judge Roger A. Pryor the other day, according to the New York Herald, “was fifed by the hand of Mr. Edmund Ruffin of Virginia. It may be recalled that Virginia stood out long against secession. At the. Virginia convention a majority opposed taking the state put of the union, and the secessionists knew that without the border states, of whicTi Virginia was the leader, the cotton states would speedily be crushed. We all felt, I in particular, that the'one way to get Virginia to unite with her southern neighbors was to strike a blow against the Union. “After consultation with Mr. Jefferson Davis and others of the secession leaders I went down to Charleston, and from the porch of the Mills hotel delivered a speechto practically the entire population of Charleston. In, that speech I urged the southern troops to strike the first blow,, and assured them that once the conflict was on Virginia would secede ‘within an hour by Shrewsbury clock.’ "The next meeting I was deputed by General Beauregard to demand the surrender of Fort Sumter. We knew, of course, that surrender was impossible, but I was instructed after surrender had been refused to go at once ’ tp the nearest battery and order the com mandant to open fire. “When I got to Battery Johnson and was met by the young captain in charge I presented my order, and he, with much emotion, embraced me and said that It was my impassioned speech of the previous evening that had made war possible, and he offered me the chance of fame by firing the first gun at Fort Sumter. It was an honor I could not well refuse, and yet I was not anxious for it. “Back there in Virginia where the fight for and against secession had

been prolonged and bitter I had known Edmund Ruffin, a gentleman of considerable estate and owning many slaves. When the Virginia convention voted against secession Mr. Ruffin was so Incensed that he shook the dust of his native state from his ‘feet and became a citizen of South Carolina. Then* old as he was, he promptly enlisted as a private at Charleston. It was while I was in the midst of my quandary with the captain of Battery Johnson that I saw Mr. Ruffin, musket on his shoulder. “To the commandant I said: ‘Sir, I appreciate the honor you would do me, but I could not think of depriving others more worthy than myself. Here is the man whose devotion to the southern cause makes him .worthy of the honor.’ I Introduced Mr. Rffln to the commandant and explained the circumstances, and when I left the fort to watch, from the front, the effect of that first shot Mr, Ruffin had the lanyard of the gun In his hand, preparatory for firing. "Scarce had we got outside when the gun—the first gun of the Civil war “—went off with a roar. We could follow quite distinctly the flight of the shell, and we watched it in its course until it burst with terrific force right over Fort Sumter. “That was the first shot! Virginia seceded at once, when, the first blow having been struck, President Lincoln called upon her for her quota of troops. Mr. Ruffin, as soon as the state had taken the course he deemed right, went back to Virginia and resumed his citizenship there. He lived' during the rwt of the war. He was on a large estate of his in Amrita county when the news came to him of the surrender of Lee at . Appomat-tox-and the loss ot the southern “Tcnpntrt survive the liberties ofi my country,’ he said, with a resolution ta firm as that of Cato. He leaded a double-barreled gun, and, palling the to^oThta^e^offi®*’ *** ***** •"“•***

The First Gun of the Civil War Went Off With a Roar.