On Saturday, June 17, 1865 the fiery secessionist Edmund Ruffin, the man rumored to have fired the first shot against Fort Sumter at the start of the Civil War and the first person to enter that fortification after its fall to Southern forces, penned his last diary entry, writing “And now with my latest writing and utterance, and with what will [be] near to my latest breath, I here repeat, & would willingly proclaim, my unmitigated hatred to Yankee rule—to all political, social and business connections with Yankees, & to the perfidious, malignant, & vile Yankee race.” Ruffin then placed the muzzle of a rifle in his mouth and used a forked stick to manipulate the trigger, committing suicide. He was buried at Marlborne, his plantation in Hanover County, Virginia.
00000174-b11b-ddc3-a1fc-bfdbb1a20000The Schreiner University Department of History is honoring the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War with a series of short vignettes focusing on events from 1861 through 1865. The Civil War was the most destructive conflict in American history, but it was also one of our most defining moments as a people and as a nation. Let us know what you think about "This Week in the Civil War." E-mail your comments to Dr. John Huddleston at jhuddles@schreiner.edu.Airs: Weekdays at 5:19 a.m., 8:19 a.m., 4:19 p.m. on KTXI and 4:49 a.m., 9:29 p.m. on KSTX.