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The Last Words of Edmund Ruffin, Southern Patriot
1865 | Edmund Ruffin

Posted on 06/05/2002 8:53:55 AM PDT by TexConfederate1861

"I here declare my unmitigated hatred to Yankee rule -- to all political, social and business connection with the Yankees and to the Yankee race. Would that I could impress these sentiments, in their full force, on every living Southerner and bequeath them to every one yet to be born! May such sentiments be held universally in the outraged and downtrodden South, though in silence and stillness, until the now far-distant day shall arrive for just retribution for Yankee usurpation, oppression and atrocious outrages, and for deliverance and vengeance for the now ruined, subjugated and enslaved Southern States!

..And now with my latest writing and utterance, and with what will be near my latest breath, I here repeat and would willingly proclaim my unmitigated hatred to Yankee rule--to all political, social and business connections with Yankees, and the perfidious, malignant and vile Yankee race."

--Edmund Ruffin , 1865


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Miscellaneous; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: dixielist; ruffin; yankee
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To: pittsburgh gop guy
You need to grab yourself an almanac my fried. If anyone is losing population, money, momentum, etc., it's the North East. TAF
181 posted on 06/05/2002 1:09:47 PM PDT by Right_Makes_Might
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To: rebelsoldier
...Yankees are a vile, contempible people

That would be 'contemptible', unless you're still trying for that literary thing.

182 posted on 06/05/2002 1:12:21 PM PDT by Non-Sequitur
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Comment #183 Removed by Moderator

To: TonyRo76
My Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather.........

Zachariah Bullock Tate

1st Georgia Infantry

11th Reg. Co.B

Army of Northern Virginia

Who freed his slaves, then went to war for his state, and his nation!

184 posted on 06/05/2002 1:39:56 PM PDT by TexConfederate1861
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To: Non-Sequitur

Thanks for the HTML help......

If I can ever return the favor, please ask....I am a certified computer tech......

185 posted on 06/05/2002 1:44:17 PM PDT by TexConfederate1861
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To: Non-Sequitur
If missing a key while typing is the best you've got, that's fine with me. I'm still waiting to know when the whole lot of you are going to take our flags and symbols away from us in person. Or are you going to avoid the same question twice?
186 posted on 06/05/2002 1:51:28 PM PDT by rebelsoldier
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To: dighton
Ha! I got that same thing on a firewall alert. Was that you?
187 posted on 06/05/2002 2:01:07 PM PDT by philman_36
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To: TexConfederate1861
In an earlier post you wrote that your ancestors never owned slaves. In this post you write that your g-g-g-g-grandfather freed his slaves before going to war....which is it?

The easist and fastest way to lose credibility is to contradict your own personal data.

188 posted on 06/05/2002 2:06:51 PM PDT by wtc911
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To: rebelsoldier
I wasn't aware that I avoided it once. But if you insist then I'll say that I honestly don't care what you do with your flag. Fly it, don't fly it, it makes absolutely no difference to me. I'm not threatened by it, offended by it, moved, stirred, or inspired by it. It means nothing to me, one way or the other.

OK?

189 posted on 06/05/2002 2:14:46 PM PDT by Non-Sequitur
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To: wtc911
Okay...I can see your point...as to him, he freed them immediately upon inheriting them, so I really don't see him as owning slaves.....interpret it the way you will....
190 posted on 06/05/2002 2:30:52 PM PDT by TexConfederate1861
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To: newwahoo; sphinx
Edmund Ruffin is one of the more interesting characters in the cause of the southern rebellion. The son of a wealthy family, his father owned 7 plantations and over a hundred slaves, he was something of a wastrel in his younger days. He got booted from William and Mary over a scandal involving a young lady from a prominent local family and a considerable amount of alcohol. After service in the War of 1812, Ruffin's father despaired of him ever making good when young Edmund developed an interest in the agriculture on his family's property. He became something of a self-taught agronomist. Making the connection between the high acidity of the soil and poor crop yields, he used a combination of natural fertilizers and applications of lime to raise the yield on the plantations by 40%.

Ruffin became a proponent of secession in the 1840's as an old-school Jeffersonian Republican. He spoke out against the central government and what he saw as the unconstitutional strengthening of it's power. At the same time he became more and more pro-slavery and anti-abolition. In his early years Ruffin was mildly anti-slavery, viewing it as a necessary evil. He became influenced by the pro-slavery writings of Thomas Dew, who wrote about the superiority of slave society, and incorporated his opinions into his secessionist ideals. Ruffin became acquainted with all the secessionist 'fire-eaters' of the time like Rhett, DeBow, Hammond, Tucker, and Keitt, and quoted their ideas widely. They, on the other hand, viewed Ruffin as something of a joke. Ruffin never became the influential center of the secessionist movement that he aspired to. He became something of a comic figure; the wacko who refused to buy anything made up North, the crazy old man who dressed up in a VMI uniform to witness the hanging of John Brown ( he later carried around one of the pikes taken from Brown's men as a reminder of what the abolitionists had in store for southern men and women), the man who joined the Charleston Greys and carried on until he was allowed to fire one of the first shot against Sumter. Legend has it that he fired the first shot but that was probably legend of his own making. Ruffin was very much a self-promoter.

As to Ruffin's views of blacks, they weren't any different than other southerners of the age. He believed in slavery, believed that it was the proper place for the negro. There is no evidence that he was an abusive or cruel slave owner. On the contrary, his agricultural methods required slave labor to implement and he would have been foolish to abuse the slaves that made it possible. As to Ruffin's views of Yankees, well he was downright bigoted.

191 posted on 06/05/2002 2:43:13 PM PDT by Non-Sequitur
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To: Illbay
You wanna see a real joke go take a look in the mirror bitch!
192 posted on 06/05/2002 6:07:35 PM PDT by arly
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To: Illbay
In other words, "Ronald Reagan bad, Bill Clinton good." That's how these stupid, silly people think.

This must be a joke!

193 posted on 06/05/2002 6:20:02 PM PDT by varina davis
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To: TexConfederate1861
Pardon my asking, what in the name of Sam Hill does this have to do with anything?
194 posted on 06/05/2002 6:22:12 PM PDT by exnavy
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To: TexConfederate1861
My g-g-grandfather owned no slaves. He was a volunteer with the 54th Georgia, Army of Tennessee, June 1862 through 1864. During a brief visit home in mid-1864, Before he returned to combat, he warned his wife and three youngsters to take care, because "Sherman is now in Georgia."
195 posted on 06/05/2002 6:38:11 PM PDT by varina davis
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To: rebelsoldier
"Again, without southerners in the ranks of the US military, the US military would have folded"

LOL. I guess general lee must have led the FDNY and NYPD up the steps at the WTC last year. How else could those "contempible" yanks have done such a brave act, without folding, unless a blessed jackass from the south such as yourself was in the lead?

196 posted on 06/05/2002 7:31:23 PM PDT by newwahoo
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To: Phantom Lord
It is kinda funny. In the world at large, all Americans are "Yankees." Within MOST regions of the U.S. (outside of the Northeast), a "Yankee" is someone--from the Northeast.

As you move up the Atlantic Seaboard, a "Yankee" is someone from further north than you are at any given time. When you get into New York-New Jersey area, a "Yankee" is someone from New England. Only after you cross the state line into Connecticut does anyone actually begin to answer to the term.

FWIW, Southerners first started calling those from anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon (in reality, the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania by the way) "Yankees" because the most strident abolitionists--the sworn foe of the true Southern bigot and racist--were "Yankees" in fact, folks from Massachusetts in particular.

Thus, originally, "Yankee" meant "anyone who believes in the abolition of slavery and the *shudder* equality of the races."

197 posted on 06/05/2002 9:10:26 PM PDT by Illbay
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To: MissouriForBush
If, one hundred years from now, a German youth decides that Nazism and the Third Reich have been victims of a "smear" campaign, and that the time has come for a "new look" at Hitler's glorious regime and the triumph of the brave men of the Wehrmacht...Well, it would be no more bizarre than those here who continue to put forth this huge, bogus myth about the rebellion of the slaveholding states in 1861.
198 posted on 06/05/2002 9:24:03 PM PDT by Illbay
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To: 4ConservativeJustices
Lincoln suppressed SEDITION, not honest political debate. There were many who opposed the administration's policies publicly, and none were arrested for it.

However, there were others who actively aided and abetted the rebels, and they were dealt with.

What would YOU say today to the prospect of an Arab resident of the U.S. who actively and openly aided Al-Qaeda by sponsoring fund raisers for the purpose of raising money so they can kill Americans?

That's what Mr. Lincoln dealt with.

Now, Jeff Davis, on the other hand, sent troops to eastern Tennessee and locked up all the "rabble-rousers" he could find--mainly hillbillies who weren't about to fight no war for a bunch of slaveowners.

These guys were put in MILITARY confinement and didn't see the light of day until Grant and Co. finally cleared the rebellion out of Tennessee.

199 posted on 06/05/2002 9:27:50 PM PDT by Illbay
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To: rebelyell
Under Jimmy Carter--a Democrat (like Jeff Davis) from Georgia--the maximum tax bracket was in the 90 percent range.

Under Ronald Reagan--a Republican (like Lincoln)--from Illinois, the tax rate went to it's lowest level in nearly 70 years.

Under Bill Clinton--a Democrat from Arkansas--the tax rates went sky-high again.

Now, tell us again about the legacy of Lincoln.

What a git.

200 posted on 06/05/2002 9:31:44 PM PDT by Illbay
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