Thomas Ruffin (1820 - 1863)

Born 9 Sep 1820 in Louisburg, Franklin, North Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Died 13 Oct 1863 at age 43 in Alexandria, Virginia, United States [uncertain]

Biography

Birth

Date: 9 SEP 1820

Thomas Ruffin was born in Green County not long before his parents, Henry John Gray Ruffin and Mary Tartt Ruffin moved to their new plantation in Franklin County.^[1]

Thomas studied at the University of North Carolina and then studied law in Raleigh before beginning his own practice in Goldsboro.

In 1850 Thomas, attorney-at-law, was boarding in the home of Mariah Borden in Green County.^[2]

In 1852 Thomas inherited a plantation in Johnson County and 51 slaves from his uncle Josiah O Watson who had married a sister of his mother.^[1]

On 15 October 1863 he was "mortally wounded during a successful charge" at Auburn's Mill, near Fairfax Court House, where he fell from his horse and was captured with a minié ball in his forehead. He died unmarried in the Federal Military Hospital at Alexandria.^[1] He was buried in the Ruffin Family Cemetery.^[3]

He never married.

Note

Note: Boddie states that Thomas was a member of Congress from 1853-1855, and of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States. He entered the C.S.A. and was Colonel of the First North Carolina Cavalry. He was mortally wounded near Bristow Station on October 15, 1863 (p. 267).

The book "Alexander Carswell and Isabella Brown", on p. 287, states that "Thomas Ruffin, lawyer, congressman, and soldier ... graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1841, was admitted to the bar the same year, practiced in Goldsboro, and served in the US Congress from 1853 to 1861."

Event

Event:

Type: Military^[4]

Date: 1862

Place: Colonel of the First N.C. Cavalry

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 6 volumes, edited by William S. Powell. University of North Carolina Retrieved 9 August 2021, from Bio of Thomas Ruffin
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4BL-MHX : 24 December 2020), Thomas Ruffin in household of Mariah A Borden, Wayne, North Carolina, United States; citing family , NARA microfilm publication (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
3. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (www.findagrave.com/memorial/7192253/thomas-ruffin : accessed 9 August 2021), memorial page for Thomas Ruffin (9 Sep 1820–17 Oct 1863), Find a Grave Memorial ID 7192253, citing Ruffin Family Cemetery, Louisburg, Franklin County, North Carolina, USA ; Maintained by Find A Grave .
4. ↑ U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865: Historical Data Systems, Inc.; Duxbury, MA 02331; American Civil War Research Database Ancestry Record 1555 #2419237 Free Image Link

See also: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-2005: Ancestry.com. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-2005 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Original data: United States. Congress. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-2005. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 2005. Ancestry Record 1064 #9459 Free Image Link