A Fire Eaters Courage Contradictions: Edmund Ruffin

Although Virginia secessionist Edmund Ruffin would do whatever he could to help fan the flames of Southern hysteria in response to the John Brown raid and Abraham Lincoln s election, he had a surprisingly different response to the Nat Turner revolt, taking a lonely stand to defend a falsely accused slave and denouncing the community insanity sweeping the South. Subscribe to antebellumetc and learn more of the story at , antebellum, history, civilwar, secession