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Edmund Ruffin: Stirring the Sluggish Blood of the South
In his diary, Edmund Ruffin, a well known Virginia agriculturalist and staunch secessionist, wrote about John Brown's raid at Harpers Ferry:
"... it really seems now most probably that the outbreak was planned & instigated by northern abolitionists, & with the expectation of thus starting a general slave insurrection. I earnestly hope that such may be the truth of the case. Such a practical exercise of abolition principles is needed to stir the sluggish blood of the south."
Shortly after the raid, Ruffin visited Harpers Ferry and obtained some of the pikes Brown intended to give to slaves. On the pikes, Ruffin placed a label: "Sample of the favors designed for use by our Northern Brethren." Ruffin then sent a labeled pike to each of the fifteen slave state governors. |