Soldier saw North as fate worse than death.(Local) From: The Virginian Pilot | Date: January 9, 2005 | COPYRIGHT 2005 The Virginian Pilot-Ledger Star. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of the Dialog Corporation by Gale Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

Byline: GEORGE TUCKER

Recently, while helping a direct descendant of Edmund Ruffin (1794-1865), the "Father of Secession in Virginia," evaluate a collection of family papers, we came across a heretofore unknown photograph of the celebrated Confederate fire-eater who committed suicide soon after the Civil War rather than continue to exist under Yankee domination.

Attached to the back of the faded likeness was a label reading "Quinby & Co., Photographic Artists...