When the first shots were fired at Ft. Sumter on the morning of April 12, 1861, one of the most rabid racist secessionists was present: Edmund Ruffin. Ruffin traveled from Virginia to Charleston, SC to, as he put it, "commit a little treason." He later bragged, erroneously, that he had fired the first shot at the Fort. Unable to accept Union victory, on June 17, 1865 Ruffin draped a Confederate flag over his shoulders, and committed suicide with a gunshot.
(photo: In his final act, Ruffin shot a traitor)
