Background
Thomas Ruffin was born on September 9, 1820, Greene County not long before his parents, Henry John Gray and Mary Polly Tartt Ruffin moved to their new plantation near Louisburg in Franklin County.
Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Thomas Hart Ruffin received a Bachelor of Arts from The University of North Carolina in 1841.
congressman lawyer military politician
Thomas Ruffin was born on September 9, 1820, Greene County not long before his parents, Henry John Gray and Mary Polly Tartt Ruffin moved to their new plantation near Louisburg in Franklin County.
Thomas Hart Ruffin received a Bachelor of Arts from The University of North Carolina in 1841 and then studied law under George E. Badger of Raleigh.
In 1841 Thomas Hart Ruffin practiced law for a time in Missouri. He served as a circuit attorney of the seventh judicial district of the state of Missouri 1844-1848.
In 1853, he was elected as a Democrat to the United States Congress and represented North Carolina until March 1861. He served as a delegate to the provisional Confederate Congress in 1861. Ruffin raised a company of cavalry out of Wayne County and was elected captain. That group became Company H, 1st North Carolina Cavalry.
In June 1863, Ruffin was promoted to the rank of major and transferred to the field and staff of the 1st Cavalry. A month later, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. In the meantime, he suffered a saber blow to the head at Gettysburg. Sometime around September 1863, Ruffin was promoted to colonel of the 1st Cavalry. At a skirmish at Auburn Mills, Virginia, on October 15, 1863, Ruffin was mortally wounded and captured.
Ruffin was active in local Democratic affairs.
Thomas Hart Ruffin was not married.