He was a celebrated agriculturalist of Virginia. ®134, ®135 ®105 He was a member of the Virginia Senate from 1823 to 1827. ®2710 He is best known as a champion of agricultural reform and as an early and passionate advocate of southern secession. He was a fiery secessionist and agriculturalist and reportedly shot the first shell from Cummings Point at Charleston to start the Civil War. In family affairs he was equally partisan and just as vehement, and no one could top him at holding a grudge. The object of Ruffin's particular disapproval was T. Stanly Beckwith, a Petersburg physician who had married Ruffin's daughter Agnes in 1838. ®2074 He retired and moved to a farm in Hanover, Virginia in 1844. He died of suicide in 1865, aparently despondent over the loss of the Civil War. ®2720 ®2074

His obituary is in the Fredericksburg New Era - Co. VA - 23 Jun 1865.