Présentation de l'éditeur
The letters and papers of the following collection were, for the most part, preserved by Judge Ruffin himself, and, after his death, passed successively to his son, the late Sterling Rufl Sn, his grandson, the late Allen J. Ruffin, both of Hillsboro, N. C, and to his grandson, Bennehan Cameron, of Stagville, N. 0. By Mr. Cameron, with the approval of the other two named, they have been entrusted to me for editing for publication. The ones from that collection here printed have been carefully selected from the total of more than ten thousand letters which compose it. The other papers included have been partly drawn from a large number owned by Judge Ruffin sdaughter, Mrs. Catherine Ruffin Roulhac, which have been for some years in my possession, and partly from scattered sources. Since the Ruffin and Roulhac collections have been consolidated, no distinction is made between them, and, since they fofm the greater part of those published, I have not thought it necessary to indicate them. In the case of all the others, footnotes indicate the sources from which they have been obtained. My guide in making the selection of the letters to be printed has been solely my desire to choose all such letters as may throw light upon the history of the State and !N ation, or upon the personality and character either of Judge Ruffin or the writers. In this connection, it is to be regretted that such a small number of letters written by Judge Ruffin are included. Few of his correspondents, apparently, preserved their letters with the care which he employed, and in several cases where the letters were kept for years, war or fire destroyed them. In the editorial work I have not attempted further annotation than that which seemed necessary to a proper understanding of the letters. Many of the writers, and a still larger number of persons alluded to, are unknown. In the case of me
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)
Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.
