“It settles the question that there must be war,” he wrote in his diary that day. Like so many in the South, Ruffin saw in the address what he had primed himself to see. He noted that Confederate General Beauregard had just taken charge of Charleston’s defense. Ruffin expected Beauregard to attack Sumter and hoped that Lincoln would trigger an immediate conflict by launching an expedition to send troops and supplies to the fort. “I earnestly hope,” he wrote, “that this may be the beginning, and if war is to occur, that such attempt to reinforce may be made before another week passes.” He was
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Goodbess, their blood was up and there was nobody stopping them. They were crazy!
