Captain Ruffin Thomas Barnes

Captain Ruffin Thomas Barnes

Company C, 43rd Regiment N.C. Troops

Ruffin Thomas Barnes, a farmer who owned four slaves, lived with his wife and two small children in Black Creek, Wilson County. He enlisted in a volunteer company that was raised in January-February 1862 and was appointed third lieutenant when the company mustered into Confederate service in early April and was designated Company D, 43rd Regiment N.C. Troops.
Barnes was promoted to second lieutenant in July 1862 and to captain January 1863. His name appears on a list of officers of General Junius Daniel’s Brigade (to which the 43rd North Carolina belonged) who were “present and actually under fire” at the Battle of Gettysburg, with the notation “present during the entire fight.”

The 43rd North Carolina participated in Lieutenant General Jubal Early’s Shenandoah Campaign of June-December 1864. Barnes was wounded and captured in a day-long skirmish near Charles Town, West Virginia, on August 21, 1864. Regimental documents from February-March 1865 state that Captain Barnes died on December 24, 1864, and that he “died in captivity.” However, no Federal documents pertaining to his capture or hospitalization have been found.

Gable House Photographer

1860 U. S. Census, Black Creek District, Wilson County, North Carolina, population schedule, page 12, dwelling 76, family 76, Ruffin Barnes household; 1860 U.S. Census, Black Creek District, Wilson County, North Carolina slave schedule, page 2, Ruffin Barnes, slave owner; Manarin et. al., North Carolina Troops 10:314; service record files of Ruffin Barnes, 43rd Regiment N.C. Troops, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers from the State of North Carolina (M270), RG109, NA.