CSA 4, 5¢ blue, Stone 2, position 11, rich dark color, large margins to in at lower left where separated roughly, slight gum toning along edges, tied by blue GRAHAM / N.C. " balloon-style circular datestamp with dashed rim, on small watermarked lady’s cover to Judge Thomas Ruffin, Raleigh N.C., top flap missing. $600.

Judge Thomas Ruffin (1824-1889) was a lawyer, North Carolina Supreme Court Justice, and Confederate officer. He was born in Hillsborough, the fourth son of Chief Justice Thomas and Anne Kirkland Ruffin. He was the grandson of Sterling Ruffin, who had been a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. Young Ruffin graduated from University of North Carolina 1844. He studied law for a year under his father and his brother William before moving to Morganton, where he completed preparation for the bar. In 1846, Ruffin settled in Yanceyville to begin his practice but in 1848 moved to Wentworth to become the partner of John H. Dillard. In 1850–51, he represented Rockingham County in the North Carolina House of Commons. On 20 April. 1861, at the beginning of the Civil War, Ruffin enlisted as a private in the 27th Regiment but was promoted to captain of the Alamance Company of the Thirteenth Regiment on 8 May. He resigned his commission in October 1861, when urged by Governor Henry T. Clark to fill a vacant superior court judgeship. He served on the court only until March 1862, when he was appointed lieutenant colonel of his regiment; later in the year he was promoted to full colonel as regimental commander. Ruffin led the 13th Regiment in the battles of Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, and South Mountain. In September 1862, he was severely wounded, forcing him to resign his command six months later. He soon was appointed presiding judge of General E. Kirby Smith's corps, making him one of only three North Carolinians to serve on a Confederate military court. Ruffin remained in that post until the end of the war, when he returned to his law practice in Graham.