William Cain Ruffin, M.D., and some history of the Ruffin family as it pertains to the American Civil War.

In the late 1970s, Prof. Herbert ("Herb") Kaufman, M.D., a fine Harvard-trained ophthalmologist who had both developed and chaired the Department of Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, University of Florida. Gainesville, FL, chose to resign his appointment there. Prof. Kaufman had accepted the Chair in Ophthalmology at Louisiana State U. in New Orleans. The writer was a member of the Department of Ophthalmology faculty in Gainesville, FL, at the time. Following Herb Kaufman's resignation, Professor William Cain Ruffin, M.D., a psychiatrist with academic credentials, was assigned to serve as the Interim Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at Gainesville for a few years by the then Dean of the Medical School at the U. of Florida. This paper addresses some interesting facts regarding Prof./Dr. Ruffin and his family history, particularly as that history relates to the American Civil War.