William H. Thomson, originally of Orange County, N.C., was a physician and small planter in Hinds County, Miss. His son Ruffin Thomson was a student at the University of Mississippi and the University of North Carolina; a private in the Confederate Army; and, in February 1864, a Confederate Marine Corps lieutenant. After the Civil War, he studied medicine and practiced in Hinds County. In 1888, he went to Washington Territory as a clerk to the United States Indian Agency, dying soon after his arrival. The papers consist chiefly of correspondence between William H. Thomson and his son Ruffin Thomson. Early items of William H. Thomson include two letters, 1822-1823, from Thomas Ruffin (1787-1870), giving William advice on his studies, and letters, 1835, from William to his wife, Hannah Lavinia Thomson, describing life in Hinds County, Miss., including mention of slave insurrection rumors. There are also letters from Ruffin Thomson at the University of Mississippi, 1858-1859, and the University of North Carolina, 1859; from Ruffin's sister Brenda Thomson at school, 1848-1849; from Ruffin as a soldier, 1861-1865, serving in Virginia and Georgia during the Civil War, first with the 18th Mississippi Infantry Regiment and then with the Confederate Marine Corps, including much discussion of military life and mention of the death of a slave who served him as cook; and from family members to Ruffin. Also included are postwar letters between William at home, discussing farming and dealing with freedmen, and Ruffin in New Orleans, La., where he was a medical student; letters to Ruffin in the 1880s from University of North Carolina classmates; and a few scattered items relating to Ruffin's later life.
