Edward Seymour Ruggles, was born on July 10, 1843 in Wichita, Texas, while his father was stationed there on army duty. He is the son of Daniel Ruggles and Richardetta Barnes Mason Hooe. He is the brother of Confederate Navy officer Mortimer Bainbridge Ruggles. He was educated at Georgetown College and the Naval Academy at Annapolis from where he graduated as a midshipman in the United States Navy, from which he resigned one month later on March 18, 1861, to enter the Confederate Navy.
After serving a few months, he was selected as a special messenger by President Jefferson Davis and sent to California with important dispatches regarding the capture of California gold steamers and another tending to the command to Albert Johnson. The papers were delivered but on his return, he was arrested by United States authorities at New York. in June of 1861 (one source shows date of arrest as July 20, 1861) he was tried as a spy and acquitted, but was held as a prisoner at Johnson’s Island. He was imprisoned at Fort Lafayette, New York Harbor, for treason; transferred to Fort Warren, Boston Harbor in October, 1861, and then released in January, 1862 through a prisoner exchange.
Edward was appointed acting midshipman, Confederate States Navy, November 15, 1862. He served on CSS Huntsville, and at the Mobile Station, 1862 – 1863. He resigned from Naval service in July of 1863, to accept an appointment as Signal Officer in the Confederate States Army. He was severely wounded at Shiloh but recovered and again went back to the Confederacy, being paroled at the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnson in May 1865, after serving for four years and three months.
He assisted his brother Mortimer Ruggles and his cousin, Fellow Bainbridge, in rowing John Wilkes Booth across the river to escape. When Booth’s body was brought back through Port Royal, he was asked to identify the body. He replied that he did not know if it was Booth, but is was the man he had rowed across the river.
Edward never married. In 1880, he resided at King George County, Virginia, worked as a farmer, and was prominent in politics. He died March 01, 1919 of a cerebral hemorrhage, was cremated, and is buried in the Confederate Cemetery, Fredericksburg, Fredericksburg City, Virginia with his parents.