Wade Hampton

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Wade Hampton, III
Former U.S. Senator from South Carolina From: March 4, 1879 – March 3, 1891
Predecessor	John J. Patterson
Successor	John L. M. Irby
Former Governor of South Carolina From: April 11, 1877 – February 26, 1879
Lieutenant	William Dunlap Simpson
Predecessor	Daniel Henry Chamberlain
Successor	William Dunlap Simpson
Information
Party	Democrat
Spouse(s)	Margaret Buchanan Frances Preston (died 1852) Mary Singleton McDuffie (died 1874)
Military Service
Allegiance	Confederate States of America
Service/branch	Confederate States Army
Service Years	1861–1865
Rank	Lieutenant General
Battles/wars	American Civil War

Wade Hampton, III (March 28, 1818 – April 11, 1902) was a South Carolina planter, soldier, and politician especially prominent during the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the post-Reconstruction era. He served in the army of the Confederate States of America during the war, rising to the rank of lieutenant general and commanding the cavalry of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia from 1864 to 1865. In South Carolina during Reconstruction, he emerged as a leader of the "Redeemers," southern Democratic whites who were opposed to Republican rule and sought to regain control of their state governments. After Reconstruction ended in South Carolina, Hampton served from 1876 to 1879 as the state's governor, then from 1879 to 1891 as U.S. Senator.

One of the wealthiest planters and largest slaveholders in the antebellum South, Hampton was widely regarded as a typical figure of the region's planter-aristocracy, and also respected for his wartime exploits and gentlemanly conduct. During his post-war political career, despite the partisan and racial conflicts that divided the region, he presented himself as a proponent for national unity and racial reconciliation. Although considered by modern-day standards to have been an undoubted racist, he was distinctly not a demagogue (in contrast to Ben Tillman) and there is no evidence that he ever encouraged or incited violence against blacks.^[1]

Early life[edit]

Wade Hampton III was born on March 28, 1818, in Charleston, South Carolina, the first child of Wade Hampton, Jr. and Ann Fitzsimons. The Hampton family had originally immigrated from England to Virginia in the early 17th century, later moving to the South Carolina frontier, where Hampton's grandfather (the first Wade Hampton) served as a prominent militia officer in the Revolutionary War (and would later lead a column of troops during the failed invasion of Canada during the War of 1812), and developed large plantations in the state as well as in Louisiana and Mississippi; many considered him the richest planter in the South. Wade Hampton Jr., who also fought in the War of 1812, eventually inherited his father's plantation empire and married Ann Fitzsimons, the daughter of a Charleston merchant.

The third Wade Hampton (the first of eight children) was raised partly in Charleston and partly at his parents' Millwood plantation near Columbia, South Carolina. He attended South Carolina College (the future University of South Carolina), graduating in 1836, and thereafter briefly studied law, though he never practiced. In 1838 he married Margaret Preston, daughter of a distinguished Virginia family, with whom he had four children. She died in 1852; six years later he married again, to Mary McDuffie, whose father had been a South Carolina governor.

Hampton was a private citizen until his 30s, though well-respected in the state on account of his social position. He managed the family properties in the various Southern states, taking over entirely after his father's death in 1858, and traveled extensively, including to Europe on one occasion. In 1852, he was elected to the state House of Representatives, serving until 1858 when he was in turn elected to the state Senate. He supported expansion of the state school system, the foundation of a penitentiary, and the construction of a new capitol building, among other improvements, with the development of a proper and humane insane asylum, and increased funding for his alma mater, South Carolina College, being particular pet causes of his.^[2]

Civil War General[edit]

Hampton, like most of the planter class, was a firm defender of the institution of slavery and of states' rights, though he did not take an especially prominent role in the sectional debates of the 1850s. Early in the decade, he did oppose the movement for South Carolina to secede from the Union, and in 1859 spoke at length in the state Senate against a proposal to re-open the international slave trade, calling it "cruel and inhuman." A supporter of John C. Breckinridge in the 1860 presidential election, he was on hand for the secession convention that followed Abraham Lincoln's election, and this time supported leaving the Union. Following the firing on Fort Sumter in April 1861, Hampton organized a so-called "legion" of about 1,000 infantry, cavalry, and artillery for service in the new Confederate Army, with himself as commander with the rank of colonel. "Hampton's Legion," as it was called, departed for Virginia that summer, seeing its first action in the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, where it suffered heavy casualties but was praised by observers for its courage and skill under fire; Hampton himself was singled out as displaying "soldierly ability."

Hampton remained in command of the Legion during the following months. In January 1862, he was placed in charge of an infantry brigade that included the Legion, and in June, after the reorganization of the Army of Northern Virginia following Robert E. Lee's appointment as commander, he was promoted to brigadier general. After briefly serving under Stonewall Jackson during the Seven Days Campaign, Hampton transferred to the cavalry, leading a brigade under Jeb Stuart. Though Hampton and Stuart sometimes clashed on a personal level, they respected each other's abilities, and Hampton performed capably in most of the Army of Northern Virginia's subsequent operations, despite being seriously wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. That August, he was promoted to major general, now leading a division within Stuart's cavalry.

Stuart was mortally wounded at the Battle of Yellow Tavern on May 11, 1864, and Lee informally placed Hampton in command of all the army's cavalry, officially confirmed in August 1864. Despite the Confederacy's declining fortunes, he achieved a number of limited victories raiding and checking Union advances during the Siege of Petersburg (despite the personal tragedy of witnessing his son Preston's death at the Battle of Burgess Mill in October). In January 1865, in response to the invasion of South Carolina by Union forces under General William T. Sherman, Hampton (promoted again to lieutenant general the following month) and a division of cavalry were sent back to defend the state, though as they were heavily outnumbered, there was little that could be done. As the remaining Confederate armies surrendered in April, Hampton, in conference with President Jefferson Davis, sought to continue the war west of the Mississippi, but the total collapse of the Confederacy and Davis' own capture in May 1865 rendered this idea moot, and Hampton remained in South Carolina, disbanding his remaining troops.

Political career[edit]

Like many Confederate leaders, Hampton was left impoverished and deeply embittered toward the North following the war. Nonetheless, he counseled peace and reconciliation among his fellow South Carolinians, applying for amnesty in summer 1865 and supporting the pro-Union state government soon established. (He also rejected a campaign to nominate him for governor, warning it would accomplish nothing but to antagonize the federal government.) He rejected, however, the Reconstruction policies of the Radical Republicans in Congress, such as the disenfranchisement of white Southerners while former slaves were armed and given voting rights. In an open letter published in 1866, Hampton stated that South Carolina would be a loyal state, but "She will not return to the Union {as} an unequal partner."

By 1868, a Radical state government had been established, supported by enfranchised blacks, Northern transplants (derided by ex-Confederates as "carpetbaggers"), and a few pro-Union white Southerners ("scalawags"). It was regarded by Northern and Southern observers as highly corrupt, with widespread allegations of voter fraud and embezzlement of official funds, leaving the state deeply in debt. According to one account, a carpetbagger politician questioned on the possibility of reform replied, "Why gentlemen, there are five years of good stealing in South Carolina yet."

Until well into the 1870s, Hampton had continued to reject urges that he challenge the Radical government at the ballot box, though he had been active in upholding the merits of the Southern cause and imploring his fellow Southerners to take pride in their actions during the war. In 1876, however, a number of white Democratic politicians convinced him to consent to being nominated for governor by the state convention, arguing that only he had the prominence and positive reputation to make an effective run. Hampton was nominated that August, campaigning against the Republican incumbent, Daniel H. Chamberlain. The campaign was marked by numerous incidents of violence, especially between black Republican militias and the pro-Hampton "Red Shirts" (which included both white and black Democrats), though Hampton himself worked to prevent provocations from his own supporters. However, he also raised legal defense funds for Ku Klux Klan terrorists.^[1] Following the November election, both Hampton and Chamberlain claimed victory, and each party tried to outmaneuver the other in gaining control of the state government buildings. Finally, as a result of the Compromise of 1877, and realizing the superior organization of state Democrats, the new U.S. President, Rutherford B. Hayes, recognized Hampton as governor and withdrew federal troops from the state, ending Reconstruction. Hampton took possession of the governor's office on April 11, 1877, effectively beginning his tenure as the state's chief executive.

As governor, Hampton stood for small government and racial reconciliation. He focused on resolving the state's deep public debt,^[3] obtaining loans from Northern bankers while cutting expenses wherever possible; taxes were kept low, Hampton noting that "the resources of our people are well nigh exhausted." State funding for primary education was maintained, however, for both white and black children, and African-Americans judged competent were appointed to state and local offices. Though some vengeance-minded white Democrats opposed Hampton's policies, they were popular with the majority, white voters as well as black, and he was decisively reelected in 1878 (though the occasion was marred by a hunting accident that November which resulted in the amputation of Hampton's right leg).

Soon after Hampton's reelection, the state legislature nominated him as U.S. Senator to replace the outgoing Republican incumbent, reasoning that he would be better able to represent South Carolina on the national level. Hampton agreed, though still recovering from his injury, and was elected by the legislature in December 1878. Hampton served as U.S. Senator for South Carolina from 1879 to 1891. During that time, he called for peace between North and South, as well as such causes as civil service reform and a more just policy for the western Indian tribes. He also continued a stance of racial moderation, opposing the disenfranchisement of those African-Americans already eligible to vote, though he did call for educational and property qualifications. This position alienated many white Democrats in the state, especially the emerging Populist wing under racial demagogue Ben Tillman, and though Hampton had been re-elected to the Senate in 1884, they denied him a third term in the 1890 election. He later came to oppose Tillman's voter disenfranchisement attempts.^[1]

Later life[edit]

After leaving the Senate in 1891, Hampton was appointed U.S. railroad commissioner by President Grover Cleveland in 1893, remaining in that position until his retirement in November 1897. In and out of office, he continued to defend the Southern cause in the war and to call upon the younger generations to revere the Confederacy's memory. "If we were wrong in our contest," he told a gathering of Confederate veterans, "then the Declaration of Independence of 1776 was a grave mistake, and the revolution to which it led was a crime....If Washington was a patriot, Lee cannot have been a rebel." His health gradually declined, and after a brief illness, he died on April 11, 1902, at his home in Columbia.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Biography at Encyclopedia.com
• Profile at Find a Grave