Newspaper feature: 'Gen. Wade Hampton — War and Reconstruction Hero' by Ralph Jerome Cannaday (The News and Courier, March 26, 1961)

A full feature article occupying most of page 6-C of The News and Courier, Charleston, S.C., Sunday Morning, March 26, 1961.

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Gen. Wade Hampton — War And Reconstruction Hero

South Carolina Marks His Birthday Anniversary Tuesday And Reaffirms Faith In The Principles He Upheld

By RALPH JEROME CANNADAY Special Writer

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Few of the tragedies of Shakespeare can compare in absolute poignancy of drama to that of Wade Hampton, the gallant cavalier from South Carolina, when on that fatal October day, 1864, during a brilliantly executed maneuver against the Union army at Burgess’ Mill, he arrived in the midst of battle to find his young son, Preston, mortally wounded.

Another son, Wade, was ministering to his dying brother, himself wounded from a bullet, when the general rode up to the scene. In the terrible moment that followed, Wade Hampton allowed himself the emotions of a father’s anguish, held the dying youth in his arms, implanted a fervent kiss upon his [brow].

Then, suppressing his tears, with courage born of heroes, he instructed [his] aide to “look after Wade,” his other [son], and galloped off to give orders to his men, who were repulsing the Federals with a vengeance.

The battle was a brilliant success and the Confederates as the tide of conflict turned against General Grant, who was seeking to inflict a mortal blow at the railway that led to Petersburg and Richmond.

Hampton’s superb strategy which led up to the defeat of the Federals, and which was bought at a price of supreme personal sacrifice, was but another record added to the already magnificent one held by this gentleman from South Carolina who had entered the war with his own legion of 600 men, fully equipped with money from his own purse.

The army of Wade Hampton was composed of some of the finest of South Carolina manhood. The small band of compatriots who owed allegiance neither to Beauregard’s “Army of the Potomac” nor to Johnston’s “Army of the Shenandoah.”

But on that eventful morning of July 21, 1861, when the glare and smoke of battle hung like a pall over the fields of Manassas and the very torrents of Hades were [hurled] against the Confederates, Wade Hampton and his followers held a strategic point on the Warrenton Road, near the famed “Stone House,” where it held in stubborn resistance the advance of General Keyes, until Jackson could deploy his troops for action.

When the sun set on this bloody and victorious day, the name of Wade Hampton’s “legion” was immortal. The man who had extended the brave hand of South Carolina to the Old Dominion was a “hero of the hour.”

During the final and disgraceful debacle of the Union army, Hampton had been wounded, but not fatally, and was borne from the field of battle while cheering his men onward in their pursuit of the enemy.

Wade Hampton had entered the War between the States at the age of 43, actuated by no motive or desire for military renown or prestige. He fought to preserve those principles that were dear to the heart of every South Carolinian, sustained by a sense of duty to his state and his beloved South. This gentleman planter, both poet and scholar, rose to heights of military stardom exceeding even the polished genius of the West Point generals with whom he served with such valor.

Born in Charleston on March 28, 1818, Wade Hampton Jr. was a son of the distinguished landlord of the planter aristocracy who fought in the war of 1812 against the British. His grandfather, also with the same name, had served as an American general in the Revolutionary War. His mother, Ann FitzSimons, was a daughter of a wealthy merchant, who had come to America in 1783 from Dundalk, Ireland.

Young Wade at an early age learned to ride well [astride] the famous blooded horses which had made his father’s plantation, “Milwood”, near Columbia, famous on the Southern turf.

“Milwood” also was a social center for notables of the day. Such distinguished men as Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, Henry Clay, George Bancroft, Charles Cannaday, and numerous others enjoyed its hospitality.

Enjoying rare opportunities in field of education, the brilliant and talented Wade was graduated from South Carolina College, now the University of South Carolina, in 1836. Although he studied law, he did not practice but devoted his energies to the management of the family’s vast plantations in South Carolina and Mississippi.

Married at the age of 20 to the beautiful and talented Margaret Preston, he enjoyed a home life of supreme tranquility until her death in 1851. His second marriage to Mary Singleton McDuffie, a daughter of Governor McDuffie of South Carolina, was a happy culmination that helped to assuage the grief he had suffered from the loss of the bride of his youth.

From 1852 to 1861 Wade Hampton served with distinction in both houses of the South Carolina Legislature. He was not an advocate of slavery and opposed the extension of such with force and determination. However, with the outbreak of the War between the States, he stood firm in his convictions that States Rights must be preserved — was a loyal supporter of the Confederacy from the first battle of Manassas to the end of the war. Gen. Robert E. Lee considered him one of his most reliable and bravest generals.

Assigned to the First Cavalry Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia, in 1862, he served as second in command under Gen. J. E. B. Stuart, took part in Lee’s northward campaign of 1863 and opposed Philip H. Sheridan with spirit and determination that his opponent came to look on the gentleman planter from South Carolina as one of his most formidable foes.

After the death of General Stuart, in 1864, Wade Hampton attained the rank of major general and assumed command of the cavalry corps. His tactics, unlike Stuart’s, were those of defense, rather than offense. There is little doubt that his defense, delaying actions against the Union advance were of vital importance to Lee, in a war where time was their mortal enemy.

After the surrender of Lee at Appomattox, Hampton regarded his command, on technical grounds, as exempt from the terms. He proposed to join President Davis, cross the Mississippi, and continue the war, but Johnston also agreed to accept his escort, but Johnston insisted the troops were not free to do so.

Hampton, feeling that he was bound to keep his bargain, hastened alone to overtake the fleeing President Davis, though he realized that he was already a fugitive from the federal government. He was unable to overtake Davis, and abandoning a resolve formerly made to leave the country rather than submit, he returned to his native South Carolina to find most of his property in ruins or confiscated.

Although most of his fortune had been depleted during the war, Wade Hampton continued notable service to the state of South Carolina.

In 1876, Wade Hampton was elected governor of South Carolina and re-elected again in 1878. In 1879 he entered the U. S. Senate, where he served until 1891. His views and wholesome efforts at firmly reuniting his country are among the outstanding legacies that he left to remember.

From 1893 to 1899, Gen. Hampton was U. S. Commissioner of Pacific Railways, devoting his time and vigorous energies to a constructive unification of American transportation. At an age when most men were retired from active duty, he was alert and possessed with a keen and vivid interest in all about him, especially those developments that concerned the welfare of his country.

On April 11, 1902, at the age of 84, this gentleman-soldier died in Columbia, in a house that had been presented to him by the people of South Carolina when his own had burned a few years before.

At the end his mind wandered once again to that fateful day, 38 years before, when he had held his brave son in his arms on that Virginia battlefield, and the name of the noble youth who gave his life for his country escaped his lips. Again, he was thinking of those about him, and his last words were: “God bless all my people, black and white.”

It has been estimated that 20,000 persons paid tribute to Wade Hampton on that silent day in Columbia when the hearse conveyed his body to Trinity Churchyard, driven by a faithful Negro who had loved him both in slavery and in freedom.

Here in the soil of South Carolina, with his own people, in the land he loved so well, Wade Hampton sleeps in eternal peace.

Caption — engraved portrait (lower left)

A bust engraving of Hampton in Confederate uniform, full beard, with stars on his collar. Caption beneath in italic:

Wade Hampton As Confederate General

Caption — photograph (right)

A photograph of four white columns standing in an open field. Caption above in bold italic:

Only Columns Remain Of Milwood, Hampton Home