Wade Hampton ()
Confederate Lieutenant General;
U.S. Senator;
South Carolina Governor and
South Carolina Senator
about Wade Hampton
Wade Hampton was born in Charleston on March 28, 1818. He was a member of one of the richest families in the antebellum South. He owned and operated many plantations in Mississippi and South Carolina.
Hampton served in the General Assembly as a Representative from and a Senator from . He resigned from the Senate to accept a colonel's commission in the Confederate Army. He received many promotions, rising to Lieutenant General in 1865. Hampton evacuated Columbia in 1865 when General Sherman entered the city.
In the 1876 elections for Governor, Hampton defeated Daniel Chamberlain by 1,134 votes. However, a conflict arose between the Democrats and the Republicans and Chamberlain protested the results. Chamberlain took the oath of office but the State Supreme Court ruled in favor of Hampton. Hampton was barred from the Statehouse by federal troops until April 10, 1877.
Hampton was reelected in 1878 as Governor. He resigned to become a United States Senator and served two terms.
Hampton married Frances Smith Preston and they had 5
children. When she died, he married Mary Singleton
McDuffie and had 4 more children.
This page last updated: 8/13/02 2:30 PM