Tag: Hampton (Wade)

Wikipedia says: Wade Hampton III (March 28, 1818 – April 11, 1902) was a Confederate States of America military officer during the American Civil War and politician from South Carolina. He came from a wealthy planter family, and shortly before the war he was one of the largest slaveholders in the Southeast as well as a state legislator. During the American Civil War, he served in the Confederate cavalry, where he reached the rank of lieutenant general.

At the end of Reconstruction, with the withdrawal of federal troops from the state, Hampton was leader of the Redeemers who restored white rule. His campaign for governor was marked by extensive violence by the Red Shirts, a paramilitary group that served the Democratic Party by disrupting elections and suppressing black and Republican voting in the state. He was elected Governor, serving 1876 to 1879. After that, he served two terms as U.S. Senator, from 1879 to 1891.

…Although Hampton was conservative on issues of secession and slavery, and he had opposed the division of the Union as a legislator, when war began, he was loyal to his state. He resigned from the South Carolina Senate and enlisted at the age of 42 as a private in the South Carolina Militia. The governor of South Carolina insisted that Hampton accept a colonel’s commission.

Although he had no military experience, his years of managing plantations and serving in state government were considered signs of leadership. As was also the case in northern regiments, the elite were commissioned based on their social standing and were also expected to finance military units. Hampton organized and partially financed the unit known as “Hampton’s Legion,” which consisted of six companies of infantry, four companies of cavalry, and one battery of artillery. He personally paid for all the weapons for the Legion.

Hampton was a natural cavalryman—brave, audacious, and already a superb horseman. Of officers without previous military experience, he was one of three to achieve the rank of lieutenant general, the others being Nathan Bedford Forrest and Richard Taylor.

Hampton’s first combat came at the First Battle of Manassas, where he deployed his Legion at a decisive moment, reinforcing a Confederate line that was retreating from Buck Hill, giving the brigade of Thomas J. Jackson time to reach the field and make a defensive stand. A bullet creased Hampton’s forehead when he led a charge against a Union artillery position. It was the first of five wounds he would receive during the war.

During the winter of 1861–62, Hampton’s Legion was assigned to the command of Gustavus W. Smith. Smith’s division accompanied the rest of Joseph E. Johnston’s Army of Northern Virginia down the Virginia Peninsula to aid in the Siege of Yorktown (1862) before Johnston withdrew to Richmond. On May 23, 1862, Hampton was promoted to brigadier general. At the Battle of Seven Pines on May 31, 1862, he was severely wounded in the foot, but while still under fire, remained on his horse while the foot was treated. Hampton returned to duty in time to fill in as leader of an infantry brigade for Stonewall Jackson at the end of the Seven Days Battles, although the brigade was not significantly engaged.

After the Peninsula Campaign, General Robert E. Lee reorganized his cavalry forces as a division under the command of J.E.B. Stuart, who selected Hampton as his senior subordinate, to command one of two cavalry brigades. Hampton’s brigade was left in Richmond to keep eyes on McClellan’s withdrawal from the Peninsula, while the rest of the army participated in the Northern Virginia Campaign. Thus, Hampton and his men missed the Second Battle of Manassas, re-joining the army shortly thereafter; but were present on the extreme left of the Confederate line at Sharpsburg. His brigade was selected to participate in Stuart’s Chambersburg Raid in October 1862, in which Hampton was briefly appointed “military governor” of the town following its surrender to the Confederate cavalry. During the winter of 1862, Hampton led a series of cavalry raids behind enemy lines and captured numerous prisoners and supplies without suffering any casualties, earning a commendation from General Lee. In November 1862, he captured 137 men of the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry at Hartwood Presbyterian Church.

Hampton was not present at Fredericksburg, or Chancellorsville due to being detached for raids elsewhere.

At the Battle of Brandy Station, the war’s largest predominantly cavalry battle, Hampton was slightly wounded and his younger brother Frank, was killed. Immediately thereafter, Hampton’s brigade participated in Stuart’s raid in Pennsylvania, swinging around the Union army and losing contact with Lee. Stuart and Hampton reached the vicinity of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, late on July 2, 1863. While just outside town, Hampton was confronted by a Union cavalryman pointing a rifle at him from 200 yards. Hampton charged the trooper before he could fire his rifle, but another trooper blindsided Hampton with a saber cut to the back of his head. On July 3, Hampton led the cavalry attack to the east of Gettysburg, attempting to disrupt the Union rear areas, but colliding with Union cavalry. He received two more saber cuts to the front of his head, but continued fighting until he was wounded again with a piece of shrapnel to the hip. He was carried back to Virginia in the same ambulance as General John Bell Hood. On August 3, 1863, Hampton was promoted to major general and received command of a cavalry division. As his wounds from Gettysburg were slow to heal, he could not return to duty until November.

During the Overland Campaign of 1864, Hampton’s cavalry fought at Todd’s Tavern during The Wilderness, and patrolled the left flank of the Confederate position at Spotsylvania Court House, during which time J.E.B. Stuart was killed at the Yellow Tavern. Hampton escorted Lee’s withdrawal to Richmond, fighting at North Anna and Haw’s Shop before being detached from Lee’s army to deal with Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan’s cavalry destroying railroad in central Virginia. He distinguished himself further with a successful strategic victory at the bloody Battle of Trevilian Station, the war’s largest all cavalry battle. After his return to Richmond, he fought at Nance’s Shop, and was given command of the Cavalry Corps on August 11, 1864. For the rest of the war, Hampton lost no cavalry battles. In September, Hampton conducted what became known as the “Beefsteak Raid”, where his troopers captured over 2400 head of cattle and more than 300 prisoners behind enemy lines.

In October 1864, near Petersburg, Virginia, Hampton sent his son, T. Preston Hampton, a lieutenant serving as one of his aides, to deliver a message. Shortly afterward, Hampton and his other son, Wade IV, rode in the same direction. Before traveling 200 yards, they came across Preston lying on the ground; he was fatally wounded and soon died. As young Wade dismounted, he was also shot but survived.

While Lee’s army was bottled up in the Siege of Petersburg, in January 1865, Hampton returned to South Carolina to recruit soldiers. He was promoted to lieutenant general on February 14, 1865, but eventually surrendered to the Union along with General Joseph E. Johnston’s Army of Tennessee at Bennett Place in Durham, North Carolina. Hampton was reluctant to surrender, and nearly got into a personal fight with Union Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick (often called “Kill-Cavalry”) at the Bennett Farm.