The Carolina Spartan. [volume] (Spartanburg, S.C.) 1852-1896, 1866-03-01

elegance, all the comforts, conventcnceS anu
serene enioymcnts oflfe, to live hard and fight
hard; to endure heat, cold, hunger, thirst, az
haustion, and pain, without q murmer; but IL
was merit in this brave soldier and gentle
man that he did more than his duty, met breast
to breast, in single combat, the best swordsmen
Of the Federal army, counting his life no more
than private soldiers; aud seemed to ask
nothing more than to pour out his hearts blood
for the cause in which he fought. This per-
sonal heroism--and Hampton had tito grand
ex;eut--attrssctss slo admiration of troops. But
| there is something better, or E.orc useful at
leGst-the power of brain and force Of charac-
ter which won the confidence Of the Comman-
derin. chief is called Robert l.. Lee, it is some
thing to have secured his high regard and con-
fidence. Hampton had won the heart Of Lee,
and by that ..noblest Roman of them all" his
great character and eiainent services were fully
recognized. These men seemed to understand
each other, and to be inspired by the same SEN
timent-a love of their native land which never
failed, and willingness to spend and be spent
TO Tie last drop Of their blood in the cause
which they had espoused. During General
Stuarts life, Hampton was second in command
! of the Virginia Cavalry; but when that great
cavalier fell, he took charge Of the whole as
ranking officer. His first blow was that reso-
lutte night attack on Shcridans force at bfe..
chanicsville, when the enemy were driven in
! the darkness from their camps, and sprung to
horse only in time to avoid the sweeping sabres
OF the Southerners-giving UP from that mo-
ment all further attempt to enter Richmond.
Then came the long, hard, desperate fighting
of the whole year 1864, aud the spring of 1855.
At Treyillan's, Sheridan was driven back, and
Charlottesville saved; on the Weldon Railroad
the cncE!y's cavalry, under kautz and Wilson,
was nearly cut to pieces, and broke in disorder,
leaving on the roads their wagons, cannons,
! ambulances, their dead men and horses near
Bellheld the Federal column sent to destroy
railroad Wn sftthh lv
posed and driven back before they could burn
the bridges at Hicksford; at Burgess Mill, near
Petersburg, where General Grant made his first
great blow with two corps OF infantry, at the
Southsidc railroad, Hampton met them in front
and flank, fought them all an October day
nearly, lost his brave son Preston, dead from
a bullet on the field, but, in conjunction with
AlahOne, that hardy fighter, sent the enemy in
haste back TO their works, thus saving for the
time the great war artery of the Southern army.
| Thcnceforward, until he was sent to South
Carolina, Hampton held the right of Lee in the
woods of Dinwidjie, guarding with his cavalry
| Gordon the line of the Rowanty, and defying
all comers. Stout, hardy, composed, smiling,
! ready to meet any attack, in those last days Of
the strange year 1854. he seemed TO my eyes
/ the beau ideal or q soldier. The man appeared
| to be as firm a rock, Us iInmovably rooted
as one of the gigantic live-oaks of his native
country. When asked him one day if he ex-
| pected to be attacked soon, he laughed and
| said "No; the enemy's cavalry are afraid to
! show their noses beyond their infantry" Ner
! did the Federal cavalry ever achieve any re-
suits in that region until the ten or fifteen
thousand crack cavalry of Ger. Sheridan came
| TO ride over the two thousand men, on starved
and bruken-dcwn horses of Gen. Fitz Lee, in
| April. 1855. From Virginia, in the dark win
| ter OF 1861, Hampton was sent to oppose with
his cavalry the advance of Gen. Sherman, and
the world knows how desperately he fought
there on his nGtdie selun More than ever
t.!Ore, IL was sabre 10 sabre, and Hampton
was SIN in front. When the enemy pressed
on to Columbia, lie set his fine house there on
fire ith his own hands, and fell back, fighting
from street TO street, and so continued lighting
until the thundcrbolt fell in South Carolina,
as it had iallen in Virginia, at Appomattox,
and the struggle ended. The sword that
Hampton sheathcd that day was one which no
evil OF bad faith, cruelty dishonor had ever
tainted 1t was the blade of brave and ire
proachable chcyalier-of a man who through
ou; the most desperate and embittered conflict
of all history, had kept his ancestral name from
every blot, and had proved himself upon
hundred battle fields the worthy son Of the
mighty men of old
Such, in rough outline, was this brave and
kindly soldier and gentleman, as lie dashed
before our eyes III Virginia working his
work Seeing him oftcn-in camp, OH the
field, in bright days, and when the sky was
! uirhcSt-thc present writer looked upon him
as noble spirit, the truthful representative
of q great and vigorous race. Brave, just,
kindly, courteous, with the tenderness of q
woman under that grave, at times almost cold
| exterior; devoted TO the principles for which
he fought and would have died; loving his
| native land with a love g. passing the love of
n woman" proud, but never naughty; not so
much " condesccnding" to men to low estate,
rs giving them if they were sodicrs-the
warm right hand of fellowship; merciful, sim
e-minded; foremost in the fight, but no
where TO be seen III the ante chamber of living
man ; with hand shut tight upon the sword
| hili, but open rs day to melting charity
counting his life as nothing at the call Of hon
or; fighting with stubborn resolution for the
faith that was in him; never cast down, never
wavering, never giving back until the torrent
bore him away, hui fghting to the last with
that heroic courage born in his blood, for the
independence of the country. Such was Wade
Hampton, of South Carolina. There are those,
perhaps, who will rnalign him in these dark
days when no sun shines. But the light is
yondcr beyond the cloud and storm, some day
it will shine out, and million of rushlights
Will not be ample TO cxtinguish it. There are
others who will call him traitor. aud look, per-
haps, with pity and contempt upon this page
which claims for him noble place among the
illus,rious figures shining oil along the coasts