The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1870-05-12
The Pxostonsaa ad Izsnptoa IntsrSstfa
Fanaiiy TsSra issisSss Isl Se1. .,s, -

6Db lSfge shonses Is that standing over
there, snrf6unded on three sides by q
high brick wall, and in front by an! orna-
mehtal iron fence. with marble pillars at
each corner?" I inquired OF Citizen.
"Oh, that's old General Preston'a. and
is snid to be tho finest laid off grounds in
the South. There's whole square, or
four acres of it, and all inside is every
kind of shrubbery that you could think
of. with gravel aud shell walks running
all among it,.
docs Preston live there llimself?"
eyes, considerably, but I believe he
got considerable money invested there in
one way and another. Ho prophesied
that the war would como up long time
before it did, and SO to be on the safe
side he sold most of his negroes, and in
vested his money in Europe"
"Whut relation is he to the Hamp-
tons?"
"Why, you see, he married daughter
OF old Col. Wade Hampton, who was the
futher of the present Wade Hampton,
and his father-in-law being very rich,
gave him this fiue property that we've
been speaking of.
''The old original Preston of all of
them came here years and years ago. He
WIS from Virginia, and was on his way
to Florida, to get cured of the comsnmp-
ton. He was young man then, about
twenty years old. and travelling along to-
wards Florida, he passt d through here,
and concluded to stop, as he liked the
climate. He went to school here awhile,
married aud settled down. About that
time, old General Wade Hampton, who
had been colonel in the revolutionary
war, settled here, raised a lurge family.
and got rich. Preston also got rich, and
the families afterwards became connect
eel by marriage. They owned grent
many plantations, aud kept getting
richer until the war came up. OF course,
they all went with the South. and many
Of them lost nearly oil of their property.
General Wade Hampton owned very
costly residence just out Of town, which
the Yankees burned up. OrunmeutinE
the grounds around his house alone cost
him $50, 900. Now, all his fine shrub.
| berry nre turned ont, and the ruins look
bad enough. On top of the war came a
lot of security debs, and the General
had to take the benefit of the bankrupt
Law. They say ho is now getting started
again in Mississippi, and will come out
light side up.
The Hnmptons and Wades are great
workers. Yon may make them poor,
but they won't stay poor. Wade has one
brother in Mississippi, 1 believe, who is
very rich. Besides being rich, they are
all popular men, and if it hadn't been
for the war, there is no telling what the
two families would liuve come to. They
would have owned the State after awhile
But they were very much set back during
the war and some ofthem killed. Thonas
Hampton, son of the present Wude
Hampton, was killed in Virginia when
he was only twenty.one years old. His
remains were brought home, aud pnssed
right along tho street, followed by over
lOO OF his negroes, most of them crying.
for they loved their young master. This
was i'll the fall of 1864. The following
February here come Sherman, with fire
and sword. and destroyed great deal of
property belonging to the two families.
50 TINT they were crushed by all kinds
OF mIsfortnnes. 1t was all that could be
done to keep the army from burning
that fine house that we were speaking of.
Bnt they left it, and that's about ull they
did leave
There are several grnve-yards in aud
about Columbia, belonging to different
churches. aud in ono of them are the
graves Of tue Hampton and Preston
families, all III one corner, aud partially
to themselves. Finely wrought marble
slabs "re over them NIL, upon which, il
engraved the name and dute of death.
The insntnte reaper has heen ut work
among these great families, for side by
side repose tile ashes Of some twenty
five or thirty of them.
They are fighting stock. for one of the
oldest toml,-stones bears this inscription
Gen. Wade Hampton, Colonel n the
Revolutionary war, and Major-Gt n sral
in the var OF 1872. Died in Columb bia,
February 4, 1885, aged eighry-three
years"
Another, bnt recently erected, has this
incription:
Lieutenant Thomas Preston Hnmp-
ton, son of Gen. Wade and Margaret
Hampton. born November 26, 1913,
killed i'll battle, near Petersburg, Va,
October 27, 1864"
Upon this tomb was lying large
wreath of flowers, but the wnrm April
sun had pnrtlally faded them, and they
were fast dying. Like the body under
the slab, they had been cut down in the