Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-04-17
WADE HAMPTON.

/ With the single exception OF JOhh p
Gordon, Wade Hampton was the most IA
/ nous and most beloved Of the Confederate
! generals who have been spared unto this
day.
The services of this lion-hearted man to
a cause in which the south had its whole
/ heart, for which Il fought with heroism
| that can hardly be matched in history
wou.o alone have given him high and
permanent place in history. But his
achievements in peace endeared him In
still larger measure to his state and sec
ton and won The gratitude of the whole
nation.
Before the civil war he led the life OF a
cultured gentleman, with ample means,
| buoyant love Of manly sports and that
ardent devotion to country life which has
been strong in the hearts of so many chiv-
alric and forceful men.
Though his we'll known abili-
/ ty and his recognized qualities OF
leadership marked him for a per-
manent place in the organization Of the
Confederate forces he preferred to en-
ter the service of his state as a private.
II was impossible that his desire to re-
main in that humble station should be
Eratifed and soon after the opening of
| hostilities he organized "Hampton's Le-
gion," which became one OF the most
famous commands in the entire war and
which he maintained through all his ele-
vations Of rank and transfers to larger
scopes OF operation. Whoever went with
Wade Hampton had to fight and the Le-
gion did as much dangerous and effective
service perhaps as any body OF men who
wore the gray.
It may be said Of him without the slight
est tincture Of exaggeration that he never
went into battle that he did not distin-
| guish himself and few officers of the
Confederate army participated in as much
actual fighting as did he. From first to
last, even after he had risen to the exalted
rank OF lieutenant general he never failed
to get into the hot OF every conflict in
which his command was engaged. He be-
lieved that II was a commanders duty to
set an example TO his men; that they
would follow him better when he said
Come" than when he urged them to
"go." He never asked them to do what he
was not readyto help them undertake. 1t
is not TO be wondered that they trusted
him implicitly and gloried in following his
knightly lead.
He possessed a very rare degree OF phys
/ zeal strength and activity and had few
peers as a swordsman. Danger had no
other effect than exhilaration upon It and
he seemed to go with glowing Joy where
most men dread to enter. It is well
accredited fact that in many of his bat
ties men fell dead from the sweep and
stroke of his saber. In the battle OF
/
Sir GaTahad Of the Confederacy. met his
was himself wounded.
He afterwards took command Of
Stuart's magnificent cavalry.
At City Point he gave the Federal cav
airy one OF the severest drubbings it ever
received. taking from It more than four
hundred prisoners and what was far more
welcome to the half-starved heroes under
the southern cross. no less than 24S6
beeves which had been bought and fat
tened for stomachs encased in blue but
happily went to I'LL out the gray that
hung loose over thousands of of southern
hearts.
Wade Hampton's career as a soldier
would have given Dumas material for as
thrilling a romance as he ever wrote. 1t
was the inspiration OF many a man who
was called upon to endure the stress and
horror of battle and it lives in unfading
| lustre in the annals of heroism.
The people OF South Carolina in the re-
construction period were for years in
suited, prosecuted and pfundered by a
horde of unprincipled Adventures and
recreant sons OF their own state who used
a mass Of ignorant and deluded negroes
Il to Cypress their superiors until patience
ceased TO be the part of men and the
manhood of the state resolved to redeem
its government and insure the protection
| OF its homes even at the cost Of life
itself. In that hour Of supreme peril and
sublime determination they naturally
turned to Wade Hompton as their leader
and the faith that under him they could
not fail thrilled and nerved every patriot
heart in the Palmetto state.
They did not rely in vain.
Hampton, upon their insistence, became
the candidate of the Democratic party for
governor or South Carolina.
Certainly no other man could have pre-
vailed over the combination OF forces that
was holding the state down at that time.
Hampton not only had the confidence and
love of the white people of South Carolina
to an extent enjoyed by no other man, but
the negroes believed that he would be fair
and liberal TO them as governor because
he had always been conspicuously so as a
citizen. He organized his campaign as
thoroughly as he ever organized a military
command or planned battle. He was ag-
gressive but temperate; determined but
cool He underwent a strain severer than
any he endured in the most trying days
Of the war and not once did he fail to
sustain himself. Never did his true great
ness show forth so splendidly His rule of
his own spirit was as perfect as his com
mand of his most devoted followers. His
election was the beginning of the end of
Republican misrule in the south.
Georgia had restored her government to
her own people, but South Carolina, Flori-
da, Mississippi and Louisiana were still
under the domination Of aliens and pam
dering time-servers.
Hampton's splendid victory inspired the
true sons Of the south everywhere to in
vincible efforts to rid their country of a
plague that was worse than the lice of
Egypt When an attempt was made to
defy the popular will and count Hampton
out of the governorship he did not threat
en- or rave. It WAS not in him to do either.