The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-05-06
WADE HAMPTON: THE NAN AND HIS
WORK.

News.
A mighty man is fallen this day
in Israel. Gentleman, soldier, oiti.
zen, statesman, and all man from the
crown of his head 30 the sole of his
feet, this country has not produced
q better nor has any other country.
We mean Wade Hampton, of South
Carolina. The very name of him
used 80 thrill the South 40 the epit-
ONE of all we loved and honored
and hoped for.
He was Virginia stock. His people
went from here and most of them
were killed by the Indians in the
early days-men, women and chill
dren. The precise spot of the mas
sacre is yet pointed out in a meun-
tain county of South Carolina, and
the Cherokee Indians and later the
British paid dear for it.
It was a sturdy stock of people
and the little there was left of it
took root and lourished in the
kindlier air of the later peace. The
beginning of the Civil War found
Wade Hampton, descendant of the
Virginian pioneers, n of the rioh-
est and most influential men in his
State, long of purse, powerful of
body, cool of head and steady of eye
"a daring horseman, a dead shot,
skilled in woodcraft, an athlete, a
bountiful host and kindly and Guilt
waited gentleman whose taste was
never at fault. The old people of
Columbia near the city in which he
lived, are yet full of stories of his
ge~ntleness, his love for animals, his
absolute fesrlessness and his readi-
ness TO resent anything like wrong
or cruelty, regardless of oonsequen
ces to himself.
He was a Union man, but when
the State seeded he was n Of the
first to the front. He threw his
ample fortune 80 the winds and took
his saddle, carrying a son with him.
His wal service is a part Of the his
tory of the country. The world has
not known q more dashing cavalry
leader. He loved a charge and a
fight where he could "mix in " He
sat a saddle as if moulded to it and
swung a sabre with a giants arm.
He loved to feel the long jump and
tense muscles of a horse under him
carrying him TO danger.
After the var he was one of the
first to settle himself to hard work.
He went TO Mississippi, where he
had large land interests and made
cotton there. But he did not know
how 80 be overseer and master or TO
handle the free negro labor He was
the owner of many slaves in slavery
times, but il used TO be said of him
that the only brand Wade Hamp-
tons slaves ever was the kindly
face of their master printed in their
AOh4 - hO OOu4O 4Ohu O6NdlLI Dub
he could not handle q plantation
force in the new conditions. He
could kill bear single-handed with a
knife-his favorite way-but he
could not deal with factors and
bankers. He became a poor man, as
he remained TO the end of his life.
He had retained his citizenship in
South Carolina, and when the people
of that State resolved in 1875, to
establish white rule Hampton was
the one man to whom every thought
turned. He was called TO lead as
forlorn and desperate a hope as gal.
LIANT people over formed and he re-
sponded on the instant. There was
a negro majority Of more than 3d.
O00, TO say nothing of the very con
siderable white contingent, COM
posed chiefly of carpet bsggers and
native scalawags with a small infu-
sion of decency, represented then by
D. h. Chamberlain, who was Cover
nor and nominated for reelection.
Frank Moses, now doing time in a
Massachusetts, Jail, had just been
elected Circuit Judge, along with
Whipper, who was as black as tar
and as corrupt a sooundrel as Guilt
waited vice on a natural brute could
produce. The courts were all radi
cal and part negro. The militia was
all negro and armed with United
States rifles and bayonets. In Char
lesion two-thirds of the police were
negroes and most of the others cor
rupted Irish, devils to fight and serv-
inc for nav Tho oIooEjOp ~roobjDoru