Wade Hampton III Wade Hampton III ( March 28 , 1818April 11 , 1902 ) was a Confederate cavalry leader during the American Civil War and afterward a politician from South Carolina , serving as its 77th Governor and as a U . S . Senator . Early life and career . Hampton was born at 54 Hasell St . in Charleston , South Carolina , the eldest son of Wade Hampton II ( 1791 – 1858 ) , known as " Colonel Wade Hampton " , one of the wealthiest planters in the South ( and the owner of the largest number of slaves ) , an officer of dragoon s in the War of 1812 , and an aide to General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans . He was grandson of Wade Hampton ( 1754 – 1835 ) , lieutenant colonel of cavalry in the American War of Independence , member of the U . S . House of Representatives , and brigadier general in the War of 1812 . His uncle , James Henry Hammond , was a member of both the U . S . House of Representatives and the U . S . Senate , as well as a Governor of South Carolina . Hampton grew up in a wealthy family , receiving private instruction . He had an active outdoor life , riding horses and hunting , especially at his father ' s North Carolina summer retreat , High Hampton . He was known for taking hunting trips alone into the woods , hunting American black bears with only a knife . Some accounts credit him with killing as many as 80 bears . In 1836 he graduated from South Carolina College ( now the University of South Carolina ) , and was trained for the law , although he never practiced . He devoted himself , instead , to the management of his great plantations in South Carolina and Mississippi , and took part in state politics . He was elected to the South Carolina General Assembly in 1852 and served as a Senator from 1858 to 1861 . Hampton ' s father died in 1858 and the son inherited a vast fortune , the plantations , and one of the largest collections of slaves in the South . Civil War . Although his views were conservative concerning the issues of secession and slavery , and he had opposed the division of the Union as a legislator , at the start of the Civil War , Hampton was loyal to his home state . He resigned from the Senate and enlisted as a private in the South Carolina Militia ; however , the governor of South Carolina insisted that Hampton accept a colonel ' s commission , even though he had no military experience at all . 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 financed all of the weapons for the Legion . Despite his lack of military experience and his relatively advanced age of 42 , Hampton was a natural cavalryman — brave , audacious , and a superb horseman . Some say he merely lacked some of the flamboyance of his contemporaries , such as his eventual commander , J . E . B . Stuart , age 30 . He was one of only two officers without previous military experience ( the other being Nathan Bedford Forrest ) to achieve the rank of lieutenant general in the Confederate service . Hampton first saw combat in July 1861 , at the First Battle of Bull Run , where he deployed his Legion at a decisive moment , giving the brigade of Thomas J . " Stonewall " Jackson time to reach the field . He was wounded the first of five times during the war when he led a charge against a federal artillery position , and a bullet creased his forehead . On May 23 , 1862 , Hampton was promoted to brigadier general , while commanding a brigade in Stonewall Jackson ' s division in the Army of Northern Virginia . In the Peninsula Campaign , at the Battle of Seven Pines on May 31 , 1862 , he was severely wounded in the foot , but remained on his horse while it was being treated , still under fire . Hampton returned to duty in time to lead a brigade 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 . During the winter of 1862 , around the Battle of Fredericksburg , 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 . During the Battle of Chancellorsville , Hampton ' s brigade was stationed south of the James River , so saw no action . In the Gettysburg Campaign , Hampton was slightly wounded in the Battle of Brandy Station , the war ' s largest cavalry battle . His brigade then participated in Stuart ' s wild adventure to the northeast , 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 of 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 . His wounds from Gettysburg were slow in healing , so he did not actually return to duty until November . During the Overland Campaign of 1864 , Stuart was killed at the Battle of Yellow Tavern and Hampton was given command of the Cavalry Corps on August 11 , 1864 . He distinguished himself in his new role at the bloody Battle of Trevilian Station , defeating Maj . Gen . Philip Sheridan ' s cavalry , and in fact , lost no cavalry battles for the remainder of the war . In September , Hampton conducted what became known as the " Beefsteak Raid " , where his troopers captured over 2400 head of cattle and over 300 prisoners behind enemy lines . In October 1864 , near Petersburg , Virginia , Hampton sent his son , Thomas Preston , a lieutenant and an aide to his father , 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 ' s body , and as young Wade dismounted , he was also shot . Thomas Preston died from his wound . While Lee ' s army was bottled up in the Siege of Petersburg , in January 1865 , Hampton returned to South Carolina to recruit additional 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 . After the war , Hampton found his property and wealth diminished . His boyhood home , Millwood , near Columbia , South Carolina , was burned by Maj . Gen . William T . Sherman ' s Union soldiers , and his fortune was depleted supplying those soldiers . His many slaves were freed . Hampton was one of the original proponents , alongside Lt . Gen . Jubal A . Early , of the Lost Cause movement , attempting to explain the Confederacy ' s loss of the war . He was especially angry upon the arrival of black Federal troops to occupy his home state . Postbellum career . Hampton was offered the nomination for governor in 1865 , but refused because he felt that those in the North would be suspicious of a former Confederate general seeking political office only months after the end of the Civil War . After his refusal , Hampton had to campaign for his supporters " not " to vote for him in the gubernatorial election . In 1868 , he became the chairman of the state Democratic Party central committee , which lost to the Radical Republicans in the election . His role in the politics of the state ceased until 1876 , although he tried to help Matthew Calbraith Butler in the Union Reform campaign of 1870 . Hampton was a leading opponent of Radical Republican Reconstruction policies in the South , and re - entered South Carolina politics in 1876 as the first southern gubernatorial candidate to run on a platform in opposition to Reconstruction . Hampton , a Democrat , ran against Radical Republican incumbent governor Daniel Henry Chamberlain in Charleston . Supporters of Hampton were called Red Shirts and were known to practice violence . Due to their crude reputation , and hoping to allay Union suspicion , Hampton used Grace Piexotto ' s " Big Brick House " , a prominent brothel located at 11 Fulton Street , to assure complete privacy for the Red Shirts ' meeting ground , which mainly served as campaign headquarters . The 1876 South Carolina gubernatorial election is thought to be the bloodiest in the history of the state . Both parties claimed victory . For over six months , there were two legislatures in the state , both claiming to be authentic . Eventually , the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled Hampton was the winner of the election . The election of the first Democratic governor in South Carolina since the end of the Civil War , as well as the national election of Rutherford B . Hayes as President , signified the end of Reconstruction in the South . He is considered a Bourbon Democrat for his mobilization of emancipated slaves which helped lead to his election win . After the election , Hampton became known as the " Savior of South Carolina " . He was reelected in 1878 , but two days after the election he was thrown from a mule while deer hunting and broke his right leg . The " New York Times " called this incident the " Mule Fraud " , claiming it was a political trick planned by Hampton so he would not have to sign election certificates , even though the Governor of South Carolina does not sign such certificates . Several weeks later , his right leg was amputated due to complications arising from this injury . Despite refusing to announce his candidacy for the Senate , Hampton was elected to the United States Senate by the $ 3 on the same day as the amputation of his leg . He resigned from the governorship in 1879 and served two terms in the Senate , until 1891 , but was denied a third term by the Tillmanites in the state elections of 1890 . In 1890 , Hampton ' s niece Caroline , an operating room nurse , married the " father of American surgery " , William Halsted . It was because of her skin reaction to surgical sterilization chemicals that Halsted invented the surgical glove the previous year . From 1893 to 1897 , Hampton served as United States Railroad Commissioner , appointed by President Grover Cleveland . In 1899 , his home in Columbia , was destroyed by fire . An elderly man , he had limited funds and limited means to find a new home . Over his strong protests , a group of friends raised enough funds to build him one . Hampton died in Columbia and is buried there in Trinity Cathedral Churchyard . Statues of him were erected in the South Carolina State House building and the United States Capitol . An equestrian statue by Frederick W . Ruckstull was erected on the grounds of the South Carolina State House in 1906 . In memoriam . To honor Hampton for his leadership in the Civil War and the redemption of the state , the General Assembly created Hampton County from Beaufort County in 1878 . The town of Hampton Courthouse , later shortened to Hampton , was incorporated on December 23 , 1879 , to serve as the county seat of Hampton County . Across South Carolina many towns and cities renamed streets for him . At least eight municipalities in South Carolina have a street named " Wade Hampton " ( Beaufort , Charleston , Duncan , Greenville , Greer , Hampton , Taylors , and Walterboro ) and approximately 47 towns in the state have streets named " Hampton " . Two high schools in South Carolina are named Wade Hampton High School , one in Greenville and the other in Varnville . A residence hall at Hampton ' s alma mater , the University of South Carolina , is called the Wade Hampton . There is a Hampton Park in Charleston and a Hampton Park in Columbia named after Hampton . The historic Hampton Heights neighborhood in Spartanburg is also named after him . In 1964 , Wade Hampton Academy was charted in Orangeburg ; the school later merged with Willington Academy in 1986 to become Orangeburg Preparatory Schools , Inc . In 1913 , Judge John Randolph Tucker named the Wade Hampton Census Area in Alaska to commemorate his father - in - law . An artillery battery was named after Wade Hampton at Fort Crockett , built on Galveston Island , Texas . The Wade Hampton Battery was one of four coastal artillery batteries and contained two 10 - inch guns . During World War II , the SS " Wade Hampton " , a Liberty ship named in honor of the general , was sunk off the coast of Greenland by a German U - boat . In Greenville County , South Carolina , the section of U . S . Route 29 that connects Greenville to Spartanburg is called Wade Hampton Boulevard . There is also a fire district ( Wade Hampton Fire Department ) named in his honor placed on the east side of Greenville , adjoining the Greenville city limits that includes Wade Hampton High School . In fiction . Hampton appears in " How Few Remain " , the first novel in Harry Turtledove ' s " Southern Victory Series " , an alternate history wherein the South won the American Civil War . In it , Hampton prepares to lead a coup against Confederate States President James Longstreet after Longstreet announces plans to end slavery . Later in the series , in the novel " " , Hampton ' s fictional grandson , Wade Hampton V is elected President of the C . S . in 1921 , but is assassinated shortly after by a member of the Freedom Party , an organization that resembles the Brown Shirts . In Margaret Mitchell ' s novel " Gone with the Wind " , Scarlett O ' Hara ' s first husband , Charles Hamilton , serves in Hampton ' s regiment , dying of measles only seven weeks later . As it was fashionable ( according to Mitchell ) to name baby boys after their fathers ' commanding officers , Scarlett ' s son by Charles is therefore named Wade Hampton Hamilton . In the " North and South " trilogy by John Jakes , the character Charles Main serves with Hampton ' s cavalry throughout the Civil War . Wade Hampton and his sons appear in Merritt Parmelee Allen ’ s novel " Johnny Reb " published in 1952 by Longmans , Green and Co . The novel begins right before the war and shows both Hampton ’ s style and character . The book chronicles the adventures the Hamptons and a neighbor boy Ezra Todd have in Hampton ’ s Legion and includes the Beefsteak Raid , the incident of Wade Hampton engaging the Union sniper and the death of his son Preston .