Wade Hampton III (1818-1902) - Find a Grave Memorial

Civil War Confederate Lieutenant General, South Carolina Governor, US Senator. He was one of three civilians who attained the rank of Lieutenant General in the Confederate Army without formal military training (the other two being Nathan Bedford Forrest and Richard Taylor). A highly successful plantation owner in South Carolina, he carried on the family legacy of business and wealth forged by his grandfather, Wade Hampton I, who was a Revolutionary War Army officer, a United States Congressman, and a United States Army General during the War of 1812. He served in both houses of the South Carolina State Legislature from 1852 to 1861, and at the Civil War's beginning he was reputed to be the largest landowner in the south. Originally opposed to Secession, he remained loyal to his home state once the war began, and organized the Hampton Legion, equipping it at his own expense. Commissioned a Colonel in the Confederate Army, he took his legion to Virginia to fight in the July 1861 First Bull Run Campaign, where was wounded. He was promoted to Brigadier General in May 1862, Major General in August 1863, and to Lieutenant General in February 1865. He was wounded in the cavalry battle with Brigadier General George A. Custer's forces on the third day of the July 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, and assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia's cavalry corps in May 1864 after the death of Major General J.E.B. Stuart. The war ended for him in April 1865 when he surrendered with General Joseph E. Johnston's forces to Major General William T. Sherman at Durham, North Carolina. Post war he was instrumental in reclaiming South Carolina from transplanted Northern influence. He was elected South Carolina Governor, serving from 1876 to 1879. He was later elected as a Democratic Senator from South Carolina to the United States Senate, serving from 1879 to 1891.