Wade Hampton: Confederate Warrior to Southern Redeemer

by Rod Andrew

Overview

One of the South's most illustrious military leaders, Wade Hampton III was for a time the commander of all Lee's cavalry and at the end of the war was the highest-ranking Confederate cavalry officer. Yet for all Hampton's military victories, he also suffered devastating losses in his family and personal life. Rod Andrew's critical biography sheds light on his central role during Reconstruction as a conservative white leader, governor, U.S. senator, and Redeemer; his heroic image in the minds of white southerners; and his positions and apparent contradictions on race and the role of African Americans in the New South. Andrew also shows that Hampton's tragic past explains how he emerged in his own day as a larger-than-life symbol--of national reconciliation as well as southern defiance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807889008
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	11/30/2009
Series:	Civil War America
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	640
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Rod Andrew Jr. is professor of history at Clemson University and a colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. He is author of Long Gray Lines: The Southern Military School Tradition, 1839-1915.

Table of Contents

Preface     xi
Acknowledgments     xvii
Paternalism
The Patriarchs     3
The Young Knight     23
A Father as well as a Brother     39
Chivalry
The Appian Way of the Constitution     49
Manassas: Baptism of Fire     69
Long Winter on the Occoquan     81
As Soon as We Whip All the Yankees, I Can Come Home: The Peninsula, 1862     91
Riding with Stuart     107
Raiding on the Rappahannock     127
Winter of Discontent: 1863     137
Brandy Station to Gettysburg     145
The Home Front     167
Division Commander: November 1863-May 1864     175
If We Are Successful Now: May 1864     189
The Test at Trevilian     203
Hampton's Cavalry: June-July 1864     219
The Cavalry Always Fight Well Now: July-September 1864     229
My Son, My Son!     241
Disaster     251
Vindication
The Search for Vindication     267
Consider the Position in Which I Find Myself     289
His Solemn Obligation: 1865-1866     305
Hampton, Sherman, and the Yankees     317
Conquered Provinces     329
AnotherBattle and a Retreat     347
Hampton and the Ku Klux     361
Hurrah for Hampton     369
Interregnum     393
Victory     409
Promises to Keep     421
And Now Would You Turn Your Backs on Them?: 1878     433
You Cannot Expect Us to Apologize     445
Senator Hampton     455
Hampton versus Tillman     463
Time Makes All Things Even     477
God Bless Them All     489
Epilogue     499
The Fable of Hampton, "Major S," and a Union Private     505
Notes     507
Bibliography     577
Index     601

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Hampton's life and significance in southern history merit close re-examination, and Rod Andrew is just the right person for the task. In this first-rate biography, Andrew provides an enlightened portrait of a man driven by personal circumstances as well as southern codes of paternalism and chivalry. It is the best, most careful and rigorous study of Hampton, offering a new understanding of South Carolina politics at a critical time in the state's history.—Vernon Burton, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana

Editorial Reviews

Hampton is one of those larger-than-life figures whose actions repay close attention and whose careers match pivotal moments in America's history. . . . Andrew . . . describes Hampton's wartime experience with special vividness.—Wall Street Journal

The author accomplished his twofold mission of learning more about Hampton the man, and through his story, providing a better understanding of Southern paternalism, honor and chivalry, the motivation of Confederate soldiers, Reconstruction, racism and white supremacy, and the myth of the Lost Cause. . . . The pace of this book is brisk, and it is well organized. The transition between chapters and parts is smooth, and the writing is clear and concise. . . . Andrew has succeeded in producing a Hampton biography that is not only definitive, but also entertaining.—The Washington Times

A compelling full biography notable for its scope, balance, and insight. . . . Andrew's insights and detailed attention to both Hampton's military career and his political odyssey makes this work stand out as the fullest and best.—Journal of Military History

A meticulously researched and superbly written biography. . . . Highly recommended.—Choice

Elucidates Hampton's critical role during Reconstruction as a conservative leader, governor, U.S. senator, and southern Redeemer.—Courier

[A] splendid biography. . . . Adds significantly to the recent burst of scholarship on this long-overlooked leader. . . . Both sensitive and, when it is called for, unsparing.—Journal of American History

Takes on the substantial task of imposing order on the different stages of [Hampton's] career . . . impressive.—The Journal of Southern History

The most thorough biography of Hampton that has been published and should prove of major interest to students of the Civil War and the nineteenth-century South.—North Carolina Historical Review

Andrew's stellar biography . . . offers new insights and a convincing interpretation. . . . This study will likely take its place as the best of several Hampton biographies. It ranks as a significant scholarly achievement that deserves wide reading among historians of the South, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.—Military History of the West

Carefully researched.—Journal of America's Military Past

From the Publisher