HAMPTON, Wade, Congress, SC (1818-1902)

Senate Years of Service: 1879-1891
Party: Democrat

HAMPTON, Wade, (grandson of Wade Hampton [1752-1835]), a Senator from South Carolina; born in Charleston, S.C., March 28, 1818; received private instruction, graduated from the South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina) at Columbia in 1836; studied law but never practiced; planter; member, State house of representatives 1852-1856; member, State senate 1858-1861; served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, raising and commanding “Hampton’s Legion”; three times wounded; made brigadier general in 1862, major general in 1863, and lieutenant general in 1865; Governor of South Carolina 1876-1879; elected in 1878 as a Democrat to the United States Senate; reelected in 1884 and served from March 4, 1879, until March 3, 1891; unsuccessful candidate for reelection; United States railroad commissioner 1893-1897; died in Columbia, S.C., April 11, 1902; interment in Trinity Cathedral Churchyard.

Bibliography Dictionary of American Biography ; Wellman, Manly. Giant in Gray: A Biography of Wade Hampton of South Carolina . New York: Scribner’s Sons, 1949; Wittenberg, Eric J. “Giant in Gray: Wade Hampton at Fayetteville.” North & South 6 (2003): 82-86.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present