Wade Hampton I
Wade Hampton I | |
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Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina's 4th district | |
In office March 4, 1803 – March 4, 1805 | |
Preceded by | Richard Winn |
Succeeded by | O'Brien Smith |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina's 2nd district | |
In office March 4, 1795 – March 3, 1797 | |
Preceded by | John Hunter |
Succeeded by | John Rutledge, Jr. |
Personal details | |
Born | 1752 |
Died | February 4, 1835 |
Political party | Democratic-Republican |
Profession | planter, soldier |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States of America |
Service/branch | Continental Army United States Army |
Years of service | 1777 - 1781; 1808 - 1814 |
Rank | Major general |
Battles/wars | American Revolutionary War 1811 German Coast Uprising War of 1812 |
Wade Hampton (1752 – February 4, 1835) was a South Carolina soldier, politician, two-term U.S. Congressman, and wealthy plantation owner. He was the scion of the politically important Hampton family, which was influential in state politics almost into the 20th century. His great-great-grandfather Thomas Hampton (1623–1690) was born in England and settled in the Virginia Colony.
Hampton served in the American Revolution as a lieutenant colonel in a South Carolina volunteer cavalry regiment. He was a Democratic-Republican member of Congress for South Carolina from 1795–1797 and from 1803–1805, and a presidential elector in 1801.
He was appointed to the US Army as Colonel of Light Dragoons in October 1808, and was promoted to Brigadier General in February 1809, replacing James Wilkinson as the general in charge of New Orleans.
He used the U.S. military presence in New Orleans to suppress the 1811 German Coast Uprising, which he believed was a Spanish plot.
During the War of 1812, Hampton led the American forces in the Battle of Chateauguay in 1813. On April 6, 1814, he resigned his commission and returned to South Carolina after leading thousands of U.S. soldiers to defeat at the hands of just a little over a thousand Canadian militia and 180 Mohawk warriors then getting his army lost in the woods.
Thereafter, he acquired a large fortune through land speculation. At his death, it was said that he was the wealthiest planter in the United States and owned more than 3,000 slaves. Hampton had a mansion, now known as the Hampton-Preston House, now on the National Register of Historic Places, in Columbia, South Carolina.
Hampton County, South Carolina is named for the former Congressman.
His son Wade Hampton II and grandson Wade Hampton III also became prominent in South Carolina social circles and politics. The younger man served as the state's first Democratic Party governor after the American Civil War, and then was elected to the United States Senate. During the war, he had a distinguished career as a general in the Confederate army.
Wade Hampton is interred in the churchyard at Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbia, South Carolina.
External links
United States House of Representatives | ||
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Preceded by Richard Winn |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina's 4th congressional district 1803-1805 |
Succeeded by O'Brien Smith |
Preceded by John Hunter |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina's 2nd congressional district 1795-1797 |
Succeeded by John Rutledge, Jr. |
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