"On the eve of the American Civil War, Wade Hampton, one of the wealthiest men in the South, and indeed the United States, remained loyal to his native South Carolina as it seceded from the Union. Raising his namesake Hampton Legion of soldiers, he eventually became a lieutenant general of Confederate cavalry after the death of the legendary J.E.B. Stuart. Hampton's highly capable military leadership throughout the Civil War has until recently been largely overlooked. After the war, Hampton returned to South Carolina, where chaos and violence reigned as Union officials, newly freed slaves, and disenfranchised white Southerners battled for political control of the devastated economy. Reconstruction collapsed as Hampton was elected governor in the contested election of 1876 in which the governorship of South Carolina and the presidency of the United States hung in the balance. While aspects of Hampton's rise to power remain controversial, under his leadership stability returned to state government and rampant corruption was brought under control. Hampton then served in the U.S. Senate, from 1879 to 1891, eventually losing his seat to a henchman of notorious South Carolina governor "Pitchfork" Ben Tillman, whose brand of grassroots, blatantly segregationist politics supplanted Hampton's genteel paternalism." "In Wade Hampton, Walter Brian Cisco provides a comprehensively researched, highly readable, and long-overdue examination of a man whose military and political careers had a major impact upon South Carolina, and America. Focusing on all aspects of Hampton's life, Cisco has written the definitive biography of this man.

1"Consider Everything Certain Which Is Possible" The Hampton Heritage 1 -- 2 "Deep in Unfathomable Mines" Learning to Be a Gentleman 19 -- 3 "Flags Were Waving in Every Direction" Hampton Chooses Secession 37 -- 4 "Stand Up for South Carolina" The Legion Goes to War 55 -- 5 "A Man for Hard Work" Infantry Commander 73 -- 6 "The People Have Surrendered Chambersburg" Hampton Joins the Cavalry 90 -- 7 "Have All the Sabres Sharpened" Brandy Station and Gettysburg 110 -- 8 "I Would Not Care if You Went Back to South Carolina" Reinforcing the Division 126 -- 9 "My Heart Is Sorely Bruised" Stuart's Successor 136 -- 10 "The Grand Smash Has Come" Defeat in the Carolinas 150 -- 11 "I Am Not Reconstructed Yet" Surrender Brings No Peace 164 -- 12 "We Shall Not Give Up Our Country" Battle against the Radicals 189 -- 13 "Straight Every Time" Hampton Is Nominated for Governor 207 -- 14 "To Storm Hell for Hampton" The Red Shirt Campaign 224 -- 15 "I Am Going There to Demand Our Rights" Both Sides Claim Victory 245 -- 16 "He Has Kept All His Pledges" Governor Hampton 270 -- 17 "Hampton Has Nothing to Regret" United States Senator 288 -- 18 "Memories of the Past" Railroad Commissioner, Southern Symbol 307.