Wade Hampton – Confederate Warrior to Southern Redeemer
By Rod Andrew Jr. 
(November 2008 Civil War News)

Illustrated, maps, appendix, notes, bibliography, index, 616pp., 2008.  The University of North Carolina Press, 116 South Boundary St., Chapel Hill, NC 7514-3808. $40 plus shipping.

Reviewer: John Deppen
John Deppen is past president of the Susquehanna CWRT, a member of General John F. Hartranft Camp #15 of the SUVCW and a living historian who portrays Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock.  His articles and reviews have appeared in Military Heritage, Gettysburg Magazine, The Civil War News and The Daily Item in central Pennsylvania.

Review:
It is quite a curiosity to read yet another biography of a prominent Southerner who apparently opposed secession and yet transformed himself into a slayer of Yankees. My bookshelves groan under the weight of similar Confederate biographies — if all these fellows felt that secession was such a wrong-headed course for the South to follow, then how, I wonder, was it possible for the South to secede?

Author Rod Andrew Jr. puts Wade Hampton into the “reluctant Confederate” column in his impressive new biography of the South Carolina cavalryman. He does so by writing what might be called a thematic biography — Andrew tells Hampton’s story in chronological order, but within the framework of three vital themes in Hampton’s life: paternalism, chivalry and vindication.

Andrew delves deeply into Hampton’s family history to provide context for the general’s decision-making processes. Unlike some biographies that whip through family histories and childhoods with breakneck speed in order to get to “the war,” Andrew takes the time and page space necessary to create a relatively complete picture of his subject.

While the early pace of the narrative is slow to the point of being cumbersome, readers will discover that, without this background, Hampton the man remains a mystery.

When Hampton joins the fray in 1861 and creates his own legion, the narrative pace improves, and Andrew reveals himself to be adept at describing Civil War combat.

Accompanied by intelligible maps, the accounts of Hampton’s wartime service show that, though he lacked the dash of his legendary superior, J.E.B. Stuart, Hampton was a courageous and competent officer who served the Confederate army well.

Hampton sacrificed much for the Southern cause, and his life in the postwar era was a quest for “vindication,” to use the author’s word. Hampton sought vindication for his personal actions, as well as for the horrendous national bloodletting.

Hampton became a heroic figure for white Southerners, and served in a number of important elected offices, including governor.

Perhaps the most moving episode in the book — among many moving episodes, at least one of which left me in tears — is Hampton’s death in 1902, witnessed by his children and sisters. Like many old soldiers, his mind returned to past battlefields, and he could not help but think of his lost sons, Preston and Wade.

Hampton’s son Alfred recorded his poignant last words: “My children, my Jesus, my friends, my country…Jesus will not deceive me.” 

Andrew’s book is meticulously detailed and thoroughly documented. Wade Hampton’s remarkable story is, in many ways, the story of the rise, fall and resurrection of the South.