Wade Hampton

[Caswell Ranger]

When I think of someone scary, 6'1, 210 pounds, I also think of this guy: (look at the their faces! )

Made my day! After a difficult day, coming home to Wade Hampton. The man is a legend. May he never be forgotten.

 

[Bruce Vail]

True that. A few states on the east coast have similar bear hunting restrictions. In the majority of states it's either baiting, hounding, or both. IMHO, as an avid and long time hunter, "fair chase" without hounds is an exceedingly difficult method of taking a bear, unless you are with an experienced guide who knows exactly where they are.

I was up in Maine on business about 15 years ago and at that time there was an extremely controversial proposal to ban bear baiting. If memory serves, the voters of Maine turned down the ban.

 

[RobertP]

Is it true Wade Hampton was a renowned bear hunter? Did he really kill over 500 bears, killing 40 with a knife?

Preserve the right to arm bears!

Just sayin'

 

[Chattahooch33]

Doubt it was a grizzly you engage one of them with a knife, better have your funeral arrangements made.

You don't kill grizzlies, you only make them angry.

 

[nc native]

When I think of someone scary, 6'1, 210 pounds, I also think of this guy: (look at the their faces! )

My dream duel from the Civil War period would be Wade Hampton versus Nathan Forrest.
Both parties could agree on the choice of weapons but I think a good old fist fight could
fill up any arena I can think of.

 

[diane]

My dream duel from the Civil War period would be Wade Hampton versus Nathan Forrest.
Both parties could agree on the choice of weapons but I think a good old fist fight could
fill up any arena I can think of.

I'd put my money on the southpaw! They're tricky... What always amuses me is both these men were challenged by that scruffy twerp Judson Kilpatrick! Either one of them could have crumpled him up and thrown him in the nearest waste basket without breaking stride.

 

[Yankeedave]

Wade had melee skills to accompany his size and a military brain. raising his own unit he put his money where his mouth was.

 

[Tennessee_Mountainman]

I'd put my money on the southpaw! They're tricky... What always amuses me is both these men were challenged by that scruffy twerp Judson Kilpatrick! Either one of them could have crumpled him up and thrown him in the nearest waste basket without breaking stride.

I'm a south paw! And I can confirm it gets these... "righties"... all the time!

 

[Yankeedave]

I'm a south paw! And I can confirm it gets these... "righties"... all the time!

 

[diane]

Forrest and Hampton were quite similar - Forrest was famous for sharpening both sides of his Mississippi wrist breaker but Hampton also carried a double edged sword. (He preferred handling a lighter weapon.) Both were big, athletic and loved to fight, both raised their own companies with their own money, both killed more enemies than anybody else either side - lots of comparisons! I don't know if they ever met after the war but it would have been nice if they had. Hampton had a controversial post-war life but he wasn't in Tennessee where Brownlow was trying to swat Forrest like the cockroach the Parson thought he was. Forrest might have been more like Hampton in politics otherwise.

 

[Tennessee_Mountainman]

I think I found a man who could be in the ring of these brutes of man. "Liver-eating" Johnson, served in the 2nd CO cavalry during the Civil War as a private, mountain man. Had a past of striking a Union officer during the Mexican-American war, so he deserted, moved out west, changed his name, and tested his luck with gold digging in Montana. It was said for every victim he killed, he would gut their liver and eat, earning him the nickname, "Liver Eating." "He was described as a large man, standing about six feet two inches (1.88 m) in stocking feet and weighing in the area of 260 pounds (120 kg) with almost no body fat."

 

[Greyfalcon]

"Liver-eating" Johnson

Boy, you eat just one guy's liver and they never forget it, do they? Sheesh!

 

[War Horse]

I think we have an excellent opportunity here to study Hampton. I don't own a biography on him yet but I will soon. All I've picked up on him is from other people's biographies. He was a powerful man who carriered a broadsword, he and Stuart didn't see eye to eye yet Stuart cherished him as an officer, he proved to be a very competent successor to the fallen Stuart. He also pledged his allegiance to Davis after Richmond fell and Lee surrendered. @diane knows what's under the hood. What do we really know about this man?

 

[diane]

I think we have an excellent opportunity here to study Hampton. I don't own a biography on him yet but I will soon. All I've picked up on him is from other people's biographies. He was a powerful man who carriered a broadsword, he and Stuart didn't see eye to eye yet Stuart cherished him as an officer, he proved to be a very competent successor to the fallen Stuart. He also pledged his allegiance to Davis after Richmond fell and Lee surrendered. @diane knows what's under the hood. What do we really know about this man?

I don't know that much about him - as you picked up things from elsewhere, me too! He was reckoned by many to be the richest man in the South, had several plantations and was one of the largest slave holders in the South but also was against the African trade and knew that slavery was going the way of the dodo. He was well educated but, like Forrest, had no military training and was a natural born soldier. He also raised troops and equipped them at his own expense. Stuart did indeed respect him if he didn't particularly like him! Stuart was too gaudy and showy for Hampton - Hampton was all business about war. If he hadn't gone home to South Carolina, Five Forks might well have gone differently - there sure wouldn't have been no shad bake! (Wouldn't have been with Stuart, either...) After the war he went on to become governor of South Carolina twice and had a lot of help from the Red Shirts. It's not known how much he knew of their activities or what involvement he had with them, but they did deter a crucial number of blacks from voting Republican - again, like Forrest with the klan, who knows for sure. And, like Forrest, he never recovered financially from losses during the war - in old age friends had to take up a charity for him - and he died in 1902. During the war, he was a heck of a fighter - again like Forrest, every time they ganged up on him he took out half a dozen!

Wade Hampton is well worth looking into - think you'll enjoy finding out about him.

 

[War Horse]

I don't know that much about him - as you picked up things from elsewhere, me too! He was reckoned by many to be the richest man in the South, had several plantations and was one of the largest slave holders in the South but also was against the African trade and knew that slavery was going the way of the dodo. He was well educated but, like Forrest, had no military training and was a natural born soldier. He also raised troops and equipped them at his own expense. Stuart did indeed respect him if he didn't particularly like him! Stuart was too gaudy and showy for Hampton - Hampton was all business about war. If he hadn't gone home to South Carolina, Five Forks might well have gone differently - there sure wouldn't have been no shad bake! (Wouldn't have been with Stuart, either...) After the war he went on to become governor of South Carolina twice and had a lot of help from the Red Shirts. It's not known how much he knew of their activities or what involvement he had with them, but they did deter a crucial number of blacks from voting Republican - again, like Forrest with the klan, who knows for sure. And, like Forrest, he never recovered financially from losses during the war - in old age friends had to take up a charity for him - and he died in 1902. During the war, he was a heck of a fighter - again like Forrest, every time they ganged up on him he took out half a dozen!

Wade Hampton is well worth looking into - think you'll enjoy finding out about him.

I know I will and thanks for sharing I've also noticed the similarities with Forrest. Aside from the education they were indeed very similar from what I've read

 

[Bee]

I think we have an excellent opportunity here to study Hampton.

Wade Hampton. He has been sitting on the back burner of my future threads to create. I would say that along with the discussion of bears, broadswords and other larger-than-life anecdotes, one must include the Battle of Trevilian Station. :

Battle of Trevilian Station
Contributed by Peter C. Luebke

The Battle of Trevilian Station, fought June 11–12, 1864, during the American Civil War (1861–1865), was a victory for Confederate cavalry under Wade Hampton when they turned back Union raiders under the command of General Philip H. Sheridan. Fought solely by cavalry, this was the largest such battle during the war (the larger Battle of Brandy Station, fought a year earlier during the Gettysburg Campaign, involved some infantry). Union general-in-chief Ulysses S. Grant had hoped that Sheridan's troopers might destroy the Virginia Central Railroad west to Charlottesville while distracting Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia enough that Grant might sneak across the James River and around to Petersburg. Instead, Hampton's cavalry blocked the way, and although Sheridan claimed to have decommissioned the railroad, he was unable to fulfill the last part of Grant's plan: to reinforce Union general David Hunter in the Shenandoah Valley. http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/The_Battle_of_Trevilian_Station_June_11-12_1864#start_entry
​

Battle of Trevilian Station from another perspective:

Custer's First Last Stand
The Battle of Trevilian Station
By Eric J. Wittenberg
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefield...ion-history-articles/trevilianwittenberg.html​

 

[Bee]

Here is an abridged listing of Wade Hampton's attributes as they surpassed those Nathan Bedford Forrest. The article expands on each of the items listed and can be found using the link:

The True Wizard of the Saddle

I did a comparison and contrast of Wade Hampton and Jeb Stuart, and in the course of preparing the talk, I realized that the TRUE Wizard of the Saddle was not Nathan Bedford Forrest, for the reasons set forth below, but rather Wade Hampton.

1. Unlike Forrest, Wade Hampton was THE quintessential subordinate officer. Always courtly and courteous, Hampton performed well as a subordinate.

2. Unlike Forrest, Hampton was the complete package. While a ferocious fighter–Hampton killed 13 Union soldiers in personal combat during the war and was severely wounded twice in battle, and wounded one other time in battle–Hampton also had a real talent for performing the traditional role of cavalry–scouting, screening, and reconnaissance.

3. Unlike Forrest, Hampton regularly met and defeated the very best the Union cavalry had to offer

4. Like Forrest, Hampton had no formal military training whatsoever, even though his grandfather had been a major general in the War of 1812, and both his father and grandfather had served in the cavalry. However, Hampton had a lot of native, natural talent, and became a feared and respected commander of horse as a result of his God-given talent.

5. Unlike Forrest, Hampton's operations actually made a difference in the outcome of the war.

6. Hampton was THE highest ranking officer in all of the Confederate cavalry, ranking even Forrest and exceeding even the lamented Stuart in rank. http://civilwarcavalry.com/?p=23​

 

[diane]

Here is an abridged listing of Wade Hampton's attributes as they surpassed those Nathan Bedford Forrest. The article expands on each of the items listed and can be found using the link:

The True Wizard of the Saddle

I did a comparison and contrast of Wade Hampton and Jeb Stuart, and in the course of preparing the talk, I realized that the TRUE Wizard of the Saddle was not Nathan Bedford Forrest, for the reasons set forth below, but rather Wade Hampton.

1. Unlike Forrest, Wade Hampton was THE quintessential subordinate officer. Always courtly and courteous, Hampton performed well as a subordinate.

2. Unlike Forrest, Hampton was the complete package. While a ferocious fighter–Hampton killed 13 Union soldiers in personal combat during the war and was severely wounded twice in battle, and wounded one other time in battle–Hampton also had a real talent for performing the traditional role of cavalry–scouting, screening, and reconnaissance.

3. Unlike Forrest, Hampton regularly met and defeated the very best the Union cavalry had to offer

4. Like Forrest, Hampton had no formal military training whatsoever, even though his grandfather had been a major general in the War of 1812, and both his father and grandfather had served in the cavalry. However, Hampton had a lot of native, natural talent, and became a feared and respected commander of horse as a result of his God-given talent.

5. Unlike Forrest, Hampton's operations actually made a difference in the outcome of the war.

6. Hampton was THE highest ranking officer in all of the Confederate cavalry, ranking even Forrest and exceeding even the lamented Stuart in rank. http://civilwarcavalry.com/?p=23​

Well, you know there may be a little bias there! (None for me, of course... and I would never ever start anything like comparisons...)

One thing Hampton had strongly in his favor was Lee. Working under Lee would have been a heck of a lot more inspiring than working under Bragg - the boss makes a big difference! I would go so far as to suggest Bragg deliberately tried to ruin an excellent cavalryman - Lee would have been a superior Forrest could get behind, and who would get behind him. I don't think we would have seen Forrest bucking his superiors too much - Lee would have given Forrest no reason to ask out loud why he fought battles. Hampton was 'to the manor born', which gave him a completely different structure and mindset. Forrest wasn't a barbarian and he ate with a knife and a fork, but frontier Memphis was a very different society from Columbia, SC.

 

[Mike Serpa]

True Bear Stories.
https://archive.org/stream/truebearstoriesw00milluoft#page/n5/mode/2up

Nothing about Hampton but a story about Fremont on page 112.

 

[leftyhunter]

The only two ways that black bears are hunted even today that I know of, are either baiting them or using scent dogs.

In California the above two techniques are illegal. Our hunters still tag somewhere over a thousand bears a year.
Leftyhuner