# Wade Hampton III Wade Hampton III (1818–1902) was a Confederate cavalry general, South Carolina **planter aristocrat** (one of the largest slaveholders in the South), and the architect of South Carolina's violent **"Redemption"** — the paramilitary campaign that used the **[[Red Shirts]]** militia to overthrow Reconstruction and install Hampton as governor in 1876. Hampton's campaign is the most thoroughly documented case of an American election decided by organized political violence, and it coincided with the national [[Compromise of 1877]] that ended Reconstruction entirely. Hampton matters for the KB as the **model for using paramilitary violence to reverse democratic outcomes**. The Red Shirts' campaign in South Carolina — targeted assassinations, mass intimidation at polling places, armed patrols preventing Black voters from reaching polls — established the template that the white supremacist movement would use throughout the [[Jim Crow Era]] era and that echoes in the voter-intimidation tactics of the present. ## Background - Born March 28, 1818, in Charleston, South Carolina — into the wealthiest planting family in the South - The Hampton family owned **thousands of enslaved people** across plantations in South Carolina and Mississippi - South Carolina College (now University of South Carolina) - State legislator (1852–1861) - Confederate cavalry officer; rose to Lieutenant General; wounded multiple times - Led the Red Shirts campaign (1876) - **Governor of South Carolina** (1876–1879, in the disputed election) - **U.S. Senator** (1879–1891) - Died April 11, 1902, in Columbia, South Carolina, at age 84 ## The Red Shirts Campaign (1876) Hampton's 1876 gubernatorial campaign was a **military operation disguised as an election**: **The "Straightout" strategy:** South Carolina Democrats adopted the "Straightout" plan — running a "straight Democratic" ticket with no pretense of bipartisanship, backed by organized paramilitary force to ensure victory. **The Red Shirts:** Named for the red shirts worn as a uniform (a deliberate echo of Garibaldi's Italian nationalist fighters), the Red Shirts were Confederate veterans organized into armed companies that: - **Broke up Republican meetings** with armed force - **Assassinated Black political leaders** and Republican organizers - **Patrolled polling places** on Election Day with rifles and pistols - **Followed Republican speakers** to rallies and demanded "equal time" — backed by armed men - Carried out the **Hamburg Massacre** (July 4, 1876): Red Shirts murdered 6 Black militiamen after they surrendered, in a planned action to terrorize the Black community before the election - Carried out the **Ellenton Riot** (September 1876): armed Red Shirts killed approximately 100 Black people over several days **The election (November 1876):** Both Hampton and the Republican incumbent, Daniel Chamberlain, claimed victory. In several counties, more votes were cast than there were eligible voters — a result of Red Shirts stuffing ballot boxes and intimidating or killing Black voters. The dispute was resolved by the [[Compromise of 1877]], which withdrew federal troops and handed South Carolina to Hampton. ## Why Hampton Matters **The "respectable" face of paramilitary violence:** Hampton styled himself as a moderate — publicly urging Black South Carolinians to vote for him (some did, under duress), promising to protect Black rights (he didn't), and presenting his campaign as a restoration of honest government. This "moderate" persona made the Red Shirts' violence politically palatable to Northern opinion — which was looking for reasons to end Reconstruction anyway. The pattern: **violent extremists do the dirty work while the "moderate" leader maintains deniability.** This structure recurs throughout the KB — from Hampton and the Red Shirts to Trump and January 6. **The planter class reclaims power:** Hampton was the richest slaveholder in South Carolina becoming the governor of South Carolina after the brief interruption of Reconstruction. His victory represented the **restoration of the antebellum power structure** — the planter aristocracy returning to control a state whose Black majority had briefly experienced political power. This is what "Redemption" meant: not reform, but restoration of the pre-war racial hierarchy. ## See Also - [[Nathan Bedford Forrest]] — KKK founder, fellow Confederate general using paramilitary tactics - [[First Ku Klux Klan]] — The organization whose methods the Red Shirts adopted - [[Compromise of 1877]] — The deal that resolved Hampton's disputed election and ended Reconstruction - [[Reconstruction and Its Overthrow]] — The broader context of Hampton's campaign - [[The Lost Cause]] — The mythology that frames Hampton as a "Redeemer" - [[Jefferson Davis]] — Confederate president whose cause Hampton continued by other means