South Carolina Hall Of Fame: Gen. Wade Hampton III

As a soldier and statesman Wade Hampton III did not play a role in the secession movement, but after South Carolina left the Union he raised a cavalry troop for the Confederate Army and was appointed Robert E. Lee's cavalry commander. After the war he returned to a devastated South Carolina and realized the pre-war South could not be reconstituted. He became identified with the faction that supported some amount of political fusion between white and blacks. Following Radical Reconstruction he was elected governor in 1876 and re-elected in 1878. Hampton represented South Carolina in the United States Senate from 1879 until 1891. His moderate views coupled with his influence, helped South Carolina recover after the Civil War.