Wade Hampton (c. 1750 – February 4, 1835) was an American military officer, planter and politician. A two-term U.S. congressman, he may have been the wealthiest planter, and one of the largest slave holders in the United States, at the time of his death.[1][2]
Biography
Born in the early 1750s, sources vary on Hampton's exact birth year, listing it as 1751,[3] 1752,[4] or 1754.[5] He was the scion of the politically important Hampton family, which was influential in South Carolina state politics almost into the 20th century. His second great-grandfather Thomas Hampton (1623–1690) was born in England before moving to the English colony of Virginia. Thomas Hampton's father, William, a wool merchant, sailed from England and appears on the 1618 passenger list of the Bona Novo. The ship was blown off course and arrived in Newfoundland. It would arrive in Jamestown the following year, 1619. He would send for his wife and three children to arrive in Jamestown in 1620.
During the War of 1812, Hampton commanded American forces in the Battle of the Chateauguay in 1813, leading thousands of U.S. soldiers to defeat at the hands of a little over a thousand Canadian militiamen and 180 Mohawk warriors, then getting his army lost in the woods. On April 6, 1814, he resigned his commission and returned to South Carolina.
