Gentleman and Soldier: A Biography of Wade Hampton III

Gentleman and Soldier is the first biography in more than 50 years of Wade Hampton III, a Confederate general whose remarkable life provides a unique sweeping insight into the entire history of the Civil War in the South. Hampton was a leading citizen of South Carolina before the War, the highest-ranking cavalry leader during the War, fought in a remarkable number of battles from Antietam to Gettysburg to Bentonville, and was South Carolina's Governor and U.S. Senator after the War. At the time of his death in 1902, Hampton was hailed as a bridge between the Old South and the New. His life was also one of dramatic contradictions. He was the quintessential slave owner, but he questioned the ethical underpinnings of the "Peculiar Institution" and argued against reopening the African slave trade. He was a prewar spokesperson for national unity, but he became an avid secessionist. He condemned violence and abhorred dueling, but he personally killed more opponents in battle than any other general, Union or Confederate. He kept South Carolina from the effects of Reconstruction, but he then extended more political benefits to African-Americans than any other Democratic governor in the postwar South. Gentleman and Soldier is the fascinating story of one of the Civil War's most remarkable and interesting generals.