Tales of Wade Hampton

Written By: Stuart Ferguson - Shakespeare and Company | Issue: September - 2022

The larger-than-life Wade Hampton III made his mark onhistory and, of course, Cashiers.“…The buck came on like thunderbolt,As if shot out of catapult.And fell dead within twenty rods,That shot was worthy of the gods…Col. Hampton then was young and rich,A full made man in every stitch.”That’s fromHampton’s Last Hunt(1891) by Jackson countypoet and proud Scotch-Irish David U. Sloan, who witnessed theremarkable chase on Nix Mountain that took down a leapingstag (Hampton fired from his galloping horse!) It’s found in theinformative, satisfying and just-long-enough 2014 book,WadeHampton III: Summer Resident of North Carolina—Cashiers,Hot Springsby S. Robert Lathan Jr., M.D., and Jane GibsonNardy, which grew out of a 2006 symposium on Hamptonsponsored by the Cashiers Historical Society. Chairman of thatscholarly gathering, Dr. Lathan went to Johns Hopkins medicalschool, while Jane Nardy is Cashiers’ beloved historian and alongtime contributor to The Laurel who has helped me morethan once in my writing and research.Hampton (1818-1902), the hero of both the verse and thehistory, was born in Charleston to one of South Carolina’smost prominent families. During the Civil War he famouslyled Lee’s cavalry after J.E.B. Stuart’s death. In 1876 Hamptonwas elected – it was messy – governor of South Carolina,reelected, then transferred to the U.S. Senate for two terms. Hewas famously big and handsome and rich – until the war, whichbankrupted him and also took one of his sons, Preston.The heart of today’s High Hampton resort in Cashiers wasoriginally the site of Wade Hampton III’s hunting lodge andfarm. Hampton’s parents had escaped the heat and mosquitosof a S.C. summer by visiting the spas at White Sulfur Springsin what is now West Virginia, and also Hot Springs along theFrench Broad River north of Asheville. But Wade III wantedsomeplace closer to his home near Columbia and so bought 400acres in Cashiers Valley in 1855. After his death, High Hamptonwent to niece Caroline Hampton and her husband Dr. WilliamStewart Halsted, a famous and innovative surgeon at JohnsHopkins in Baltimore. They increased the property to 2,200acres and created the famous Dahlia garden.Wade Hampton IIIcovers all this and more, with much fascinat-ing detail and well-chosen illustrations. It can be checked outfrom the Albert Carlton-Cashiers Community Library and is forsale at the Cashiers Historical Society or Shakespeare & Co. inHighlands.

by Stuart Ferguson, Local Historian, Co-Owner Shakespeare & Company