Wade Hampton III Monument
East of the State House across from Trinity Cathedral
Installed November 20, 1906
Designed by Frederick Wellington Ruckstull
Funded by State Commission, United Daughters of the Confederacy (Wade Hampton Chapter), United Confederate Veterans (Hampton Camp)
Letters Carved 1931
Moved to current location
Installed 1969
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Wade Hampton III Monument, 2019. Historic Columbia collection
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Wade Hampton III Monument, 2019. Historic Columbia collection
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Wade Hampton III Monument, 2019. Historic Columbia collection
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Wade Hampton III Monument, 2019. Historic Columbia collection
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Wade Hampton III Monument, 2019. Historic Columbia collection
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Wade Hampton III Monument, 2019. Historic Columbia collection
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Wade Hampton III Monument, 2019. Historic Columbia collection
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Wade Hampton III Monument, 2019. Historic Columbia collection
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Wade Hampton III Monument, 2019. Historic Columbia collection
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Wade Hampton III Monument, 2019. Historic Columbia collection
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Wade Hampton III Monument, 2019. Historic Columbia collection
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Wade Hampton III Monument, 2019. Historic Columbia collection
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Wade Hampton III Monument, 2019. Historic Columbia collection
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Wade Hampton III Monument, 2019. Historic Columbia collection
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Postcard depicting Wade Hampton III Monument in its original location, 1910. Historic Columbia collection, HCF 2007.6.25
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Postcard depicting Wade Hampton III Monument in its original location, 1910. Historic Columbia collection, HCF 2007.6.25
Plans for the creation of a memorial honoring Wade Hampton III began shortly after his death in 1902. The monument commission selected prominent sculptor Frederick Wellington Ruckstull to create this piece, which was unveiled in 1906. The fifteen-foot-tall equestrian sculpture efficiently commemorates the multiple leadership positions held over his long life: while the body, horse, and plaques naming Civil War battles recall Hampton’s command of a Confederate cavalry, the figure’s head and distinctive facial hair depict Hampton as he appeared while serving as South Carolina’s governor (1876-1879) and U.S. senator (1879-1889). His election to the governorship was secured in part by the use of fraudulent tissue ballots and with the help of the Red Shirts, a paramilitary organization that threatened potential black voters with violence. For Hampton and others former Confederation, the “redemption” of their return to power was completed by the Compromise of 1877 that saw the U.S. government withdraw federal troops from the South, ending the Reconstruction period. Press comments from across South Carolina, reprinted in The State after the statue’s unveiling, often referenced his role and that of the Red Shirts in the campaign of 1876, as of singular importance; for example, the Anderson Intelligencer lauded him “not only for what he did during the war, but also, and more particularly for the part he played in the dark times of Reconstruction, when the hand of the beast was at Carolina’s throat…”
Originally installed across from Hampton’s grave at Trinity Cathedral, the monument was moved in front of the state office building named for Hampton in 1969.