Hampton Wade 1818 - 1902 Amazing content! Confederate General Wade Hampton deals with reconstruction and the Black Vote.

Autograph Letter Signed "Wade Hampton," 4 page, 6.25" x 7.5", front and verso on two conjoined sheets. Columbia, South Carolina, April 11, 1867. To John Mullaly Esqr. Fine condition.

An Extraordinary letter! After the Civil War, Confederate General Wade Hampton, a South Carolina Democrat, writes to fellow Democrat and avowed racist, New York newspaper editor John Mullaly how to defeat the Radical Republicans - "The Radicals & the Negroes will take possession of the South & will crush out any hope of ultimate deliverance - The negroes will certainly vote: how they will vote depends greatly on us - You see then why I tell the negroes that we are willing to let some of them vote. A limited suffrage would do us good, for universal voting is a curse..."

Three times wounded in the Civil War, Confederate Lieutenant General Wade Hampton later served as Governor of South Carolina (1876-1879) and represented his state in the U.S. Senate as a Democrat (1879-1891).

John Mullaly (1835 - 1915) was the editor of the Metropolitan Record, published in New York City by the Catholic Church. During the Civil War, Mullaly's call for armed resistance to the military draft led to his arrest following the July 1863 New York City Draft Riots. Although a racist, Mullaly did not support the murder of Blacks during the rioting. In one Metropolitan Record editorial he advised members of the "superior" race not to turn their anger against an "inferior" one. His editorials in the Metropolitan Record leading up to the Draft Riots accused the Lincoln Administration of perverting the war from an attempt to restore the Union into an "emancipation crusade." He charged the "vile and infamous" Emancipation Proclamation would bring "massacre and rapine and outrage into the homes on Southern plantations, sprinkling their hearths with the blood of gentle women, helpless age, and innocent childhood - Never was a blacker crime sought to be committed against nature, against humanity, against the holy precepts of Christianity."

Replying to Mulally's letter, Hampton writes "There are some points which I think you overlook. These I could not have made plainer in my last letter..." In his March 31, 1867, letter to Mullally, Hampton had explained that until northern Democrats had the courage to make a stand against the Reconstruction acts on constitutional grounds, the South "struggling for bare life," would have to make alliances with blacks. Hampton wrote him that "if we can not direct the wave it will overwhelm us. Now how shall we do this? Simply by making the Negro a Southern Man, & if you will, a democrat, anything but a Radical. Beyond these motives for my action, I have another. We are appealing to the enlightened sense & the justice of mankind - we accept the decision rendered against us, we acknowledge the freedom of the negro - We are making up our record for posterity & we wish no blemish or flaw to be found there..."

In the letter here offered, Hampton continues, "I agree with you that an appeal should be made to the Supreme Court but at the same time I entertain but little hope from that quarter. We cannot get a verdict in time to do us any good & if that verdict should be in our favor, the Radicals will destroy the Court as they have done every other department of the Government. This I regard as certain. But suppose the Court can not or will not render a decision for some months or years? What are we to do in the meantime? The Radicals & the Negroes will take possession of the South & will crush out any hope of ultimate deliverance. I think that we will not weaken our position by trying to turn the wave from its present direction. All we do now, we do under compulsion & all our acts are illegal. If we can get control of our states, we can strengthen the Dem party & then overthrow the Radicals. If a Constitutional party ever gets into power again, our rights under the Constitution can be restored to us.

"In short our condition is simply this: The negroes will certainly vote: how they will vote depends greatly on us - You see then why I tell the negroes that we are willing to let some of them vote. A limited suffrage would do us good, for universal voting is a curse ... I hope that your anticipation of defeat to the Radicals may be realized but much harm will be done by them before that time comes. It was in the power of Mr. [Andrew] Johnson not only to have destroyed this party but to have brought the South back to the Union with more 'loyalty' than has existed here for 25 years. Kindness and magnanimity would have won the heart of the South & she would have become an integral part of the Union. Now she is pinned to it solely by bayonets. The condition of our country here is fearful & nothing keeps the people from starvation but the kind charity of friends. God send us deliverance..."

Radical Republicans strongly opposed slavery during the Civil War and after the war distrusted former Confederates, demanding harsh policies for punishing the former rebels, and emphasizing equality, civil rights, and voting rights for the "freedmen," recently freed slaves. Radicals initiated the various Reconstruction Acts, and limited political and voting rights for ex-Confederates civil officials, military officers, and soldiers. They bitterly fought President Andrew Johnson, weakening his powers, and attempted to remove him from office through impeachment which failed by one vote.