This post-Civil War letter, written in ink, is 1 2/3 pages in length, 5x8”.  Dated “Washⁿ Sept 3d 1890” and directed to Episcopal Reverend Beverly D. Tucker. Overall very fine condition, all text legible.  Fold lines; two small fold line holes, and one small tear measuring approx. ½” in length.

The text of the letter is as follows:

My Dear Sir:

For some weeks I have been quite unwell and your letter has thus been unanswered. I think that there will be no difficulty in regard to the matter you speak of for my recollection is that a contract was made by the State with Mr. Childs of Columbia & your father for the prosecution of the claim referred to. As I was Gov. of the State when this contact was made, I shall do all in my power to see it carried out. Let me express to you the sincere sorrow I felt at your father’s death for I valued him as one of my best friends. I am

Very truly  yrs

Wade Hampton

Rev. Beverly D. Tucker

Wade Hampton was born on March 28, 1818, in Charleston, South Carolina, to one of the wealthiest landowner families in the state. His early years were spent on the family estates at "Millwood" and "Cashier's Valley." In 1836 Hampton graduated from South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina). After the death of his father, he retreated to his grandfather's Mississippi plantation and assumed the life of a planter. He was elected in 1852 to the South Carolina legislature from Richland County and served until 1856; he then served in the state Senate until he resigned in 1861. Though he had not favored secession, he supported the Confederacy from the outset. He offered his cotton for exchange in Europe for arms and he raised a legion of infantry, cavalry, and artillery. His experience and skill as a horseman made him a superior cavalry officer. In 1862 he was advanced to brigadier general of the cavalry. He was involved in many major battles, including Gettysburg. Hampton was promoted to major general in 1863 and lieutenant general in 1865. From 1876 to 1896 Wade Hampton was a symbol of South Carolina politics, serving as Governor from 1876 to 1879 and as U.S. Senator from 1879 to 1891. From 1891 to 1897 he served as United States Railroad Commissioner. He died in Columbia, South Carolina, on April 11, 1902.

Beverley Dandridge Tucker (1846-1930) was born in Richmond, Virginia. He is descended from a long line of American ancestors of English descent, the first American progenitor of which was one George Tucker of County Kent, England, who emigrated to Bermuda about the year 1619. George Tucker's descendant, lawyer and judge St. George Tucker (Tucker's great-grandfather), moved from Bermuda to Virginia in about 1770. Beverley Dandridge Tucker was one of eight children of Nathaniel Beverley Tucker and Jane Shelton Ellis. He graduated from the University of Virginia and was selected as a Rhodes Scholar to Oxford. He studied law and then medicine but found neither to his liking. He then entered the Episcopal Theological Seminary at Alexandria, Virginia. There he found his life's work. Tucker became a minister of the Episcopal Church and eventually Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia which geographically encompasses Colonial Williamsburg. In 1905 Tucker delivered a sermon on the Continuity of the Life of the Church in a service inaugurating the restoration of the interior of Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg to its colonial form and appearance. The Rev. Tucker married Anna Maria Washington (1851-1927), one of last of the Washington line to be born at Mount Vernon. They had 13 children including Episcopal minister and hymn composer, F. Bland Tucker; Beverley Dandridge Tucker, Jr., the 6th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio; and Henry St. George Tucker, the 19th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.   [ld]

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