Remarques on Artist's Proof Paper Giclée Edition

In early 1861, South Carolina businessman and planter Wade Hampton III organized and financed a Confederate military unit known as Hampton’s Legion. The Legion originally consisted of six companies of infantry, two companies of cavalry, and one battery of light artillery. In November 1861, Hampton’s artillery acquired four Blakely rifles imported from England. As news of the newly formed unit spread throughout South Carolina, more and more volunteers joined. The Legion quickly became an effective, highly disciplined fighting force, and its men would participate in every major campaign in the Eastern Theater of the war.

In mid-1862, the Army of Northern Virginia reorganized, and elements of Hampton’s Legion were reassigned to other units, though the core of the Legion remained under Hampton’s command. On August 22, 1862, Hampton’s cavalry battalion was consolidated with the 4th South Carolina Cavalry Battalion and two independent companies to form the 2nd South Carolina Cavalry. The scouts of the unit were hard-driven, superb horsemen whom the Federals nicknamed the “Iron Scouts” for their ability to escape capture and quickly recover from their wounds. Reports from Hampton’s Iron Scouts indicated movement of an enemy sutler train traveling from Washington to the town of Dumfries, Virginia. The opportunity proved too enticing for Hampton to ignore, and he proposed a raid on Dumfries to General J.E.B. Stuart, who approved the operation.

With 520 handpicked, seasoned cavalrymen from South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia, the expedition departed on the night of December 10th. Three nights of heavy snowfall did not deter them. During the night of the 11th, Hampton divided his command in order to appear larger than it actually was and to attack from multiple directions. Hampton’s Legion struck on the morning of the 12th, finding the enemy completely unprepared. One South Carolina trooper later recalled: “We found everything and everyone asleep. The wagons were packed in vacant lots with their teams, the teamsters, and an escort of about twenty-five troopers asleep under a large shed near the principal street.” Hampton’s men quickly surrounded their prize and its guards without losing a single man.

“We captured 50-odd prisoners, with one lieutenant and 24 sutlers’ wagons,” Hampton reported. “Of these, I destroyed two in the town, as we had no means of bringing them off, and the others we brought away with us.” The wagons were loaded with uniforms and clothing, along with “almost every variety of goods, eatables, drinkables, [and] confectionaries.” Around 8 a.m., Hampton began his return march through the snow, covering forty miles before encamping at Morrisville that evening. The following day, Hampton’s Legion reached the south bank of the Rappahannock River and the safety of Southern camps.

General Hampton later wrote: “I can speak in the highest terms of the conduct of my officers and men. They bore the privations and fatigue of the march—three nights in the snow—without complaint and were always prompt and ready to carry out my orders. The success of the expedition is mainly attributable to this good conduct on their part.” Hampton’s raid on Dumfries was another feather in his cap, and within only a few days he and his men would once again be in the saddle on another raid, this time riding with General Stuart.

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