This is Redcliffe, near Beech Island, South Carolina.

It was built not only for comfort, but as an example of the wealth which would establish the prestige of a Southern gentleman.

Today it's preserved as a state park, a monument to a bygone era when men's thoughts were a little different from today, when honor was more important than life itself.

Although the builder of this house was not typical of aristocracy of his time, he did hold concepts which helped shape our state for over a century.

To understand something of antebellum South Carolina, it is necessary that we try to understand the builder of this home, James Henry Hammond of Redcliffe.

♪ ♪ ♪ Elisha Hammond first came to Charleston in 1802, having left his home state of Massachusetts.

His first position was that of schoolmaster at the Mount Bethel Methodist Academy, which was here in Newberry County.

In 1805, he received the position of professor of languages at the South Carolina College.

This was the first semester of the school which later became the University of South Carolina.

In 1806, he married Catherine Spann of Edgefield, but the Spann's meager holdings did little to add to his possessions.

Somewhere along the way, Elisha realized that his dreams would never be fulfilled, and so he was determined to mold and shape his oldest son to be the person that he himself had always wanted to be.

James Henry Hammond was born November 15, 1807, here in the Newberry District.

His father was schoolmaster here at Mount Bethel, and so the youngster attended the academy.

His father determined early on that James Hammond was intended for greatness, and so his training began in earnest.

But the training wasn't all academic.

James Henry said his father "held great fears that he would be disappointed in his attempts, "and that those fears were that I would prove a prodigal "and lack steadiness of purpose, and many a sound flogging did he give me on those premises."

[no audio] James Henry learned many lessons here at the Methodist academy, but the lessons were ones his father determined would be necessary for him when he took his place in Southern society.

One lesson he never forgot was that of total and absolute self-control.

His father literally pounded it into him and instructed his son, "The greatest contest that the greatest men have ever had "were with their passions, to subdue and overcome them.

Learn, my dear son, the government of your passions."

This was one lesson James Henry never forgot, that of complete self-control.

Indeed he demanded absolute control of his family, friends, and environment.

In fact, self-restraint was so strong within him that he was never able to express his deepest emotions to his own family.

♪ In 1815, the Hammond family moved back here to Columbia.

Elisha, trying to improve his fortunes, invested in a sawmill, opened a sidewalk market, and achieved the position as steward to South Carolina College.

His job was to provide food for students.

They often complained because provisions provided by Elisha frequently contained meat infested with worms.

[birds twittering] Columbia opened new vistas to young James Henry.

It was the capital of the state.

He was impressed by the majestic statehouse on its hill covered with towering oak trees and high above the surrounding structures.

He met people, sights, and sounds unknown to him in rural Newberry District.

He met the trappings of power and success.

He was determined if he followed the way laid out by his father, someday he would attain the privileges known only to Southern aristocracy.

In later years when he was recalling those days when his greatest fear was that he would disappoint his father, a fear that drove him relentlessly his entire life, he said, "From my earliest recollections "I now remember that I had nightmares, "and before I was 17 years old, "I had confirmed indigestion that paralyzed intellect and shattered nerves."

This acute indigestion would plague Hammond all of his life.

He suffered from it greatly, especially at times when he was under a great deal of pressure.

♪ In 1821, Elisha resigned as steward, due to complaints of students who had to eat his food.

Ironically, this was the only job he ever had at which he was making any money.

Still trying to improve his fortunes, he invested in lumbering on the Savannah River.

In 1823, Elisha moved from Columbia, but this time James Henry remained and entered the junior class of South Carolina College.

[vehicular noise] James Henry Hammond graduated in December of 1825, fourth in his class.

During his college years he had been president of the Euphradian Society and had become quite an orator.

He made friends among many members of his class, particularly those who were very influential and wealthy.

His son's success pleased Elisha, as noted in a letter to his daughter.

"Your brother, by his industrious and correct habits, "has acquired a popularity in and out of college "which no scholar in this place ever obtained.

"His manner of speaking and writing "is as superior to any in college "as the brightness of sunbeams exceeds the dim rays of the moon."

After graduation, James Henry accepted a teaching job at Poplar Spring Academy near Orangeburg.

♪ James soon realized that teaching was not the way to success.

He missed Columbia society and felt the position was beneath him.

He often wrote complaining to his father, but Elisha had suffered and sacrificed to educate his son, and he had no sympathy.

When school was out at Poplar Spring, James accepted a position as tutor to the Pegues family in Cheraw.

He had another realization... success needed wealth, and he had neither.

To complicate his problems, his father was now looking to him for financial support.

Three weeks after he arrived at Cheraw, James wrote saying that his anxiety was such that the mental strain was almost unbearable.

[no audio] In 1827, James returned to his father's house and studied law for a year and a half.

During this period, he became quite a ladies' man and enjoyed the friendship of many ladies in Columbia.

Although friends would laugh about his lustful appetites, he felt his very strong attachment to the opposite sex was a critical flaw and would diminish his efforts toward success.

Although his father admonished him, he tried hard for self-control.

This battle he would never win and, as we find out later, would lead to disaster.

In December of 1828, he was admitted into the bar in Columbia.

He was asked to be the principal speaker for Columbia's annual Fourth of July celebration.

♪ "The people of the North have been overbearing, "and people of the South have become chafed.

"We should be warned of the danger of permitting "the first approaches of usurpation to pass unnoticed.

Patience under usurpation is a word for slaves."

The speech James Henry Hammond made that day from Columbia Presbyterian Church, the site of the present First Presbyterian Church, mentioned sentiments growing throughout South Carolina.

Indeed, they would grow not only throughout this state, but throughout the South for many years to come.

He mentioned good things which had happened since the union of states, since independence, but he also warned of Northern oppression.

[vehicular noise] On July 5th, the day after his speech, James Henry received word that his father was gravely ill. Elisha was now living in Macon, Georgia.

He died before his son could get there.

The father was gone, but his desperate ambitions lived on in James Henry.

Because of the speech, James Henry made a number of admirers and found himself accepted by a group of South Carolina radicals who embraced nullification as they opposed federal tariffs.

Eventually James Henry became editor of the "Southern Times," a newspaper based in Columbia which favored the nullification of the tariffs placed upon foreign goods by the Northern states.

James Henry had entered the arena of South Carolina politics.

He had taken the first step in answering his driving ambition.

♪ In 1831, James Henry took the second step necessary to join the Southern aristocracy.

He married Catherine Fitzsimons of Charleston, and with her he acquired a plantation of 7,500 acres and 147 slaves at Silver Bluff in Barnwell District near the Savannah River.

This property had been given to Catherine as her dower by her father.

At the time of her marriage, her brothers were managing the property.

They vehemently opposed the union between the two, saying Hammond was probably marrying her for her dower.

And quite possibly, he was.

Later, Hammond wrote his son Harry, expressing his views on women.

"Women were made to breed, "men to do the work of this world.

"As a toy for recreation-- and one soon tires of this-- "or as bringing wealth and position, "men are tempted to marry them.

Thus, the world is kept peopled."

Hammond's friends were aghast that he should marry Catherine.

She was said to have had beautiful manners but to have been extremely unattractive.

In later years, a descendant writing about Catherine said, "Young wags in Charleston used to say they wouldn't marry her if every pimple on her face was worth a million dollars."

Be that as it may, James Henry Hammond was now a Southern planter.

Also because of the marriage, he was the brother-in-law of Wade Hampton II.

Hammond worked very hard at his lands at Silver Bluff, and he prospered.

He introduced many new agricultural techniques and was able to drain marshland to achieve quite tillable soil.

However, it was said of him, "The ruthless ambition instilled in him by his father "drove him relentlessly.

"Though he achieved much, "he was never content with those achievements.

"Though he found the success he so desperately sought, "he never found happiness.

"He often had self-doubts "and questioned his accomplishments.

"Haunted by the demanding ghost of his father his entire life, he never had enough of anything."

♪ Catherine had five sons in a five-year period.

According to reports, James Henry regarded his family with no more concern than he did his other possessions.

His family, slaves, land, and money were commodities only to help him in this obsessive drive toward success.

He considered himself a kind master to his slaves, but from reports, they considered him differently, due to his harsh, often cruel punishment.

It is said, too, that he gave his slaves the best medical attention possible at the time.

But understanding the character of James Henry Hammond, one wonders if it were from concern or profit motive.

♪ In 1839, James Henry let it be known he would accept the post of governor if supporters thought he should.

Many did, so he decided to run for election.

He built a lavish town house in Columbia since the state didn't have a governor's mansion.

But he lost the election by a vote of 104 to 47.

Dejected and bitter, he returned to the plantation.

But again in 1842, he decided that he would run again, and this time he was elected.

His term of office was not notable for many things.

He pushed for states' rights, reorganized the state militia, and saw to the foundation of The Citadel, the state's military academy.

In 1843, many of his friends were working for him to receive the seat of senator, because they felt he would win and was very interesting.

But something happened to change the entire picture.

[no audio] Hammond's brother-in-law was Wade Hampton II, father of the famous Confederate general who lived here outside of Columbia.

Known as the kingmaker, Wade Hampton was a power in South Carolina politics.

These lovely columns are all that is left of his once beautiful plantation home, which was deliberately sought out and burned by troops under Sherman.

All of his life, Hammond had practiced the self-control his father deemed necessary for success, except in one thing.

It was this one thing that he fought within himself since he was a boy, the thing he considered his critical flaw and which his friends called his "lustful appetites."

On November 1, 1843, Hammond received a letter from Wade Hampton in which he was accused of the attempted seduction of his own niece.

Hammond admitted that he could have been at fault, but he also blamed it on the poor manners and active temperament of those sweet and innocent young girls.

[no audio] Hammond knew that somehow Wade Hampton would destroy him.

The normal means would be a duel, but dueling was only for gentlemen.

Since Hammond was no longer a gentleman, a duel was not necessary.

Besides, Hammond knew that Wade Hampton opposed dueling and any form of senseless violence.

Just the same, Hammond started carrying pocket pistols... just in case.

Hampton seethed and kept the matter within the family, until it was announced that Hammond would seek the Senate seat in the next election.

Then the story was told.

Columbia chatted of nothing but the scandal, and Hammond was not allowed to run for office.

In 1844, after he completed his term as governor, Hammond retired to Silver Bluff, some say because the sons of Wade Hampton threatened to horsewhip him if he ever appeared in Columbia again.

♪ Back at the plantation, James Henry berated the Hamptons for the injustice they had done him.

He said, "I do not deserve "the infamy the state wantonly laid on me and my children.

"I wish South Carolina stood upon the cliff of Hell "and I had power to cast her in the flaming gulf.

I would do it!"

Although James Henry tried to minimize the scandal, his personal diary tells a different story.

The incidents occurred over a period of two years and concerned not only one, but all four of the Hampton daughters, ranging in age from 13 to 17.

The girls would visit frequently, and they engaged in everything except the ultimate.

Now, Wade Hampton was later criticized for ruining his daughters' reputation in order to seek retribution.

However, the girls received no suitors, and none of the four girls ever married.

[no audio] Hammond continued to expand his holdings at Silver Bluff.

He was so filled with bitterness and self-pity that he completely divorced himself from South Carolina society.

We don't know what his wife Catherine felt, but once in 1850, she left him when again his critical flaw got the best of him.

She wasn't able to tolerate an affair he had with a slave named Louisa.

She took the children and for two years lived with relatives in Charleston until Hammond promised to send the mistress away.

He continued to prosper, however.

In 1855, he bought a house and 400 acres of land, began the construction of the house we see here today.

He named it Redcliffe, and it was completed in 1859.

However, the house and the land around it was not connected with the plantation lands, which were 8 miles away.

In 1857, 14 years after the scandal that had ruined the political ambitions of James Henry Hammond, the United States Senator from South Carolina Andrew Pickens Butler died, and Hammond was considered for the post.

When he was informed of this by his friend William Gilmore Simms, with whom he frequently corresponded, he answered he would not accept it if offered, that the state had done a grave and grievous injury to him.

He even wrote a letter to a newspaper in Charleston stating that he would not accept it at all.

However, in a few days, the legislature elected him to the position, and he willingly accepted it.

It seems that ambition and the desire for great, great success was still the driving force behind James Henry Hammond.

[no dialogue] As a United States senator, Hammond's most important speech occurred on the floor of the Senate on March 4, 1858.

In it, he defended each state's rights to answer the question of slavery.

He said, "Slaves were the mudsill "of the Southern class system, "proving it was necessary to have "a less intelligent lower class to do menial work, "thereby preserving the harmony of the South's political and social institutions."

Unfortunately, this idea was prevalent at the time, and he received much approval from Southerners.

The most famous part of his speech occurred when he explained the world's entire economic system depended upon Southern cotton.

"His voice rang defiantly "throughout the United States Senate when he shouted, "'You dare not make war on cotton!

"'No power on earth dares make war on it!

Cotton is king.'"

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in November of 1860.

In December of that year, James Henry Hammond came back here to Redcliffe when South Carolina seceded from the Union.

And approximately four months later, the Northern states declared war on cotton.

[no audio] For the remaining years of his life, James Henry Hammond was an invalid.

He spent 20 hours a day in bed and could barely walk across the floor.

Since 1861, his physical health had been failing.

He had always been a hypochondriac, but now the ailments were real.

He hemorrhaged frequently and lost a great deal of blood, possibly because since he was a young man, he had been taking a medication common to that day, and this medication contained mercury.

So for 40 years of his life, this man, who had total control of himself and everything about him, had been slowly poisoning himself.

On September 1, 1864, Atlanta fell to Sherman's troops.

Disillusioned, knowing the fall of South Carolina was imminent, Hammond told his son, "It is time for me to die.

"This war will terminate suddenly within six months.

"I do not care to look beyond the veil.

"Enough that everything I have worked for, the labors of my life, will all be upset."

Completely disillusioned and watching the end of everything he had worked for, Hammond died on this couch November 13, 1864, two days before his 57th birthday.

[no audio] [door latch clicking] Driven by a ruthless ambition fueled by his father's overdemanding dreams, he had spent his entire life in a desperate struggle for total control of the world around him, only to find at the end, he controlled nothing.

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