Oddly, South Carolina's election occurred on this day, which was not the date for General Election nationwide. Incumbent Daniel Henry Chamberlain, a Union Army veteran was pitted against traitor Wade Hampton, III, a Confederate veteran. It's regarded as the most corrupt election in the state's history.
Initial results showed that Hampton had won the election by the slim margin of 92,261 to 91,127. Both sides cried foul and ultimately two different legislatures were seated. Hampton was ultimately seated as the Federal Government ended Reconstruction.
The Republican governor David H. Chamberlain wrote to the black and white Republicans of the state thereafter stating:
The government of the United States abandons you, deliberately withdraws from you its support, with full knowledge that the lawful Government of the State will be speedily overthrown ... [forsaking] the lawful State Government to a struggle with insurrectionary forces too powerful to be resisted.
Chamberlain moved to New York where he became a Wall Street Attorney. He died in 1907 at age 71. Hampton became a proponent of the Lost Cause myth and went on to become a U.S. Senator. He died at age 84 in 1902.
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