Hugh Smith Thompson (January 24, 1836November 20, 1904) was the 81st

governor of South Carolina The governor of South Carolina is the head of government of South Carolina. The governor is the ''ex officio'' commander-in-chief of the National Guard when not called into federal service. The governor's responsibilities include making yea ...

, from 1882 to 1886.

Career as an educator

Born in Charleston, Thompson graduated from the

South Carolina Military Academy The South Carolina Military Academy was a predecessor, two-campus institution to The Citadel. It was established in 1842 by the South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina had constructed a series of arsenals around the state after the Denmark Vesey ...

(now

The Citadel The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, commonly known simply as The Citadel, is a public senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina. Established in 1842, it is one of six senior military colleges in the United States. ...

) in 1856 and was an instructor at the Arsenal Academy from 1858 to 1861. Leading a

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions ...

of Citadel cadets on January 9, 1861, they fired the first shots of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

when they opened fire on the Union ship ''

Star of the West ''Star of the West'' was an American merchant steamship that was launched in 1852 and scuttled by Confederate forces in 1863. In January 1861, the ship was hired by the government of the United States to transport military supplies and reinforc ...

'' which was entering Charleston's harbor. For the remainder of the war, he served as an instructor of the cadets at the Citadel Academy. At the end of hostilities in 1865, Thompson became the principal of Columbia Male Academy until 1880. In 1876, he was nominated by the state Democrats for the position of Superintendent of Education which he won upon the resolution of the controversial

gubernatorial election A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of politica ...

in the favor of

Wade Hampton Wade Hampton may refer to the following people: People *Wade Hampton I (1752–1835), American soldier in Revolutionary War and War of 1812 and U.S. congressman *Wade Hampton II (1791–1858), American plantation owner and soldier in War of 1812 *W ...

and the Democrats. He was reelected in 1878 and 1880 without opposition. In 1882, Thompson lobbied for the presidency of South Carolina College. However, he emerged as a

dark horse A dark horse is a previously lesser-known person or thing that emerges to prominence in a situation, especially in a competition involving multiple rivals, or a contestant that on paper should be unlikely to succeed but yet still might. Origin Th ...

candidate for governor after the split of the state Democrats between

John Bratton John Bratton (March 7, 1831 – January 12, 1898) was a U.S. Representative from South Carolina, as well as a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He rose from private to brigadier general and led a regimen ...

and John Doby Kennedy. After the second ballot at the nominating convention, both Bratton and Kennedy withdrew their names and Thompson became the Democratic candidate for the gubernatorial election of 1882.

Term as governor and federal offices

Thompson easily won the general election against J. Hendrix McLane and became the 81st governor of South Carolina. He was reelected without opposition in the gubernatorial election of 1884. His time as governor was marked by the stability of the state, and unity within the Democratic party. Upon being appointed in 1886 by President

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

to be Assistant

Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

, Thompson resigned as governor. In 1889, he became the commissioner of the

U.S. Civil Service Commission The United States Civil Service Commission was a government agency of the federal government of the United States and was created to select employees of federal government on merit rather than relationships. In 1979, it was dissolved as part of t ...

after appointment by President

Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 23rd president of the United States from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia–a grandson of the ninth pr ...

. He retired from public service in 1892, and for over a decade was the comptroller of the

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Death

On November 20, 1904, Thompson died in

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and was buried at Trinity Episcopal churchyard in

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Hugh Smith 1836 births 1904 deaths 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American educators Politicians from Charleston, South Carolina The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina alumni The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina faculty Democratic Party governors of South Carolina University of South Carolina trustees South Carolina Superintendent of Education People of South Carolina in the American Civil War