Hooker

Maryland campaign, he was successful at South
Mountain, but while leading the pivot of the
maneuver at Antietam, he was so painfully
wounded in the foot that he had to be carried
from the field. During his ensuing sick leave, he
was awarded on Sept. 20,1862, the rank of briga-
dier-general in the regular army.

In December came defeat at Fredericksburg.
Although Hooker, like others of Burnside's sub-
ordinates, expressed himself too freely about the
latter's conduct of the campaign, he led his troops
forward and safely disengaged them from the
enemy. Shortly afterward Burnside [q.v.~\ re-
quested the relief of some of his chief officers,
Hooker leading the list, or of himself. Accepting
the latter alternative, Lincoln appointed Hooker
to the command of the Army of the Potomac. In
his famous letter to the new appointee (A Letter
from President Lincoln to General Joseph Hook-
er, Jan. 26, 1863f 1879), the President frankly
told him that although he was brave, skilful,
ambitious, and self-reliant, he had thwarted
Burnside by criticism and the withholding of
confidence, and that his action might prove a
boomerang. Lincoln said further: "I have heard
in such a way as to believe it, of your recently
saying that both the Army and the Government
needed a dictator. Of course it is not for this,
but in spite of it that I have given you the com-
mand. Only those generals who gain successes
set up dictators. What I now ask of you is mili-
tary success, and I will risk the dictatorship."

Hooker immediately set in motion some needed
reforms of organization, especially by doing
away with the grand divisions and consolidating
the cavalry into a corps. On Mar. 29, 1863, he
announced to his officers: "My plans are perfect
, . . may God have mercy on General Lee, for I
will have none" (H. S. Hall, Personal Experi-
ence under Generals Burnside and Hooker, 1894,
pp. 11-12). The ensuing action at Chancellors-
ville, May 2-4,1863, was Hooker's great chance.
His plans and preparations for the battle were
indeed masterly. Leaving Sedgwick completely
covering Washington from a counter stroke,
Hooker left Lee's front without opposition,
crossed the Rappahannock and the Rapidan, and
established his army at Chancellorsville, a po-
sition of "great natural strength" (Apr. 30,
1863). The next day he ordered a general ad-
vance but retreated upon Lee's approach. On
May 2 Lee sent Jackson with 32,000 men on a
flank march. Hooker could easily have crushed
Lee's remaining 14,000 troops, but remained
passive while Jackson made an attack on the
Union right and forced Howard to fall back,
inactivity on May 3 enabled

Hooker

Lee to reenforce the 13,000 troops he had left
facing Sedgwick, and Wilcox in the battle of
Salem Heights prevented Sedgwick from join-
ing Hooker. The latter was struck on the head
by a falling pillar and was in a shattered nervous
condition throughout the day. Since he was not
completely incapacitated he remained in com-
mand of the army. Leaving Stuart with 24,000
troops at Chancellorsville, Lee went in person
to attack Sedgwick (May 4). Hooker, with 78,-
400 men, remained idle, making no attempt to
crush Stuart. Lee forced Sedgwick's with-
drawal. At midnight May 4-5 Hooker held a
council of war. Meade, Reynolds, and Howard
wished to fight Couch, who had lost all con-
fidence in Hooker, joined Sickles in voting
against an advance (F. A. Walker, History of
the Second Army Corps in the Army of the Po-
tomac, 1886, pp. 250-51). Hooker then ordered
a retreat. With an army of 138,300 he had been
unable to defeat Lee's 62,550 troops. None the
less, upon his return to camp at Falmouth, Va.,
he issued a general order on May 6,1863, felici-
tating the army upon its "achievements" (War
of the Rebellion: Official Records, Army, I sen,
XXV, pt. i, p. 171).

Yet vigorously he followed Lee and skilfully
maneuvered his troops, desiring his opponent to
get well into Pennsylvania and predicting two
weeks in advance that Gettysburg would be the
battleground. His work here merited the thanks
of Congress for the "skill, energy and endurance'*
with which he covered Baltimore and Washing-
ton. But just before the decisive battle, his re-
quest that the 10,000 troops at Harper's Ferry
be added to his army was refused by Halleck.
Regarding this as a breach of faith by the ad-
ministration, Hooker asked to be relieved of the
command of the army. On June 28,1863, Meade
took command.

Hooker was given the XI and XII Corps then
en route to the Department of the Cumberland.
His subsequent conduct under Generals Thomas
and Sherman was characterized by the same sol-
dierly qualities he had previously shown, At
Lookout Mountain on Nov. 24, 1863, he demon-
strated again his impetuous and determined lead-
ership. For his aggressiveness there he was bre-
vetted major-general in the regular army. At
Mill Creek Gap, Resaca, Cassville, New Hope
Church, Pine Mountain, and the siege of Atlanta,
he commanded his troops with vigor and sagac-
ity. When McPherson was killed, Hooker be-
came the logical successor; but Sherman, pos-
sibly through the influence of Halleck, felt a
distrust of Hooker for so important a command
and gave it to Howard A§ a consequence, Hpok-

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