US Union soldier, born in Hadley, Massachusetts, USA. He trained at West Point (1837), served with distinction in Mexico (18467), and left the army in 1853 to farm in California. Recalled on the outbreak of Civil War, he led a corps at Antietam and Fredericksburg (both 1862), and succeeded Ambrose Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac (Jan 1863). He had a reputation as an aggressive commander, although his nickname Fighting Joe resulted from a dropped hyphen in a news dispatch (that was supposed to have read FightingJoe Hooker) rather than from action in the field. (The claim that hooker as the term for a prostitute is derived from the camp followers he allegedly tolerated is a completely false attribution.) Confident, efficient, and boastful, he reorganized the army, improved soldiers' conditions, and promised to defeat Lee. Instead, the Confederate commander overmastered him at Chancellorsville (1863). Lincoln accepted his resignation on the eve of Gettysburg. He later held corps commands in the West under Grant and Sherman, and retired as a regular army major-general in 1868.
For the English botanist, see Joseph Dalton Hooker.| Joseph Hooker | |
|---|---|
| November 13, 1814 – October 31, 1879 | |
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Joseph Hooker |
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| Nickname | Fighting Joe |
| Place of birth | Hadley, Massachusetts |
| Place of death | Garden City, New York |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Years of service |
1837 - 1853 1859 - 1866 |
| Rank | Major General |
| Commands |
Army of the Potomac XX Corps |
| Battles/wars |
Mexican-American War American Civil War - Battle of Antietam - Battle of Chancellorsville - Battle of Chattanooga - Atlanta Campaign |
Joseph Hooker (November 13, 1814 – October 31, 1879), known as "Fighting Joe", was a career U.S. Army officer and a major general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Early years
Hooker was born in Hadley, Massachusetts, the grandson of a captain in the American Revolutionary War.
Civil War
At the start of the war, Hooker requested a commission, but his first application was rejected, possibly due to the lingering resentment harbored by Winfield Scott, general-in-chief of the Army.
1862
In the Peninsula Campaign of 1862, Hooker commanded the 2nd Division of the III Corps and made a good name for himself as a combat leader who handled himself well and aggressively sought out the key points on battlefields.
As McClellan's army retreated into inactivity, Hooker was transferred to John Pope's Army of Virginia. Heintzelman, but Hooker assumed corps command (III Corps of the Army of Virginia) on September 6, after the Northern Virginia Campaign and the Second Battle of Bull Run, a severe Union defeat. Lee's army moved north into Maryland, Hooker's corps (redesignated the I Corps on September 12) was returned to the Army of the Potomac, and he fought with distinction at South Mountain and Antietam. Hooker, aggressive and inspiring to his men, left the battle early in the morning with a foot wound. He asserted that the battle would have been a decisive Union victory if he had managed to stay on the field, but General McClellan's caution once again failed the Northern troops and Lee's much smaller army eluded destruction. Upon recovering from his foot wound, Hooker was briefly made commander of V Corps, but was then promoted to "Grand Division" command, with a command that consisted of both III and V Corps. Hooker derided Burnside's plan to assault the fortified heights behind the city, deeming them "preposterous". His Grand Division (particularly V Corps) suffered serious losses in fourteen futile assaults ordered by Burnside over Hooker's protests. Burnside followed up this battle with the humiliating Mud March in January and Hooker's criticism of his commander bordered on formal insubordination. Burnside planned a wholesale purge of his subordinates, including Hooker, and drafted an order for the president's approval. He stated that Hooker was "unfit to hold an important commission during a crisis like the present."
Army of the Potomac
The new commander of the Army of the Potomac, as of January 26, 1863, was Fighting Joe Hooker. Parts of the army saw this move as inevitable, given Hooker's reputation for aggressive fighting, something sorely lacking in his predecessors.
During the spring of 1863, Hooker established a reputation as an outstanding administrator and restored the morale of his soldiers, which had plummeted to a new low under Burnside, through reforms in health and welfare programs and efforts to increase esprit de corps. Hooker said of his revived army:
I have the finest army on the planet.
Hooker's plan for the spring and summer campaign was both elegant and promising. Lee's much smaller army at Fredericksburg, while taking the large bulk of the Army of the Potomac on a flanking march to strike Lee in his rear. Unfortunately for Hooker and the Union, the execution of his plan did not match the elegance of the plan itself. The flanking march went well enough, achieving strategic surprise, but Hooker somehow lost his nerve when the first reports of enemy contact reached him on May 1, 1863. Lee audaciously split his smaller army in two to deal with both parts of Hooker's army. Then, he split again, sending Stonewall Jackson's corps on its own flanking march, striking Hooker's exposed right flank and routing the Union XI Corps. Slocum, openly questioned Hooker's command decisions. Couch was so disgusted that he refused to ever serve under Hooker again. Political winds blew strongly in the following weeks as generals maneuvered to overthrow Hooker or to position themselves if Lincoln decided on his own to do so. Lee once again began an invasion of the North, in June 1863, and Lincoln urged Hooker to pursue and defeat him. Hooker's initial plan was to seize Richmond instead, but Lincoln immediately vetoed that idea, so the Army of the Potomac began to march north, attempting to locate Lee's Army of Northern Virginia as it slipped down the Shenandoah Valley into Pennsylvania. Hooker's mission was first to protect Washington, D.C., and Baltimore and second to intercept and defeat Lee. Unfortunately, Lincoln was losing any remaining confidence he had in Hooker. On June 28, three days before the climactic Battle of Gettysburg, Hooker was replaced by Maj. Hooker received the Thanks of Congress for his role at the start of the Gettysburg Campaign, but the glory would go to Meade.
Western Theater
Hooker's career was not ended by his poor performance in the summer of 1863. He went on to regain a reputation as a solid commander when he was transferred with the XI and XII Corps of the Army of the Potomac westward to reinforce the Army of the Cumberland around Chattanooga, Tennessee. Hooker was in command at the Battle of Lookout Mountain, playing an important role in Ulysses S. He was brevetted to major general in the regular army for his success at Chattanooga, but he was disappointed to find that Grant's official report of the battle credited his friend William Tecumseh Sherman's contribution over Hooker's.
Hooker led his corps (now designated the XX Corps) competently in the 1864 Atlanta Campaign under Sherman, but asked to be relieved before the capture of the city, due to his dissatisfaction with the promotion of another general (Oliver O.
Final years and legacy
After the war, Hooker suffered from poor health and was partially paralyzed by a stroke. He was mustered out of the volunteer service in 1866 and retired from the U.S. Army two years later with the regular army rank of major general.
Hooker was popularly known as "Fighting Joe" Hooker, a nickname he detested.
Despite Hooker's reputation as a hard-drinking ladies' man, there is no basis for the popular legend that the slang term for prostitutes came from his last name, due to parties and a lack of military discipline at his headquarters. Some versions of the legend claim that the band of prostitutes that followed his division were derisively referred to as "General Hooker's Army" or "Hooker's Brigade." However, the term "hooker" was used in print as early as 1845, years before Hooker was a public figure. The prevalence of the Hooker legend may have been at least partly responsible for the popularity of the term.
There is an equestrian statue of General Hooker outside the Massachusetts State House in Boston.
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