The American Civil War discussion

It seems ironic that so much attention is given to Lee and Jackson at Chancellorsville, but Joe Hooker's role seems marginalized.

Hooker's performance in that battle was largely blamed for him being drunk or losing his nerve (the last couple decades make it pretty clear he suffered a concussion). Between the various alleged reasons for he apocryphal association of his name to prostitution and his overall role in the Civil War - good division & corps commander in the AotP then in the Chattanooga & Atlanta campaigns, commanded the AotP for a major battle and nearly for Gettysburg too, feuded with Halleck, etc - that he would be a person of some interest.

Stephen Sears seems to think pretty highly of him in his book on Chancellorsville. However, outside of "Lincoln and his generals" style books or books specifically about Chancellorsville, it seems there is much written about Hooker. The only biography of him I could find seems to have been originally written in the 1940s!



It doesn't seem like Hooker wrote any memoirs. Besides Sears and Herbert are there any authors that have written much of anything about Hooker?

What are your thoughts on Fighting Joe?

I remember reading in Sherman's memoirs that he, George Thomas, Schofield and McPherson had a problem with Hooker in the vicinity of Kennesaw Mountain.

I've not found anything specifically written about Hooker (bio etc) but he is mentioned of course quite often in all of the numerous books written about the "Battle Above the Clouds." I live an hour from Chattanooga and that battlefield is one of my favorites (the area is the setting for my novel as well, so I spent a LOT of time in the area researching.) It's a shame that Hooker bore that name. Even though the term "hooker" was used sparsely before 1861 to describe a prostitute, Fighting Joe's experiences with those of that profession locked the word in our American speech forever. Because prostitution plays a part in both books (so far) in the series I'm writing Hooker's name comes up quite frequently when I'm researching.

I am reading as much as I can find about the Civil War and the OP is right. It is hard to find anything on Hooker. I find that outside of Grant and Sherman, there are not too many books about other Union generals. I don't know why is that.

It probably depends upon the general. I just took a quick look and found a number of books on Sheridan (who also wrote his own memoirs, as did Sherman and Grant), Burnside and Hooker. Most books, I think, though, tend to focus on the specific battles so if the general wasn't in that battle or wasn't successful in battle, there are probably going to be less books aobut him.

I would recommend 2 books about Union Generals to start your research.

1. Lincoln and His Generals (Vintage Civil War Library) by T. Harry Williams

2. Lincoln's Generals by Stephen W. Sears, Prof. Mark E. Neely Jr. PhD, Michael Fellman and John Y. Simon

I've read that to show how greatly he understood the responsibility of being given command of the Army of the Potomac, that Hooker gave up 'the bottle.' And a direct quote from him blames this giving up the bottle as the reason he lost his nerve at Chancellorsville. His original plan was brilliant, but when the plan called for swift execution, he balked and became overly cautious...(I wish I could supply footnotes, but alas, this research was done decades ago...).

Hooker said something along the lines that Joe lost faith in Joe during the battle. In addition, he was standing next to a pillar on the front of a house that was struck by a cannon ball and stunned for some time. He probably should have given over command at that point, but didn't.

George wrote: "Hooker said something along the lines that Joe lost faith in Joe during the battle.

There is nowadays some serious doubt whether Hooker ever said that. Stephen Sears certainly seems to be among those who think it didn't happen.

If memory serves me correctly, the conversation supposedly occurred during the march after Lee at the start of the Gettysburg campaign (Hooker was relieved mid-campaign in a feud with Halleck over the Harpers Ferry garrison). The story came not from Hooker nor the general he was talking to at the time (Doubleday), but a third party that overheard them. I forget if it is "Chancellorsville" or "Controversies & Commanders" in which Sears addresses this issue; in either case it has been a couple years since I read it so the details are fuzzy.

could well be. I've seen it referred to in several places, however.