HOOKER
HOOKER
HOOKER, Joseph, soUlier, was horn in Hadley,
Mass.. Nov. i;j. 1S14: sou of Jusopli ami
(Seymour) Hooker. He was taken by liis fatlier from H;i.lltw to Watertown, X.Y., wa.s graduateil at the U.S. Military academy in 1837, number twenty-nine in a class -^. of forty-nine, and
was commissioned 2d lieutenant in the fir.st artillery. His first service was as subal- tern in the Seminole war in Florida. He was then stationed with his regiment in
- Maine pending the
^i^i
'/^l settlement of the dis-
' r^ '. puted boundary ques-
/ ^ tion. He was pro-
^■^'^ ^ If '2^ ^^ moted 1st lieuten-
y . //rirK^^*^ ant, Nov. 3, 1838;
adjutant of the U.S. Military academy, July 1, 1841; and adjutant of the 1st U. S. artillery, which latter position he held till May 11, 1846, when he was assigned to the army of occupation in Mexico. He was at- taclied to tiie staff of Gen. Persifor F. Smith and was afterward transferred to the staff of Gen- ei-al Hamar. In 1847 he was aide-de-camp to General Butler and in 1847—18 served as assistant adjutant-general to General Fellow and distin- guished himself in the operations of General Taylor in the siege, assault and conquest of Monterey, which gained for him the brevet of cap- tain. His subsequent action in the march from Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico, including the National Bridge incident, won for him the brevet of major, while for Chapultepec he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel, thus gaining three brevets during the war with Mexico. He was also men- tioned in the despatches announcing the victories at Contreras. Churubusco, Molino del Rey and th6 capture of Mexico citj'. He was promoted cap- tain. Oct. 29, 1848, but vacated the position to hold the office of assistant adjutant-general to the sixth military department of the division of the Pacific, which he held, 1849-51. He was on leave of absence, 1851-53. He resigned from the army, Feb. 21, 1853, and engaged in farming in Sonora county, Cal., and in superintending Hiilitary roads in Oregon. 1858-59. He was colo- nel of California militia, 1859-61, and when the civil war broke out he hastened to Washington to offer his services to the government. He re- ceived little encouragement from General Scott and was alxjut to leave the city when he called upon President Lincoln, to whom he spoke of his want of .success in obtaining a place in the arm)- in which he had held the rank of lieutenant-
colonel. Speaking to the President of his having
witnessed the battle of Bull Run. July 21. isOl,
lie remarked: '• It is neither vanity nor boasting
in me to declare that I am a better general than
you, sir, had on that field." Mr. Lincoln says:
" I was impressed with him, and rising out of my
chair I walked up to him and putting my hand
on his shoulder, said: ' Colonel, not Lieutenant-
Colonel Hooker, stay, I have use for you and a
regiment for you to command.'" Hooker found
the regiment to be a brigade of New England
troops at Camp Union, Bladensburg, Md., where
his discipline soon converted raw recruits into
trained soldiers. His commission as brigadier-
general was antedated to May 17, 1861. In the
fall of 1861 he commanded the approaches to
Washington and his brigade was enlarged to a
division and he was stationed at Indian Head,
Md., opposite Dumfries, Va., UTitil ordered to the
jieninsula, April, 1SG2. He led the second divi-
sion, third corps, in tiie siege of Yorktown, where
Gen. Philip Kearny commanded the fir.st division.
After a battle in which the divisions became
somewhat intermingled, to distinguish his men
thereby, Kearny ordered them to wear diamond-
shaped badges cut from red flannel cloth, while
Hooker used a similar badge cut from white
flannel. In this was originated the corps badges
afterward so generally used. Hooker's division,
with that of W. F. Smith of the 4th corps, opened
the battle of Williamsburg, May 5, 1862. in front
of Fort ]Magruder, and held back repeated on-
slaughts of the combined Confederate force until
reinforced hy Kearny and Hancock. The loss
in his division was heavy, being 1575 out of an
entire Federal loss of 2228 men. the balance
being sustained chiefly by Kearnv's division.
Hooker's report of this battle says: " Hi. story
will not be believed when it is told that the noble
officers and men of my division were permitted
to carrv on this unequal struggle from morning
until night unaided, in the presence of moretiian
tiiirty thousand of their comrades with arms in
their hands; nevertheless it i.'l true." His com-
mission as major-general of U.S. volunteers dates
from May 5, 1862. His division regained the
ground lost by the advance Federal line, and on
^lay 25, reached Oak Grove, about four miles from
Richmond, and the nearest point reached by
McClellan's army. He took part in the battle
of Fair Oaks or Seven Pines, May 31 and June 1,
1862, and as McClellan's army fell back on Harri-
son's Landinjr participated in the engagements
at Malvern Hill, and Frayser's Farm or Charles
City Cross-roads, and then withdrew from the
peninsula and reached Alexandria, Aug. 26. 1862.
He was ordered to report to Gen. John Pope,
commanding the Army of Virginia, and his
prompt arrival and successful engagement at
