Battles & Leaders of the Civil War: Hooker’s Appointment and Removal

Joseph Hooker (November 13, 1814 – October 31, 1879) was a career United States Army officer, fought in the Mexican-American War, and was a major general in the Union Army during the Civil War. Although he served throughout the war, usually with distinction at places like Antietam and Atlanta, Hooker is best remembered for his loss to General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863. After a clerical error in an early battle in the war, he was known as “Fighting” Joe Hooker

It was after firing Burnside in early 1863 that Lincoln put Fighting Joe Hooker in command of the Army of the Potomac, writing him a famous letter informing him of his promotion. But after Hooker lost at Chancellorsville, correspondence between the government and Hooker led to Hooker offering his resignation, which Lincoln accepted just days before the Battle of Gettysburg. The correspondence that led to Lincoln relieving Hooker of command was preserved in The War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. 

In one of the Battles & Leaders essays, an official in the Army of Potomac’s camp, Charles Benjamin, explained the appointment and removal of Hooker. This edition of Hooker’s Appointment and Removal is specially formatted with pictures of important commanders, and it also includes the correspondence that led to Lincoln relieving Hooker in the Official Records.