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.
During the spring of 1863, Hooker was promoted to command of the Army of the Potomac and gained a reputation as an outstanding administrator, restoring the morale of his soldiers, which had plummeted to a new low under Ambrose Burnside after Fredericksburg. Hooker famously said of his revived army, “I have the finest army on the planet. I have the finest army the sun ever shone on. ... If the enemy does not run, God help them. May God have mercy on General Lee, for I will have none.” Lee would later playfully (and somewhat dismissively) refer to “Fighting” Joe Hooker as Mr. F. J. Hooker.
Although Hooker lost at Chancellorsville, he was successful in the Western theater for most of the rest of the war, including playing a prominent role in the Chattanooga Campaign. Hooker wrote an account of that campaign that was preserved in The War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. This edition of Hooker’s reports includes illustrations and maps of the campaign, as well as pictures of the important commanders of the battle.
