Abraham Lincoln's letter to Major General Joseph Hooker, dated January 26, 1863 :a facsimile reproduction of the letter

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Abraham Lincoln's letter to Major General Joseph Hooker, dated Abraham Lincoln's letter to Major General Joseph Hooker, dated

January 26, 1863 :a facsimile reproduction of the letter January 26, 1863 :a facsimile reproduction of the letter

Abraham Lincoln

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ABRAHAM

LINCOLN'S

'LETTER

TO

MAJOR

GENERAL

JOSEPH

HOOKER

DATED

JANUARY

2G,

1883

A Facsimile

ReJ)'1'oduction

of

the Letter

With

Explanatory Text by

Paul

M.

Angle

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N

ABRAHAM

LINCOLN'S

LETTER

TO

MAJOR

GENERAL

JOSEPH

HOOKER

DATED

JANUARY

26,

1863

On November 17, 1941, Mr. Alfred

W.

Stern, a member

of

The Caxton Club,

purchased the most important

of

the thirty-odd letters written by President

Lin-

coln to General Joseph

Hooker-the

letter which

is

generally lcnown as

"The

Hooker Letter."

In

so doing, Mr. Stern has brought

to

Illinois what

is

recog-

nized

to

be

one

of

the finest Lincoln letters

in

existence, and one

of

the world's

great masterpieces

of

letter writing. The Caxton Club congratulates

Mr.

Stern

on his valuable acquisition, and expresses

its

gratitude for his permission

to

reproduce the letter here for the members

of

the Club.

DY

PAUL

l.U.

ANGLE

LIBRARIAN,

ILLINOIS

STATE

HISTORICAL

LIBRARY

(J

cE

again Abraham Lincoln was faced with

the

necessity of choosing

a commander for

the

Army of

the

Potomac. Before him,

at

the

White

House,

sat

:Major General A.

E.

Burnside, who

had

commanded

the

Army of

the

Potomac since early November, 186~.

From

his headquarters

near

Fredericksburg, Burnside

had

brought

an

order dismissing four of

his general officers from

the

service

and

relieving six others from active

duty.

The

order was

to

be

effective when approved

by

the

President.

The

alternative

to

approval, Burnside made clear, was

the

acceptance of his own

resignation.

Burnside, like McClellan

and

Pope

before him,

had

failed.

He

had

accepted

the

command of

the

Army of

the

Potomac with reluctance, protest-

ing

the

incapacity which his faulty generalship

at

the

Battle

of Fredericks-

burg

demonstrated a few weeks later. After

that

battle

his lack of confidence

in

himself spread quickly

to

the

army.

By

the

thousands, officers

and

men

disappeared

without

leave, while among those who remained

there

was con-

stant,

outspoken criticism. Aware

that

no commander could win battles

with

a disaffected

army,

Burnside chose

to

make

an

issue between himself

and

his

principal critics.

Either

they

or

he

must

go. Lincoln was

to

make

the

choice.

First

among those whom Burnside

had

marked

for dismissal was

Major

General Joseph Hooker, whom

he

charged

with

"unjust

and

unneces-

sary

criticisms of

the

actions of his superior officers,

and

of

the

authorities,"

and

characterized

as

"a

man

unfit

to

hold

an

important

commission during a

crisis like

the

present, when

so

much patience,

charity,

confidence, considera-

tion,

and

patriotism

are

due

from

every

soldier

in

the

field."

Yet,

when

Burn-

side was relieved

on

January

~5, 1863,

it

was Hooker whom Lincoln assigned

to

the

command of

the

Army

of

the

Potomac.

The

new commander was forty-eight years old. A

native

of :Massa-

chusetts,

he

had

graduated

from

the

United

States

Military

Academy

in

1837. Advancement came slowly

until

the

Mexican

War

when, for distin-

guished service

in

action,

he

was

brevetted

successively a captain, a major,

and

a lieutenant-colonel. After

the

war,

he

remained

in

the

army

for several

years,

but

finally, despairing of promotion

in

the

small peace-time establish-

ment,

he

resigned his commission

and

entered civil life.

·with

the

outbreak

of

the

Civil

War,

Hooker

proffered his services.

Like

many

other

officers of experience,

he

was

at

first ignored. However,

on

May

17, 1861,

he

was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers. Valorous

conduct

in

the

Peninsular Campaign a

year

later

won

him

a major-generalcy

and

the

nickname,

"Fighting

Joe."

The

second :Manassas,

South

:Mountain,

and

Antietam added

to

his

reputation,

and

while

he

protested vigorously

to

Burnside

about

his orders

at

Fredericksburg,

he

made

a magnificent

attempt

to

carry

them

out

when his

protest

was overruled.

His

fame,

both

in

and

out

of

the

army,

was certainly

not

lessened

by

his appearance

and

bearing: tall,

robust, handsome,

he

carried himself with

the

assurance

that

has

always

seemed

to

be

the

badge of

the

natural

fighting

man.

Having

long known

that

Burnside's dismissal was only a

matter

of

time, Lincoln

had

decided upon

Hooker

well in advance of his appointment.

The

selection, however, was

not

made

without

misgivings. When,

after

the

Second

Battle

of Bull

Run,

Gideon Welles

had

mentioned Hooker

as

a pos-

sible successor

to

Pope, Lincoln

had

nodded

in

approval.

"But,"

he

added,

"I

fear

he

gets excited."

To

Senator Orville

II.

Browning,

the

day

after

Hooker's

appointment,

Lincoln confessed

that

he

was

not

satisfied

with

Hooker's conduct,

but

that

he

did

not

know

what

better

he

could do

than

to

appoint

him.

The

most

explicit avowal of his reservations, however,

came

from his own

pen:

l

J

EXECUTIVE

MANSION,

Washington,

January

~6, 1863.

Major

General Hooker:

General.

I

have

placed

you

at

the

head of

the

Army of

the

Potomac.

Of course I

have

done

this

upon

what

appear

to

me

to

be

sufficient reasons.

And

yet

I

think

it

best for

you

to

know

that

there

are

some things in regard

to

which, I

am

not

quite

satisfied with you. I believe

you

to

be

a brave

and

a skilful soldier, which, of course, I like. I also believe

you

do

not

mix politics

with

your

profession, in which

you

are

right. You

have

confidence in your-

self, which is a valuable, if

not

an

indispensable quality. You

are

ambi-

tious, which,

within

reasonable bounds, does good

rather

than

harm.

But

I

think

that

during Gen. Burnside's command of

the

Army,

you

have

taken

counsel of

your

ambition,

and

thwarted

him

as

much as

you

could, in which

you

did a

great

wrong

to

the

country,

and

to

a most meritorious

and

honor-

able

brother

officer. I

have

heard,

in

such

way

as

to

believe

it,

of

your

re-

cently saying

that

both

the

Army

and

the

Government needed a

Dictator.

Of

course

it

was

not

for this,

but

in

spite

of

it,

that

I

have

given

you

the

com-

mand.

Only those generals who gain successes,

can

set

up

dictators.

What

I

now

ask

of

you

is military success,

and

I will risk

the

dictatorship.

The

gov-

ernment

will

support

you

to

the

utmost

of

its

ability, which is

neither

more

nor

less

than

it

has

done

and

will do for all commanders. I

much

fear

that

the

spirit

which

you

have

aided

to

infuse

into

the

Army, of criticising

their

Com-

mander

,

and

withholding confidence from him, will now

turn

upon

you. I

shall assist you as

far

as

I can,

to

put

it

down.

Neither

you, nor Napoleon,

if

he

were alive again, could

get

any

good

out

of

an

army, while such a spirit

prevails

in

it.

And now, beware of rashness- Beware of rashness,

but

with energy,

and

sleepless vigilance, go forward,

and

give us victories.

Yours very

truly

A.

LINCOLN

"He

talks

to

me

like a

father,"

said

Hooker

to

a friend when

he

re-

ceived Lincoln's letter.

"I

shall

not

answer

this

letter

until I

have

won

him

a

great

victory."

To

that

end

he

went

to

work

with

energy.

The

Army of

the

Potomac

was reorganized,

the

depleted ranks were filled, strenuous drill

and

field exercise were

instituted,

damaged morale was restored.

By

April,

the

.

troops were again in fighting

trim,

and

ready

for

the

offensive.

Hooker planned

the

forward movement carefully,

and

military critics

have

only praise for his

strategy.

However,

in

the

ensuing action (the

Battle

of Chancellorsville,

May

2-4)

he

seemed

to

be incapable of decisive meas-

ures,

and

never succeeded

in

utilizing

more

than

a fraction of his strength.

The

result was a

defeat-not

as

catastrophic as Fredericksburg,

but

a

major

reverse nevertheless. Some

have

attributed

his failure

to

drunkenness-a

baseless slander; others

to

the

effect of a blow from a piece of falling timber

during

the

battle.

At

least

as

plausible

as

these explanations is one

attributed

to

Hooker

himself:

"For

once I lost confidence

in

Hooker,

and

that

is all

there

is

to

it."

After Chancellorsville, Hooker withdrew his army. When Lee began

the

invasion of

the

North

that

ended

at

Gettysburg,

Hooker

followed him

and

maneuvered his troops so skillfully

that

he

received

the

thanks

of

Congress. However, when his request for reinforcements was denied,

he

asked

to

be relieved of his command.

His

request

was granted,

and

on

June

28 George Gordon :Meade

took

command of

the

Army of

the

Potomac.

Instead

of being

kept

inactive, Hooker was given

the

XI

and

XII

Corps

and

sent

to

the

Department

of

the

Cumberland. There,

under

Thomas

and

Sherman,

he

fought well.

But

when McPherson was killed during

the

siege of

Atlanta,

and

Howard

was given his place,

Hooker

took

the

appoint-

ment

as

a personal affront,

and

asked

to

be

relieved.

Thus

ended his active

military service.

In

early April, 1863, Lincoln visited

Hooker

in

the

field.

In

his

party

was

an

old friend,

Dr.

Anson G.

Henry.

Upon returning

to

Washington,

Henry

described

the

visit

in

a long

letter

to

his wife. "Genl. Hooker,"

he

wrote, "showed

me

the

letter

.1

\fr

Lincoln wrote him, when

he

tendered him

the

command, & which

ought

to

be

printed

in letters of

Gold-

It

will be

read

by

our

posterity with greater veneration for

its

author

than

has

ever

been shown for

any

thing

written

by ~ Tashington,

or

any

other

man.

It

breathes a

spirit

of

Patriotic

devotion

to

the

country,

and

a

spirit

of

frank-

ness &

candor

worthy

of

l\lr

Lincolns character,

and

is peculiarly his

own."

With

that

appraisal,

the

whole world agrees.

TOE

CAXTON

CLUB:

CHICAGO,

1942