, 1863-01-31
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.

Gen. Hookcr.s Appo1ntment-1Wlatit
What the Country WanIs-Mtlftary
s9esss: sGee she ana aa3 9na 9FransaA cou1t
Martial Imncndtng-Llefle mac In
Danger.
Especial Correspondence Of the Chicago Tribunel !
WASHINGTON, Jan. q, 1858.
TIE tF1ouT1sd GENERAL" :,
General uooker's appointment to the COM,
u1ana Of the army OF tue Rappahannock means
business. He is only "nghting General
say the West Pointers derisiye1y, but fighting
Generals are what we want, not strategic Gen
e1als like Mcclellan, creeping Generals IKE
franklin, nor bashful, distrustfu1 f-them-
selves Generals like egenerous Burnside. Gen
e,al Hooker, If do not mistake his character,
resembles General Rosecrans in this, that he
is determined to conquer Whenever he has
met the foe ut the head Of division or Of
corps, the only question has been whether he
would beat him, or be killed or wounded in
the attempt. Even General Mcclellan admit
ted that Antletam wonld have been o COM
pletc victory had Hooker been enabled to re-
main on the field. Theremark which Hooker
made to General Burnside on the eve Of the
battle Of Fredericksburg, that he WIS 1.-THE
en1y man who could carry the euemY's works
at the head Of his column and that he
s'would do 1t or die'' was no idle
boast His belief in his power to
win victory is half the battle, both for him
self and for the soldiers whom he inspires
/ with the same feeling.
It is charged that he has been very much dis
posed to criticize his commanding General Of
late; has freely told his officers that Gen.
Burnside. had not "sufhcient brains,'
Of confidence in him which he felt himself
However this may be, no one charges that
when the hour Of action came, Hooker was
bchindhand.. On the contrary, all witnesses
agree that wherever danger vas to be met,
| difficulties to be overcome, fatigue or priya-
ing Of the private soldier which be was not
! ready to perform or to suffcr himself In
modesty he certainly does not resemble Rose
crane. His best friends cannot deny TINT he
thinks himself The Genernl of'the WAT; but
his foes must admit that he is resolTed, if
possible, to prove to others that be is the
Gencral Of TIT war. He is emphatically fight
Ing General. He makes light Of the Obstacles
and difficulties which have daunted others,
and it is the universal belief that within o
very short time be will be. victorious, or he
will be dead. The same feeling obtains with
l
deucc in Rosecrans at MuHrcesboro:
The Baltimore american, 4 Mcclellan jour-
nal, admits that the change indicates action
Of the most energetic kind,'' that If "hard
stronghold Of tie traitors at Richmond. Gen.
Hooker is the man 20 do it," 1t odds In the
same strain:
Take the .--~ all IN al there Is good ground fol
brokeh; tat tie soil Of Virginia Is to be cleared
OF rube1s by downright sturdy blows. the time IL
cloee at hand: The nation will be on the alertnoN
pleaty to occupy item between this time and ths
nation, then, accord to General Hooker new in
. stalment Of confidence in hts new prominent posi-
tion-let 1t trust that record aready brilliant vii
be made yet more CO., As graduate Of v est Poln
md wel-triea soldier, amongst the best iron
that military science can do to aid him, will be pn
into requisltiou, and 90 let us once more, VIC re
peat, hope fo1 good results.
This should be sufficient, for it comedies t.
I Gen. Hooker the possession OF precisely thos
: qualities, which hare conduced to Whateve
r successes We have had In this WAT. It was har
, fighting that turned Fair Oaks, Shiloh AM
= Murfreesboro from defeats into victories; TIN
won the field Of Pea Ridge twice; that carrie
the rebel works at Ncwbern It vas hard dgh'
G ing under Hooker and others that succeedc
at williamsburg, at South Mountain and Az
:, tietain. It was hard fighting under Gen Ross
i Grams that routed Van Dorm at Corinth; an
:. all the successes achieved by the navy, hav
Il been won by hard fighting. It was the wan
u Of Bull Run. Give the nation man wh
n wishes to fight, who perceiyes that the pat
to success-whether for himself or his cour
:; try-lies through fighting, not through il
- triguiug against others, nor through newsp:
Is per praises, or ''paper proclamations,' or pt
e litical manenTering and it will be satisfied
l. 1t does Mt want, to borrow phrase from tt
# article Of the. duae,1can, the better part {
q which is quoted above, concessions in the
o (Generals) selection to the conservative sent
- ment Of the country 1t wants military gu
d cess, and it believes 1t to be attainable on'
n by men who also believe in it as the one thin
It necdful, and who will strive to achieve it b
j. the nse Of all means known to civilized wa
r. fare. That is the only concession desired b
:. the radical "scnt1mcnt Of the country" An
1f it Is believed that Hooker's ambition, and
e. is not small, is Of apurely military characte
=. General of the armies Of the United Stat
a by vote Of .Congress-not now, but whe
=. upon the close Of the war the country sla
award that prize to is best soldier.
n "Bnt he cannot plant say his critics, mo
~ Of whom are the victims Of the disease know
n in the military science rs McCie}lanisl
=. 81 Hc can only execute: lie executes splendi
o. ly; but who knows what gift he has for stra
r. cgy:" Yet these same critics were willing
en Put Hooker IN command Of the army Of Il
=" Potomac after Antietam, If only McCfell
"a. could be Gencral-in- Chief, and this too
a. spite Of the fact that none ara 90 1ond as II
m In condemning battles planned at Washin
+ ton. Therefore it must hare been their int
NJ, ton that be should plan lis campaign as vi
yc rs execute plan, and they knew Hooker #
an enough to be aware that lie would do so.
ev The truth is, that it is impossible to t
n whether an officer be capable Of eomnar
ri ing a hundred thousand men until he b
~ ~ been tried; impossible to tell either wheth
~. lie can map out 4 battle, or whether he c
,,r fight battle with that number. All We c
r. say OF Hooker is, that wherever he has be
~ tried he has been found sufficient, and Il
~ lis projected movements, the suggestions
~ has gwen his superiors, have, SO far as
~ known, when Judged bJ the Light Of sub
gs quent events, proved better than those ado]
S| T|v ed in their place.
~ -. We know that he can fight. We know tt
~. IN he will fight to the Inst Ne know TINT he
eo en heart and soul, devoted to his country, a
sn ,ut that hc identifies the SUCCESS Of its cause
a. a. the battlefield with the success Of his Il
"a. and is willing to peril that life on the iss
~ Let us try him, then, and if be fails, Is Bu
% 81 side has failcd, throw him aside as Burns
',,o, was thrown aside.
,ife | GENERALS SUMNER AND FRASKI1S-AC CLELI
tn N Danger.