Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1868-11-20

TowNsHEND.
lie was the Henry Clay of soldiers
generous, instructive, reliable, electrical
He opened the battle at the moment on
order. When Gen. Mcclellan said at
Antietam "Gen Hooker will advance
on the right at o'clock, they awoke at
headquarters to hear his first cannon
break the morning as if the secondhand
of his watch had been in the fuse to fire
it. He was the promptest soldier known
to either army. Some were too proud,
others too irresolute, some too lymphatic
he was cheerful, yet remorseless at times,
and, as lover, not of carnage, but Of
fair battle, few ages afford his match
He was the handsomest man in vital
beauty ever saw. Decatur must have
looked like him. His nostrils and his
eyes were not fire, but light, never blaz-
ing with intense feeling, but shining like
the dawn. His was the perfection Of
manly, American beauty, as we conceive
it, when all of our heterogeneous tribes
shall be welded into one patriotic homo
geneity with the English dew and the
bronze of our autumn most manifest.
Ills walk, tne turn OF his knee, the
straightness of his thigh and leg, the ex-
quisiteness Of his foot, what gentleman
can forget And likewise his waist and
chest, almost woman's! They grew into
a pair of shoulders that the epaulets nev-
er enhanced. The carriage of his head
should have touched nun. Raphael
would have made him pose for St. Mi
chael. The last time | saw him was COM
ing down the steps at Astor House, and
turning to look after him, stranger said
to me, "Who is that ?" Joseph Hook
err" He's beautiful, surel"
When the war began Hooker was liv-
ing in straits III California. His appear
ance had been temptation to him, and
he filled no very high and dutiful use
among mankind He embarked at once
with only his sword, and when saw him
first he commanded brigade in the ar
my of the Potomac, and was encamped
behind McClellan's line of doom bound
intrenchments, in the corps of Keyes,
among the very nesrest troops of any to
Richmond. Kearney was his neighbor,
and those two were among the first to no.
tice McClellan's boyish and irresolute in
competency Kearney was rich enongh
to speak his mind, and Hooker indignant
enough IL was at their camps | first
heard the distrust of Mcclellan. The
latter, meantime, was thick as persim-
mons with these men; Slocum, Newton,
Badly Smith, Fitz John Porter, Andrew
Porter and Hancock The latter of these
was the only one that came to desert.
Newton has disappeared. Baldy Smith
was always an envious man, and he is
said to have written coarse criticism on
Grant recently, which ! should believe.
Hancock is the best rewarded man in the
army according to his heft" Slocum
is Seward democrat, and | always be-
lieved him to be soldier and gentle
man. At last the romance of Little
Mac" was "waled out of him by the
tremendous attack of Stonewall jackson.
Then the % ins" went out and the " outs
: went in. | was abroad when Hooker
commanded the army, but others have
told me of his bearing vitality
and in decision equal to the place, but
in caliber of mind perhaps unequal to
the mighty charge of great army. He
did not think So Certainly he did the
;. best in that place till Grant came to look
. after it, for the battle of Gettysburg wa'
y the combined victory of the lieutenant
: and marshals of the army of the Poto
: mac, christened by Reynolds, godfather
y ed by Meade, and by none better be
. friended than by John Sedgwick.
U When Hooker was removed by Hal
y leck he rode out of the camp indignant
: ly, and reappeared to the country in th
IL brilliant tableau of Lookout Mountain
doubt not that he would have VOL
!. the battle of Gettysburg as well a
! Meade did, and been more the persona
:. hero of it, but possibly his quick tempe
, and fine selfesteem would have mad
= him less useful clerically to Grant afte,
: ward, for Meade was Grants willing an
p diligent clerk. Sometimes believe tina
if Hooker had held the army of the Pe
. tomac to Gettysburg, he, and not Gram
would have been the hero of the war
- receive the sword of Lee, and that Gran
,,r never would have been called East, e,
:, cept in charge of Sherman's army. Fc
a Hooker, without great girth of brazil
"a had more life than any soldier l eve
m saw His contempt for geography WI
- like Sherman's. He loved fighting an
- going forward as much as Sheridan. An
!. his enterprise was like Pizarros. As
''' orator he was one of the finest anon
L. do,