The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1868-11-20
THE LOSS OF HOOKER.
A Touching Tribute to a Stricken and
Bereft Soldier.

" A Touching Tribute to a Stricken am
n Bereft Soldier.
C,
g Geo. A. Townsend, whose militarl
g campaigns well fit him for the task
pays, in the Hartford Post, this trib
IN ute to the genius and character o.
n General Joseph Hooker, the hero Of
l. Lookout Mountain, who has lately
n been retired from the army:
"a a graver topic comes to ne, and
IN to you also, in the loss OF the name OF
N Joseph Hooker, from the roll OF the
l. army. Few can take his place in
'e talent, and who in beauty and fame 7
l. He was the Henry Clay of soldiers
. generous, instructive, reliable, cleo.
d trical! lie opened battle ut the
'e moment on order. When Mcclellan
d said at Antietam:
'e "General Hooker viii advance on
8 the right at seven O'Clock" They
J. woke at headquarters to hear his first
cannon break the morning, as if the
! second hand OF his watch had been the
n fuse to fire it. He was the prompt
e est soldier known to either army
a Some were too proud, others irreso
r lutte, some lymphatic /; be WAS cheer.
+ full yet remOrseiess ut times, and, as
, a lover, not Of carnage, but OF 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 blazing with intense
feeling, but shining like the dawn
He was the perfection of manly,
American beauty, as we conceive it,
when all our heterogeneous tribes
shall be welded into one patriotic
homoeenity with the English dew
and the bronze Of our autumn most
manifest. His walk, the turn OF his |
knee, the straightness Of his thigh |
and leg, the eXquisiteness of bis foot,
what gentleman can forget ?
And likewise his waist and chest,
almost woman's! They grew into |
pair of shoulders the epaulette new
er enhanced. The carriage of his
head should have touched nun
Raphael would have made him pose
for st. Michael. The last time saw
him was coming down the steps of
the Astor House, and turning to look
after him, a stranger said to NE:
"Who is that?'
"Joseph Hooker"
"He's beautiful, sure 20
When the war began Hooker was
living in straits in California. His
appearance had been q temptation to
him, and he filled no very high and
dutiful use among mankind. He en-
barked at once, with only his sword,
and when saw him first he com
manded brigade in the Army Of the
Potomac, and was encamped behind
McClellan's line of doom-hound en-
L InIuR, perhaps rICruvzIrTEIEsrrs 7rr--uII5
the very nearest troops of any to
Richmond
Kearney was his neighbor, and the
two were the first to observe McClel- |
lan's boyish and irresoiute incom-
potency. Kearney was rich enough |
to speak his mind, and Hooker WAS
indignant enough. 1t was at their |
camps / first heard the distrust of
Mcclellan. The latter, meantime,
was thick as persimmOns with these
men: Slocum, Newton, Baldy Smith,
Fitz John Porter, Andrew Porter
and Hancock. The latter of these
was the only onethat came to for
tune, and the former the only one
that came to desert. Newton has
disappeared. Badly Smith was al
ways an envious man, and he is said
to have written coarse criticisms on
Grant recently, which l should be-
lieve. Porter we know, who nearly
reached the apothesis OF Admiral
Byng. Hancock is the best reward
cd man OF the army, according to his
s'heft.' Slocum is Seward Demo
crat, and l always believed him to
be both soldier and gentleman.
At length the romance OF Little
Mack was whaled'' out of him by the
tremendous attack of Stonewall Jack
son. Then the Gins" went out and
the "outs" went in. / was abroad
when Hooker commanded the army,
but officers have told me of his bear
ing there-vitally, and in decision
equal to the place, but in calibre OF
mind perhaps unequal to the mighty
charge of q great army. He did not
think so. Certainly he made the
best of that place till Grant came to
look after it, for the battle of Get
tysburg was the combined victory Of
the Lieutenants and Marshals of the
Army of the Potomac, christened by
Reynolds, godfathered by Meade,
and by none better befriendej Than
by John Sedgwick.
When Hooker was removed by /
Halleck he rode out Of the camp in
dignantly, and reappearcd 10 the
country in the brilliant tableau OF
Lookout Mountain
| / doubt not that he would have
won the battle of Gettysburg as well |
as Meade did, and been more the
personal hero OF it, but possibly his
quick temper and fine sclf-csteem
(which recall Henry Clay to me
would have made him less useful,
clerically, to Grant afterward; for
Meade was Grants willing and dill
cent clerk. Sometimes | believe that
i If Hooker had led the Army OF the
Potomac to Gettysburg he, not Grant,
would have been the hero OF the war
to receive the sword of Lee, and that
Grant would never have been called
East, except in charge OF Sherman's
army. For Hooker, without great
girth of brain, had more life than any
soldier ever saw. His contempt of
geography was like Sherman's. He
loved fighting and going forward AS
much as Sheridan. And his enter
prise was like Pizarro's.
AS an orator he was one OF the
finest among soldiers. AS candi-
r date for President, Zachary Taylor
t would have been Sancho Panza COM
r pared to him for with victory and
J. his magnetism, he would have beaten
4 Thomas Jefferson before the people.
g This is talking of the irrevccabie,
/ but many soldiers will agree with mo
:, in it, while all Of them will admit