The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1879-11-15
" FIGHTING JOE. /"
Career of Major General Joseph Hooker
Anecdotes Of the Famous Soldier.

FlGHIING JUE.
Career of Major-Gencral Joseph Hooker
Anecdotes Of the Famous Soldier.
There are few individuals in these prosaic
days who realize the romantic and poetical
idea of Il hero. And yet enc has just been
called away who in very many respects
fulfilled the heroic type. Very few soldiers,
who lived within the last half century, have
possessed SO many attributes which go to
fulfil the popular conception of hero
Hooker was endowed with physical beauty,
elegance and grace He was said to be the
handsomest man in the old army When
he returned from the war to take command
in New York, he could not pass through the
streets without attracting uRirersal atten-
ton.
In his attire and bearing he was the
cynosure of every eye. Few men ever look
ed upon finer specimen of humanity
This, the "outer" Hooker, encased an
inner
HOOKER IN MANY RESPECTS
equally admirable. 1t was remarked of the
Old Fighting Third Corps Pollux to this
Castor that "thare were 10000 men per-
haps, in the Army of the Potomac who
were simply as brave as kcarny, but there
was not another who could stoop like an
eagle on desperate fold with such an
electrifying influence" From still another
standpoint, the same remark might be ap-
piled with justice to Hooker. On one occa-
sion During the Atlanta campaign Hooker
accompanied by three prominent staff off
GERS, advanced to recnnnoitre.
The spot he selected was actually swept
bya
STORM OF BALLS AND BULLETS.
One Of the subordnates, as gallant fell
low rs ever lived, considered the occasion
SO extraordinary that he skctched it, and
James Walker, the great American military
historical painter, transferred it to canvas
with more than his usual vivid conception
of battle incidents. His picture represents
a pine grove with the three staff officers
sheltering themselves, by order, behind
three massive trees, SCARED, torn and
shattered overhead by shell and round shot.
Some distance in advance Hooker, with out
spread arms, has opened n vista through a
screen of brushwood and stands there en-
velored in the halo of the
BLAZE OF BATTLE
observing the rebel forces farther to the front
Gen. O., who drew this on the spot,
says that it seemed a miracle that Hooker
escaped and yet there he stood some time,
amid the driving slect of death, as cool and
calm as he was ever under fire On another
occasion, during this same advance to
Atlanta, an Assistant Adjutant-General to
Thomas was sent to him with an order He
found Hooker in a little log shanty with a
single aidc-decanp, supervising a forward
movement. To the front the ground rose,
covered with wood, then dipped and rose
again to Il crest held by the enemy Hook
er's men were attempting 10 carry this
ridge, and above the intervening trees as
cendcd the peculiarly -tinted
SMOKE OF BATTLE,
whose cracklc and roar filled the air There
was a shout and Il sharp interchange Of
musketry vollcys, and soon after com
paratively lull, and then an officer came
squirting back to tell Hooker that his men
could not carry the crest without reinforce
ments.
Tie General dispatched his aid-de-camp
with the requisite orders, and after Il certain
elapse of time there was Il renewal of the
mud npsyyaripu e.
lowed another ominous comparative quiet,
and thereupon the ade-de-camp reappeared
with the report Z" that the Union troops were
net strong enough to carry the position
Wait here until return.
WILL BE BACK SOON"
said Hooker to Colonel 81 must see 10 this
thing myself"
After the apse ola few minutes there was
such shouting beyond the lcafy screen rs
almost, in itself, was an assurance of vic
tor Then the churm Of battle waxed
deafening; the smoke vhirlel up again, fol-
lowed by such cheer of welcomes and an
nounces triumph. Its echoes had scarcely
died away when Hooker rode back to the
log hut. ''Say to Gen. Thomas" he re-
marked, "my troops have carried the posi-
ton"
These two anscdote. are sufficient to illus
trate the man.
But it was not only as Il fighter that
Hooker WAS thus eminent
HIS STRATEGY,
or grand tractics, OH several occasions were
superlative One of the best military critics
who has published his reflections on the
"Science of War" within the past twenty
years considered Rockers man~uvering
previous to Charlottesville as perfect in
their way.
Taking the cue from one of the most re-
markable favorites Of fortunate who has
| ever lived, won her fondeSt smiles, it has
| become the fashion to depreciate Hooker
operations at Chattanooga, whereas the
| great victory won on Mission Ridge was
entirely due to his preliminary successes.
| His holding the Wauhatchie Valley and his
capture of Lockout Mountain were the
absolute key notes to the vaster subsequent
triumph, which, without them, would have
been Il different affair
IooKER'S SERIES OF HOLDING
?nd winning was an overture which sum
med up the whole music of the piece.
| Success ''-exclaimed Nicter Hugo, and
| with Justice is 4 hideous thing. Its
| counterfeit of merit ,ieceives men. To the
| mass, success has almost the same appear
ance rs Supremacy. Success, that pre-
tender to talent, has dupe-History.
= "Prosperity supposcs capacity.
Win in the lottery, and you are an able
man. The victor is vrnerated. Have but
luck and You will have the rest; be fortu-
nate, and you will he thought great. Beyond
the five OF six great exceptions, which are
the wonder of their age, contemporary adj
miratisn is nothing bnt short sightcineSs.
Gilt is geld That mighty genius,
by which one becomes a Moses, -Eschy
lu>, II Dante, II Michael Angelo, or 4 Ma,
poleea, the multitude assigns at once and
| bv reclamation to whoever succeeds in his
object, whatever it may be- r They
contounrl the radiance of the stars of heaven
with the ra,liations which Il ducks foot
leaves in the mud"
The best proof that Hooker was