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enemy's batteries which so long blockaded the Potomac, and advanced some distance into the interior.

When McClellan entered upon his peninsular campaign, General Hooker joined him with his division. In the severe battles which were fought from Williamsburg to Malvern Hills, Hooker and his men did a large share of the fighting, and became noted for their readiness and courage.

At the battle of Antietam, General Hooker commanded a wing of McClellan's army, and for his bearing on that day received great applause. He was wounded in the foot during the fight, but remained on the field until the victory was won, which he thus announced to General McClellan :

"A great battle has been fought, and we are victorious. I had the honor to open it yesterday afternoon, and it continued until ten o'clock this morning, when I was wounded and compelled to quit the field. The battle was fought with great violence on both sides. The carnage has been awful. I only regret that I was not permitted to take part in the operations until they were concluded, for I had counted on either capturing their army or driving them into the Potomac. My wound has been painful, but it is not one that will be likely to lay me up. I was shot through the foot."

His wound proved so severe that he was prevented for some time from active service. On his recovery he was promoted to a major-generalship of volunteers, with a commission dating from

July 4th, 1862,* and soon after appointed to the brigadier-generalship in the regular army, vacated by the death of General Mansfield, killed at Antietam, with a commission dating from September 20, 1862. On the removal of General Fitz John Porter, General Hooker was appointed to the fifth army corps, the command of which he assumed on the 12th of November, 1862. Subsequently, when the Army of the Potomac was divided by General Burnside into three grand divisions, he was given the command of the centre, composed of the third and fifth army corps. At the battle of Fredericksburg, Hooker's troops, as usual, distinguished themselves by their fighting qualities.

General Hooker is described as "very tall, erect, compactly but not heavily built, extremely muscular, and of great physical endurance; of a light complexion, a fresh, ruddy countenance, full, clear mild eyes, intellectual head, brown hair, slightly tinged with gray-and altogether, one of the most commanding officers in his bearing and appearance in the army." With a social disposition and unreserved manners, he yields readily to the influence of conviviality, and has thus incurred the censure of the more rigid.

From the gallantry and activity shown by General Hooker on various battle

On Hooker's appointment to the command of the

Army of the Potomac, the President requested that his

commission of major-general of volunteers should date

from May 5, 1862, instead of July 4th, 1862, since the

former was the day of the fight at Williamsburg, in which he had so greatly distinguished himself. † N. Y. Herald.

fields, great expectations were entertained of his success as the commander of the Army of the Potomac. His excessive self-reliance and proportionate distrust of others, although so freely expressed as to cause the judicious to doubt his prudence, served perhaps only to strengthen the confidence of the people in their favorite, whom, with a well-founded predisposition in his favor, they did not hesitate to exalt according to his own estimate of himself and his fellows.

When asked by the Congressional Committee to what he attributed the failure of the peninsular campaign, he answered: "I do not hesitate to say that it is to be attributed to the want of generalship on the part of our commander." He also repeatedly declared that on several occasions during that campaign he could have taken Richmond. Again, after the failure of General Burnside at Fredericksburg, he is believed to have so freely censured that General's conduct, as to obtain for himself a prominent place in the famous Order No. 8, by which he, with others of lesser note, was relieved from command.

While this extreme self-asserter may have heightened the popular expectation of the success of the new commander, it exposed him to a severer judgment in

case of failure.

The Army of the Potomac-still on the heights of the Rappahannock opposite to Fredericksburg-though temporarily disheartened by its failure under Burnside, seemed to recover its spirits upon the assumption of command by

General Hooker, who immediately made ready for an active campaign. The cavalry forces of both sides entered upon a series of expeditions preliminary to a general engagement. The enemy, presuming upon the discouragement of the defeated Union troops, were especially active and bold.

A large force of the enemy's cavalry, under Fitz Hugh Lee and Hampton, crossed the Rappahannock at Feb. Kelly's Ford, broke through the 25. line of Union outposts, and strove to make their way in the rear, with the view of destroying the communications. The Union cavalry having, in the meantime, concentrated in force, compelled the marauders to retreat and recross the river.

A cavalry officer, Captain Mosby, signalized himself by an audacious raid in the rear of the Union army, and entering Fairfax Court House, cap- Mar. tured General Stoughton, his staff, escort, and baggage.

Mosby's superior in command, General Stuart, chief of the enemy's cavalry, deemed the exploit of his subordinate worthy of "a recognition in general orders."

Captain John S. Mosby," he said, "has for a long time attracted the attention of his generals by his boldness, skill, and successes so signally displayed in his numerous forays upon the invaders of his native State.

"None know his daring enterprise and dashing heroism better than those foul invaders, though strangers themselves to such noble traits.

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