HOOKER, JOSEPH (1814-1879), American general, was born in Hadley (Mass.), Nov. 13, 1814. He was educated at West Point (1833-37), and entered the ist U.S. artillery. In the war with Mexico (1846-48) he served as a staff officer, and rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In 1853 he left the service and bought a large farm near Sonoma (Calif.). At the beginning of the Civil War he sacrificed his estate and was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, and major-general on May 5, 1862. In the engagement of Williamsburg (May 5) he received the sobriquet of "Fighting Joe." He was engaged at the battle of Fair Oaks, and did splendid service during the "Seven Days." In the campaign of Northern Virginia (Aug. 1862), he led his division with fiery energy at Bristoe Station, Manassas and Chan tilly.
In the Maryland campaign (Sept.) he was at the head of the 1st corps, Army of the Potomac, forced the defile of South Moun tain, and opened the way for the advance of the army. The ist corps opened the battle of Antietam, and in a sanguinary fight with Confederates under Stonewall Jackson, Hooker was severely wounded. He was commissioned brigadier-general in the U.S. army Sept. 20, 1862, and in the battle of Fredericksburg, he commanded the centre grand division. When Burnside resigned the command Hooker succeeded him, and effected a much-needed reorganization in the army. In this task, as in subordinate com mands in battle, Hooker was excelled by few. But his grave defects as a commander-in-chief were soon to be obvious. By a well planned movement, he placed himself on the enemy's flank, but at the decisive moment he checked the advance of his troops. Lee turned upon him, Jackson surprised and destroyed a whole army corps, and the battle of Chancellorsville (see WILDERNESS), in which Hooker was himself disabled, ended in retreat. The second advance of Lee into Union territory was resisted by Hooker, who followed the Confederates only a day behind them, until, finding himself distrusted, he resigned the command.
When after a signal defeat Rosecrans was besieged in Chat tanooga, and Grant with all the forces of the West was hurried to the rescue, two corps of the army of the Potomac were sent over by rail, and Hooker went with them in command. He won the "Battle above the Clouds" on Lookout Mountain which cleared the way for the crowning victory of the Army of the Cumberland on Missionary Ridge. And in command of the same corps he took part in all the battles and combats of the Atlanta campaign of 1864. When General McPherson was killed before Atlanta, the command of the Army of the Tennessee fell vacant. Hooker, as senior to the other army commanders was normally entitled to receive it, but Gen. Sherman feared to commit a whole army to a man of Hooker's peculiar temperament, and the place was given to Howard. Hooker thereupon left the army. He retired with the full rank of major-general, on Oct. 15, 1868. He died at Garden City, Long Island, on Oct. 31,