1794, and his dismissal in 1795 robbed him of
a better opportunity—his friend and successor,
Lord Hotham, commanded the Mediterranean
Fleet in the actions of 13–14 March and 13 July.
Yet Hood’s reputation stood far higher than ei-
ther of these. Some commentators have regarded
it as excessively inflated. John Tilley has asserted
that “Among eighteenth-century admirals, Sir
Samuel Hood was a remarkable character: he
made his name one of the most famous in Brit-
ish naval history not by commanding a fleet in a
great sea fight, but by convincing the historians
that he had been cheated out of his opportunity
to do so.” But Hood has not simply convinced
historians by his letters, he convinced the ablest
of his naval contemporaries by his actions. Nel-
son described him as “the greatest Sea-officer I
ever knew.”References: Hood, Dorothy, The Admirals Hood (Lon-
don: Hutchinson & Company, 1942); Duffy, Michael,
“Samuel Hood, First Viscount Hood, 1724–1816,” in
Precursors of Nelson: British Admirals of the Eighteenth
Century, edited by Peter Le Fevre and Richard Harding
(London: Chatham Publishing, 2000), 249–278; Bruce,
Anthony, and William Cogar, “Hood, Samuel, First Vis-
count Hood,” in An Encyclopedia of Naval History (New
York: Checkmark Books, 1999), 181; Rose, John Hollard,
Lord Hood and the Defence of Toulon (Cambridge, U.K.:
The University Press, 1922).
Hooker, Joseph (1814–1879) American general
Joseph Hooker was born in Hadley, Massachusetts, on
13 November 1814. He received a local education, then
received an appointment to the United States Military
Academy at West Point, New York. Commissioned in
the 1st U.S. Artillery Regiment in 1837, he saw service
in the Mexican War (1846–48), when he served as a
staff officer. He was subsequently promoted to the rank
of lieutenant colonel, and although his career seemed
promising, he left the military in 1853 and purchased a
large farm near Sonoma, California, where he intended
to retire.
When the Civil War broke out in early 1861,
Hooker offered his services to the Union cause. Com-
missioned as a brigadier general of volunteers, he was
promoted to the rank of major general of volunteers on
5 May 1862. He led troops into battle at Williamsburg,
where he served under General George B. mcclel-
lan, and where, despite a Union defeat, he earned the
nickname “Fighting Joe” for his heroism in battle. He
also saw action at Fair Oaks (31 May–1 June 1862); in
the clashes known as the “Seven Days Battle” (26 June–
1 July 1862); at Second Manassas, or Second Bull Run
(30 August 1862); and in the Maryland campaign of
September 1862. As commander of the I Corps of the
Army of the Potomac, Hooker led the Union army at
Antietam (17 September 1862), where he was severely
wounded. For his service, he was promoted to brigadier
general in the regular army on 20 September 1862, and
upon his return to service, he commanded the center
of the Union army at Fredericksburg (13 December
1862).
When General Ambrose Burnside resigned his post
in January 1863, Hooker was named to replace him. At
Chancellorsville (2–4 May 1863), he moved his troops
forward but allowed the forces of Confederate Generals
Robert E. lee and Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson to
advance on his flank and force a Union retreat. Six weeks
later, as Lee’s army crossed the Potomac, advancing into
Pennsylvania, Hooker followed him but was relieved by
his command and succeeded by General George Meade
on 28 June 1863.
He was then sent west to Chattanooga to relieve
General William Starke rosecrans, who was under
siege. Hooker played an important part in the “Battle
above the Clouds” at Lookout Mountain (24 November
1863), which led to the Union triumph at Missionary
Ridge (24–27 November 1863).
Following these two battles, Hooker remained in
the region and played an important part in the battles
around Atlanta with General William Tecumseh sher-
man. However, Hooker and Sherman did not get
along, and when General James Birdseye McPherson,
commander of the Army of the Tennessee, was killed
in action near Atlanta, 22 July 1864, command of his
army went not to Hooker, who was in line for it, but,
on Sherman’s recommendation, to General Oliver Otis
Howard. Angered at being passed over, Hooker resigned
from his command, retiring from the army completely
on 15 October 1868. He spent the remainder of his life
on his farm. He was visiting Garden City, Long Island,
when he died on 31 October 1879, two weeks before his
65th birthday. hookeR, JoSeph