‘Fighting’ Joseph Hooker, former commander of Union forces during the Civil War, died October 31, 1879. He was 64.

Hooker was born November 14, 1814 in Hadley, Massachusetts. Graduating from West Point in 1837, Hooker became a career soldier.

During the Mexican War, Hooker received three Brevet promotions. In 1853, Hooker resigned his commission and went to California where he became involved in farming and real estate.

When the Civil War began, his military experience and the fact he was a West Point graduate made him a valuable asset to the Union army. He witnessed the first battle of Bull Run which almost brought about the capture of Washington by Confederate forces.

Hooker wrote Lincoln that the Union needed his experience to help direct military operations. Lincoln agreed and commissioned him a Brigadier General of volunteers in August of 1861.

Hooker rose through the ranks very fast, eventually taking command of the North’s major military component, the Army of the Potomac.

When Lincoln appointed him as his chief commander after General Ambrose Burnside’s loss at Fredericksburg in 1862, Lincoln expressed confidence in his military abilities but told Hooker that he would have to tone down his criticism of other commanders and that he should not speak of a military dictatorship as the answer to winning the war.

Hooker was a brilliant strategist, but at times lacked the resolve to make critical decisions. He came under fire in 1863 when he withdrew his attack against Lee’s forces near Fredericksburg.

Hooker resigned his post in late June 1863 over a dispute concerning the control of the Harper’s Ferry garrison.

In November 1863, Hooker’s new command was the Army of the Potomac’s 11th and 12th Corps. He was effective in keeping supply lines open and helping secure a northern victory at Lookout Mountain in Tennessee.

Hooker continued to lead his corps through the battle of Atlanta in 1864, but asked to be relieved when he believed he had been slighted in not being named commander of the Army of Tennessee.

Mustered out of the army in September 1866, he retired as a major general. Locating to Garden City, New York, he died there on October 31, 1879. He is buried in Cincinnati, Ohio.