General Hooker History Project

Joseph Hooker (1814-1879) was a career U.S. military officer who served as a major general and commander of the Union Army of the Potomac during the Civil War (1861-65). Hooker entered the Civil War in 1861 as a brigadier general and gained a reputation as a reliable combat commander during the Peninsula Campaign and the Battle of Antietam. After the Union defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Hooker succeeded General Ambrose Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac in early 1863. Hooker was beloved by his men for his morale-boosting improvements in food rations and medical care, but a surprising defeat at the Battle of Chancellorsville led to his resignation in June 1863 just days before the Battle of Gettysburg. Hooker later served in the war’s Western Theater during the Chattanooga and Atlanta campaigns in 1864, and ended the Civil War as a departmental commander in Ohio. He died in 1879 at the age of 74.
http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/joseph-hooker
http://civilwarhome.com/hookbio.htm