Maj. Gen. Joseph "Fighting Joe" Hooker

An able commander at the division and corps level, Hooker did not live up to expectations as commander of the Army of the Potomac. However, he was a fairly aggressive general who outperformed his predecessors in that capacity. Leading his command capably at Williamsburg, Hooker received the nickname "Fighting Joe Hooker" from the press, and he lived up to the billing in the ensuing actions of the Seven Days, Second Manassas, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. As head of the Army of the Potomac, Hooker was outwitted by Lee and Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville, and bickering with the War Department led to his resignation from that command several days prior to Gettysburg. Transferred west as part of the new XX Corps, "Fighting Joe" was in charge of the troops who ran the Confederates off of Lookout Mountain, his last action before asking to be relieved of command because 0.0. Howard was made head of the Army of Tennessee instead of himself. This photograph was taken by Mathew Brady's Gallery and comes from a carte-de-visite that used to belong to the editor prior to selling it to Henry Deeks, noted Civil War historian and dealer.

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