petersburg, virginia, for the historical park civil war symposium. next, chief historian at fredericksburg and spotsylvania national historical park will speak. >> all right, let's call it back to order. thank you. welcome back from lunch. we wanted to mention that today is the 100th anniversary to the day that the first u.s. troops went in france. [applause] i am happy to introduce our next speaker. he is a public historian and author currently serving as the chief historian and chief of interpretation at fredericksburg national military park. parts worked for the four years. as well as probably the definitive book on manassas. let's welcome him. [applause] john: i have to start with this. this is not a gratuitous phrasing of my team that i have loved since i was 11 years old. you may remember they one the stanley cup in the spring. i offer this is context for some of what you have heard this week. does anybody recall who was defeated in the final? do you remember? is in the state of tennessee. the lives in the state of tennessee? will green. [laughter] after the stanley cup final he called me or i called him. i can't remember which created these artists you tell me what -- he told me it was great that the predators one are they a fun game to watch. the fanse -- where not fun to watch? he said there is something of a thing for losers. [laughter] i was like, will -- i will not assume the characteristics of my subjects. it is good to be here. the half justring while i went running but it proved to be a fortuitous moment. john hooker in that we love to hate grade at the time during the american civil war the hate of hama was not as universal as it seems today. around those figures are shaped by historians that write about them. often the work and the writing of the historical figures after the deed is done. is a perfectlan example. we know vastly more about him -- for hiscinelli personality than any of his soldiers. that is certainly true for joseph hooker as well. he was a man of many accomplishments and occasional brilliance. he was not a man who could judged on his visible deeds and acts. hooker grant spoke about more than anyone else who spoke upgrade he said he regarded him as a dangerous man. he was not subordinate to his superiors. about notitious caring for the rights of others. we tend to flinch in the presence of a ambitious person. we forget that ambition is the main thing for a thriving society. he was in no means alone and being ambitious. he thought to distinguish himself from his peers that would establish himself in the people of power above him. in the matter of politics where his core beliefs knew they would do him little or no good he thought to blend with those around him. hooker as antly for subordinate he adopted the persona of a aggressor. i think it is safe to say when you look at the history of the army at the potomac. there are few if any subordinate commanders who had a more unblemished, unbroken, spectacular record of aggression than joseph hooker. that was not a aggressive being. deposition when engaged in battle exercise a separate command. speaking of him as a subordinate. gathering his standard all he could of his juniors. what he meant, all of their accomplishments. grant was not a fan of joseph hooker. many people those that we admire the most survived by the virtue of their accomplishment. we have all known joseph hooker in our life. just as we have known a george mcclellan. these are people who live among us today on their personality and method. others in addition to their own accomplishment rise by virtue of their effort to pare down the people around them. joseph hooker could muster little good to say about his peers or serve your ears -- superiors. figure was successful in rising by diminishing the accomplishment of those around him it was joseph hooker. that success and context seems remarkable to us today. in the army of the potomac people talk about the change in war. i would say understanding the war requires a understanding that it changed dramatically from the beginning in 1861 until the end. there is a change that affects military practice, we see that here. also with military policy. the armies would become a dominant tool for implementing policy. institutions,ial the institutions of slavery and southern civility. those policies would become the major point of debate within the union war effort. 1863 and with the armies , because the army was such a important tool and because their early commanders were so avid and his insistence and participating in a debate about what those policies should be. -- politics of authors officers came to matter a great deal. poker realized this early on. although he was a conservative opposed who generally using the army as a tool for a mensa patient for example. he did not seem to be quite as solicitous as seven civilians -- southern civilians. he opted out of the public debate. ingthis day many people write about him do not have a clear idea of his politics. that was intentional on his part. he made himself disappear on those subjects that could do him the most harm and perhaps inhibit his enhancement -- advancement to the army. ote by to read you a qu hooker. embark on a pr campaign after the war until his death. not much with newspapers although he granted a uncommon number of newspaper interviews but with samuel bates who would write a history on the battles. he offered his opinion on everything. i want to give you a sense of hooker as he undertook this. he said he lee excelled with every man i knew as a character. as a soldier i do not wish to speak of him. elsewhere he said rather negative things. his orders of evading the army are sublime. that is, his orders of hands off the civilians was precisely right as far as he was concerned. then he reveals himself as a proper man. burdensmany evils, if and terrors may be ameliorated. in no instance has our government a higher mission than to perform in her wars. a contrast of character leads to general sherman whose orders were to retreat for nothing and whose dispatch to the government were unworthy of a gorilla. probably would have written that as well. this speaks to his core belief of a conservative to war. something that mcclellan certainly shared. israel is to examine the character of others. which he did constantly. his unwillingness for praise. or at least praised without a counterbalancing criticism. ooker engaged in damning his progresspeded toward success. i would imagine joseph hooker byk his seat this weekend having will premature him a green cheer- will him up a bit. we would have enjoyed having him here. he was famous for being a fun guy. he could be entertaining. when aes injudicious format like this could have a welcome injection of fun. always in a amusing sort of way. hists historians -- we as orians have come to know his way of thinking. his calculated machinations. -- aspirednspired for the director we would have learned the underbelly of joseph hooker. 'sfore the civil war reputation and the army was his perfectly capable service and mexico and a raucous behavior in california. he served well in mexico and enjoyed his time in the postwar period. he would not marry until 1865. he was a bachelor, not lifelong but almost. in california where he was until 1853 and then resigned in 1853 he gained a reputation. he gambled and drank. war he was looked upon as a good soldier but a unreliable man . thefornia garnered him support of his comrades. he was a common drunkard. i think it is almost impossible but he had a certain reputation among his colleagues in the army. somebody wants to strive his -- once described his time in the army as a beach bum. i think that is pretty accurate. a staff sergeant later refer to him as a decade california gambler. for joseph hooker his time in california coincided precisely command of henry talent who would be his superior officer during his tenure as commander of the postponement -- potomac. knowledge of hooker in california deeply affected the rest of their careers. he is aware that i know some things about his career and conduct in california. fearing i may use that information against him he seeks to ward off that affect by making it seem i am his personal enemy. enemyld become a constant and a thorn in his side. we do not know if he is right. surgically -- certainly he thought that the knowledge of his antics during his time in thefornia shaped relationship that the two of them had. as a civilian he received -- this was from sonoma which i have not heard if it is still standing. it is preserved in sonoma. after hisian resignation in 1853 he received a number of contracts to help the railroads and several roads in oregon. he never left california he certainly had a strong presence in oregon. it was there he developed a political base including the eventual support of this man. this is not working. newmitsmith.ames who would become a united states senator. he was a democrat. there he is. it did not work that way when will was here. smith would be after statehood and he would become a senator and would be one of his many boosters on capitol hill. the papers that are out in the oregon historical society are full of joseph hooker. they offer the most cohesive look at his method of rising in the army. with the onset of war in 1861 joseph hooker had to borrow $700 to retire the debts that he still labored under in california and presumably oregon. so that he could travel east to assist the union war effort. he long after first manassas received a commission as a brigadier general. at that time the 32nd ranked union army to slots ahead of ulysses grant. then he was in charge of a division in which would become the third corps of the army of the potomac. hooker was kind and accessible belovedeers and largely by his men who were proud of the energy that he brought to his endeavors. his first trip into the it happened without you send in that time. it came on the peninsula campaign of 1862 when his division led the advance of the union army towards williamsburg. this is not going to be a tactical move at all. suffice to say it was the first evidence of one of his most important qualities. that was his aggression. at was the lead of the army the approach of williamsburg. rather than waiting for support, waiting to become part of a well organized advance he decided he needed to forge ahead and make contact rapidly. he was bloodied and driven back. to some degree he was rescued by the other division. carney quickly concluded and would never lose the opinion that he was reckless. y was probably the greatest division commander for the army of the potomac. he was extremely aggressive but not careless. hooker was aggressive to the point of carelessness. the commander of the artillery on the peninsula wrote this. i must say that he did not impress me at all favorably as a power of a general. his great idea was to go ahead until we run against the army and then fight them. not let the second cork it and there first. on the one hand hooker reputation for aggression. within the circle of the army there was a caveat that he was also reckless. after the battle mcclellan hooker but hancock. , hancocke was superb the superb became his nickname. hooker received little to no notice. started a campaign to inform those of what he had accomplished. two weeks after the battle of williamsburg he written -- he had written to many senators. himself --sting of boasting of himself but also of someone else's family. in writing to a new york congressman he said of mcclellan --i am amazed of his inhumanity. he has been of the instance or humanity of a great man. another correspondent praising himself and criticizing mcclellan. does notnding general know what leadership is or if he does he is indisposed to acknowledge it. i think mcclellan is the most trifling soldier yet. see hooker's internal feelings were changing or intensifying. he was not one of the legions of loyalists in the army. he continually tried for promotions. senatorscontinually to and the white house. we have a letter written to oregon. this is typical of the others we can assume that not only did he promote his own accomplishments but denigrated others. thating of the commanders surrounded him in the army of the potomac he told nesmith i would rather cut down trees than serve in the army with these people exercise command. he would continue on. there were a love threats like this from officers in the company. he would continue on. do you want to stand up again, see if we can get it to change? [laughter] [applause] >> he has the real controller. john: we are just kind of on by the whole thing, are we not? hadhe battle of antietam he risen to the command of the first corps of the army of the potomac. there was tremendous turmoil and change in the way of manassas. he took what is known as the first corps onto the battlefield at antietam. antietamr saw him at saying he had rather confident cheeks that reveal him as a blushing girl. he looked up mostly he had been painted. they are a continual part of his visage messaged -- mentioned by almost everyone. this continued the perception influences under the of alcohol. i can find no evidence of that is true. at antietam here again exhibited aggression. on the night of the 16th of september he was order to cross antietam creek and move towards what we now know as the northwood. he did so energetically. it did it so energetically that he entangled his men almost among the confederates. to the point when the sun rose the next morning the lines were so close together that he had no choice but to simply go forth. frommoved any flexibility the equation by being overly aggressive that night. unquestioneds wrote one of his officers who admired him. -- has not shown himself as a tactician. he would be wounded at antietam. i am not sure that the story is quite recognize how limiting his active aggression -- act of aggression putting his men so close to the confederate line was for the union army. some of his fellow officers in the army certainly recognize that. said i should fear his prudence that the own to be done is pitch in and fight. those words when you and i are at may 1.iguratively after the battle of antietam he spent weeks in washington recovering. it was at this time with full access to powerbrokers that he laid the foundation politically for his future rise to commander of the army of the potomac. he did not engage in any conversations are discussions about philosophy or policy. he confined himself to topics of dilatory topics. of the as the quality peers in commanders with whom he served. once back in the field he continued his ways under burnside. a november 18 when his campaign was rumbling towards a river and had arrived at that river he to burnsideter not suggesting a different policy but to edwin stanton. he does not denigrate him he implied a different route. he is unsuccessful in altering the union plan. he would spend the next two months engineering that only his own rise but burnside's paul -- fall. the enemy he wrote at this time seemed to have confident -- counted on the delay. speaking derisively of mcclellan. have never failed in their calculation predicting the implication that burnside would fail similarly again. so, those of you who man a organization you have conversations about the people you work with and manage. we all do. sometimes we speak i charitably of them perhaps. one of the things i think we have all learned early is that if you are in a position of authority you may have those conversations and they may be necessary to your organization to have those kind of frank conversations. you do not have been with people below you. you discredit yourself as a leader as soon as that happens. as one who served and the third core who knew him well said he was a easy talker and was custom to criticism freely. even and the presence of the conduct of his affairs. when it concerns himself he indulges in boasting. amongnnot reckon modesty his purchase. of all these men who would become a enemy of him when called him a man more dangerous. he was certainly unprincipled and would begin to pull down the men. characteristics of ham is that most of the boasting we have about him or that he engaged in was forward-looking boasting. ambitious people, people of accomplishment, i think we expect them to find subtle ways if not explicit ways to boast about their accomplishments. the most dangerous kind of --sting his perspective prospective boasting. the claim what your success will look like. was his favorite kind of boasting. when henry benton talked about confronting robert e. lee he said he did not intend to defeat him the intended to bank him entirely. with his command of the army of the potomac he would engage in retrospective criticism of his peers and superiors with forward thinking boasting as his own intentions and accomplishments. -- i am going to sprinkle these through because they are so wonderful. he wrote the luminous after the asleep olume numeral unburdened himself by the match about the people he served with. maybe his favorite target of all was covered. he said he was always a woman among the troops. not born and petticoats but he ought to have been and he should wear them every day. -- he is going to burst into tears. i may safely say that i consider him loyal but a asked. i have no wish to dispute his claim but his brain is the larger than a hickory and not fit for command. what i love about that is not but thatry met comment he has no wish to disturb his repute in anyways. he often did this. why did he do this? i think as all of us are students of human behavior he believed there would be a gain for him. certainly it turned out there probably was. he was probably the most successful in the united states military during the civil war. his efforts got him a command. that is that the way he would have explained what he did. , again in a letter to samuel bates. i was pronounced in my opinion for the sake of the cause and the country. there is no tell feelings towards the person or party implicated or in any way reflecting on their merit. simply to have the attention of the authorities called into subject and that mistakes may be remedied. i was too earnestly and the war to look at people privately or silently. he did all this utterly regardless of any affluence and may have on myself. few phrases one begins with b and ends with s. failure on the battlefield, it doomed her inside. when burnside was relieved after wasary of 1863, hooker given command. humiliatetask was to ambrose. he had written an presented to the president general orders which called for the dismissal and other several leading officers in the army. this order had never been issued. hooker founded in the papers after he took command. later -- inbed it the week or two i have availed myself of saying in the -- sending this to the new york press. which made the author more conspicuous than he ever had been before. subsequently president lincoln inquired about how the order that out. when i said it was through my own agency and i considered it a great wrong to the author in withholding it to the public. [laughter] lincoln knew with his ways and pointed him to command despite his ways. the famousiliar with letter that lincoln wrote in which he says i ask you for military success. else he wrote.ng i believe you to be a brave and skillful soldier. i also believe you do not mix politics of your profession. that is a welcome respite by the way. something that was important to lincoln for sure. you have confidence in yourself which is valuable. doesre ambitious which good rather than harm. view, ifho was, in my you want to learn how to manage difficult people read his papers. topic number one in every business for america. with magical in dealing difficult people. that faces shows , was not one1863 of successful rehabilitating a army that was without question in crisis. after the relief of mcclellan and burnside. after the defeat of fredericksburg. and i think the evidence suggests this, hooker walked into a army that was afterly as grumbly as any the revolutionary flag. for the first time soldiers felt widely that their efforts have been wasted. wrote i am alive in a war withbition and thousands upon thousands being killed or crippled for life. for what? another soldier in the army and are updated a officer -- interrupted a officer same joy would be appreciated on any terms. while these were not universal opinions they were certainly widely held in the army. all of this despair and these onbts bracketed the issue january 1, 1863 of the emancipation proclamation. that was the order than anymore attention in american history and more debate and controversy. all of these things, this totroversy itself -- mine the army was either ambivalent or opposed to the emancipation proclamation because they felt it would make their job harder by enriching the southerners. , the tunnel that surrounded the army at the time. one man said this is a that switch marsh them with perfect audacity. said some of us have forgotten the distinction between a good government and a sometimes corrupt agency. with our personal indignation we have lost sight of the moment of our principles. the sources of discontent within the army went way beyond the defeat on the battlefield. the war by 1863 was not only going badly and virginia but it was going reasonably well elsewhere for the union cause. it was changing dramatically. the breadth of their complaints is also astonishing. many had not been paid in months. the families at home or dependent upon those little incomes. the middle of winter where physical hardships are at the greatest. they were dissatisfied with leadership. why cannot we have generalship that would put us at a equal footing of our enemy? there was a simple disruption that comes with constant change. of the 19 division commanders that had been with the army only five were left. left seem to inspire little confidence. tremendous pining for the good old days of mcclellan. this changed rather rapidly. desire forertainly a stability once again and mcclellan certainly represented that. that its a perception had been meddled with by politicians in washington. alexander webb wrote that paul -- fall how many people have --n done in washington have there ever been such idiots? i despise them more than the rebels. government more intensely than i do the rebels. of course the emancipation -- the question of black troops coming into the field was a subject of debate. between the condition of the army and the instability of the time and the immense union war effort. how it should be done and the , all ofact of failure these left the army in a dire position. perhaps the greatest threat to the army also would prove to offer the foundation for recovery. we look at the winter of 1862 and 1863 as a time of calm. i physical level it was. there was tremendous transformation, a tremendous burgeoning within the army of the potomac. that burgeoning came as a from an not just appointment, or the emancipation proclamation, but the rise of the northern peace party. just as robert e. lee galvanized the union army after the second i would argue the most important thing of going to maryland and confronting the confederates by antietam creek was robert e. lee. doing the one thing that would motivate them up off their backside and out into the field again by crossing into the north. another external force rose up. because the army to begin to see unit with acohesive various pacific -- very specific goal. a number of elections were held in the spring and 1863. that happenedues in new jersey and in connecticut where they would win elections or threaten to win elections extensively. forcepperheads became a against which the army began to coalesce. these cowardly traitors and scoundrels are offering to take the musket and help us. they tread like midnight assassins to step us in the back. for dozens ofg men each day. if they do not keep on i wonder if our own arms will take these cowardly skunks. the copperheads, many of them advocated for these. many advocated for a prosecution of the war that most high commanders would have agreed with one year before. slavery out of it. southerners will be our countrymen again. bring them back there is a policy of conciliation. this was a difference. the difference was the copperheads wanted peace. the copperheads opposed the success of the army. with the army and the field they could not accept that as a valid view. the army and the field rallied against this force. he had nothing to do with it. as the debate evil -- evolved opposition to the government , emancipation proclamation, the treatment of civilians, the method of prosecuting the war. opposition to the government policy became opposition to the war. that was not the case when mcclellan was leading. when the army engage freely and the debate over the policy that guided the war. who has obscured his political inclinations, who had declined to engage in the debate over the war. and thence on the issue momentum that these issues had and the public press freedom the army to express and coalesce around a identity and a determination that it's effort would not be wasted. it would be justified by prosecuting the war. even when many members of the army disagreed with the specific policy they came to see opposition of that policy by the popular center as opposition to the war. happenedd not have probably under mcclellan. because hooker detached himself from that effort of the war effort the union soldiers in the army became a political force with a identity of their own. i would argue that when you see of soldiers voting for abraham lincoln in 1864 the wasdation for that change not founded in the campaign for president and the month leading up to the election. the foundation for that devotion to the president and his continued support for the war in the winter of 1862 and 1863. under his watch. he made no effort to inhibit this. ultimately he benefited from a tremendously as did the union war effort. how did the army received hooker? somewhat moderately. his ascension to command came as chief ofointment staff daniel butterfield. butterfield was widely disrespected by professional soldiers in the army. he was the fastest rising civilian soldier in the army of the potomac. he had been committed malicious .n 1861 with no military experience whatsoever. it would from regimental command up to court command in one year. wide idea that this did not happen. the other men who seem to be in his special affections was daniel. another nonprofessional soldier who had been rising rapidly. generally the army itself neither cheered or complain. people seem indifferent to the matter. despite the debates we are not entitled to comments on anyone. that is a characteristic that would continue until the end of the war. the army never intended to identify with individuals. unlike the army of northern virginia which identified holy with robert e. lee. the army of the potomac identify with himself. someone from new york wrote after his appointment after carrying a heavy load on the hill he has the time to -- [laughter] hope.was there was still the question of the army itself. he gave the most intention to those that he could affect. he instituted a number of reforms that are well known and famous to most of you. he attended to the physical condition of his troops. one of the most important figures in american military history instituted a series of physical improvements to those that seem so fundamental us today. they fundamentally changed how the army functions during times in cap. 1863 that they may have been under fire for a mostly entire year. his functioning army camp was very important. one of the very few people who hooker singled out for praise is john reynolds. he actually says letterman deserves a letter of credit. finally all of these basic things that we have come to see often with the rates of this and terry were dramatic. the incidence of desertion dropped dramatically. the food quality increase. fresh bread, potatoes, vegetables, all of that came into the army. i likeishman wrote on this more great we get more potatoes in a week than we did in a month. furlough on a practice that made lincoln very nervous. soldiers would never come back. he issued whiskey. one soldier said he and his staff devote a great time to inspect in this. famous innovation of probably the least important. institution of each core having their own distinctive symbol. he did that largely for negative reasons. that was so the stragglers could be identified as to where they had come from. then be sent back to the command. in fact that turned up to be a very positive things. soldiers became very proud of these badges. it was in fact instituted largely for negative reasons. he instituted a series of reviews and allowed a army to see itself as a powerful tool with commanders. we think about these reviews. ofcoln came down and april of the entireiew army over the course of several days. the greatest value of other of you was not with lincoln but with the army scene itself. reinforcing the idea that they had. one soldier said after seeing this opportunity of not seeing our army as i had this last week. i cannot help but conclude that the army of the potomac is a collection of fine troops did i believe that they will come at it will be a prepping for us to have served in his army. that was a quote written directly after one of these reviews. another soldier so there is growing confidence in this general. he is a natural winner. spirits this hopeful which now characterizes the army. hooker had a number of advantages. this was the largest amount of why the army had seen in over one year. the first extended amount of quiet the army had seen. he also has some advantages. the high command of the army had .een purged, if you will, it is very interesting and ironic that the greatest wasntage joseph hooker had that he did not have himself within the army. [laughter] he did not enter the political fray or the political tone that characterize mcclellan's command. country army and the were becoming, despite the rise of the copperheads and the deep divide it became ever more accustomed to and accepting of the more radical measures of the war. one of the most interesting things that i found was in january of 1863 after the emancipation proclamation it is hard to find a letter written from the army of the potomac that does not mention the emancipation proclamation. , jamie ray ofter 1864 it isuary of hard to find a letter with a issue anywhere. just like any other social change in america where there is tremendous debate and anticipation. ofremendous uproar implementation and then a gradual acceptance. we have seen that in our own life. we have seen the pattern of exactly that in the last several years. with social issues in our own society. confidence in the government and the respect for it is reestablished as the soldiers involved in the controversy. that is a important point. the soldiers became intensely engaged in the political context of the war. i believe that the army of 1861 probably -- i would argue with the most politically aware army that we ever sent out into the field. they knew why they were there. they knew what was at stake, they knew what the world was changing. hooker still had to fight a battle. he still had to win a campaign. after all that is what he was therefore. of course, we are not going to get into a tremendous discussion on the campaign. you can read about that and summary pieces. hooker engage in attorney movement against lee. on april 30, 1863, even george gordon made saw the moment. the army wasay going to march. [laughter] [applause] thank you. you can put that on your resume this triumph the moment -- triumphant moment. he boasted of this moment. he said not retrospectively but prospectively. must gloriously fly, .e issued a address to his army a mixture of unease enjoy follow this. they saw the success that they had upon them. move up then began to the roads leading from chancellorsville. times --en tried three you are just thinking at this time. the army moves out from chancellorsville on the roads to come to the confederates. then he stops. this type solid line around the intersection. you can see that there. i do not want to get into a critique of that. other than to suggest a couple of things. whether or not this was the right thing to do many argue it was his plan all along. i do not see the evidence of that myself. the primary thing that i would established a surprise. virtually all of his chaininates not down the but mead and slocum and governor warren who helped plan the campaign. they said if this was the plan all along it was one he had kept to himself. -- combined with the posting boasting of what he would do to robert e. lee. not defeat him but bag him. the decision to pull back into the position are run chancellorsville, regardless of its merit reflected a you can't surprise her people like that, and expect them to embrace what you are doing when it seems to them exactly opposite of everything you have said that you were going to do. warren would write of this moment, we went forward filled with high hope and courage and a thought a great victory was to be hours. ours.be we hesitated, we wavered, retired. that force which had just turned us back seemed to me just made for us to crush. i know we could have done it. how few are the minds that comprehend things as they are, not as they seem. men of mind way the responsibility before they engage, and in the hour of trial they are equal to the occasion. they were called away from danger power for the reality. i feel today that spirit of baffled hopes. man who was in hooker's inner circle. it is just an interesting ,bservation, that he implies and that mead more explicitly articulates this idea that nothing inspires conservatism, with a little see, not a big see c.with a little c, not a big than thee to boast, responsibility of actually making it happen. so over time, we almost all a learn not to do that, and it was not something that hooker learned, as well. few would be defeated at chancellorsville by a force that was about half of his size. he was declared a great success. he would labeling for the defeat wont,ers, which was his of course. he laid thely, blame on the union of 11th core committed by oliver otis howard, whomhighest soldier hooker came to despise above all others. much of the spend rest of his life taking every opportunity he could to diminish howard in significant ways. the ultimate impact of chancellorsville on the new -- on the union war effort, you would think after that much march to fredericksburg, that it crushing defeat against a force half your size would have caused the union war effort and the army of the potomac to just go, holy cow. say?will the country what did the country say? not much. not much. this perfect confederate victory moved the needle hardly at all. in many ways, it demonstrates, chancellorsville it has internal importance in virginia and obviously opened the way for lee's first invasion of the north, demonstrated that this war had become so big and so complicated that a single defeat , or victory anywhere in this war, could only move the needle so much. -- no one was more frustrated by that fact than robert e lee, who saw the virtually, with minimal troops at chancellorsville. hooker, of course, would blame others. stoneman, and he would do it in nightly form as he got in ugly form as he got older. poker would continuing command after the battle of chancellorsville, and ultimately be removed from command at his own request just a couple of days before they battle of gettysburg, over a rather piddly dispute over the distribution of troops at harker -- troops at harpers ferry before gettysburg. he offered his resignation and lincoln said, ok. see you later. resign, he asked to be relieved and was relieved from command of the army of the potomac. a pall the army under of disappointment. that hooker disappointed all of his friends by failing to show his fighting qualities in a pinch. and that is how it has come down over time. but that failure is exacerbated by the verbiage that surrounded it. and it is an abject lesson in them virtues of modesty and the perils of boastfulness, for sure. now, the army continued on. thatne of the things interests me very much and is of most of the work i do, is the army of the potomac. because it was able to continue on after chancellorsville. there is a diminishment in but hooker'sure, efforts to localize the failure at chancellorsville, with the which was a partially-immigrant group composed by a great many germans and eastern european soldiers, about 40% of the corps was that. ultimately, when an organization organizations survive, in part, by finding internal, localized reasons for that failure rather than accepting the failure as a commentary, on the whole. and that worked very well for the army of potomac after the battle of chancellorsville, where the soldiers of almost every other corps were simply able to dismiss what happened because it was the 11th. because was the 11th. herit no doubt please took that he could depend this on a man he despised, at the same time, oliver otis howard. so you don't see the army sag, as it did after fredericksburg and the much march -- the mod ud march. the story books tell us gettysburg is the turning point of the war, the most important battle of the war. we can all argue whether that is true but the army of the potomac , there is no question that was. for the army of the potomac, maybe not the nation, but for the army of the potomac, ge gettysburg was a turning point, to its owncommitment success, found expression, finally, in victory. this is an army that is a truly wonderful army, wrote one oficer on the eve gettysburg. they have something of the english bulldog in them. you can with them time and again. the next fight they go into, they go in with good spirits again. thate, it has done it is true we have not been victorious but the fault is not in the troops. there never have been men known to fight as this army has fought, even when we knew we were defeated. man will fight when a flush with former victories, but it is only this shattered army that will face the enemy in defeat. and the identity of that army, forced over a few years, came into focus during hooker's command. is just aperhaps, poker's greatest legacy, greatest contribution to the war. there is no arguing, no fromishing, that time january 1863 until may, 1863, as one of the most important eras in the history of the army of the potomac. and i would argue this is the time when the army took on its identity, some degree of structure, that would carry it through much greater struggles to come. would betysburg, poker reassigned to command the 20th corps. were1th and 12 corps sent out to the western theater. ended whenin command oliver otis howard, after mcpherson was killed, received command of that army. hooker said, i am done and offered to be relieved from his position. and then would hold a lesser commands throughout the war and commence a campaign of terrorism in the western theater, as well, against his superiors. he resented sheridan for getting command in virginia as he did. william tecumseh sherman. for the private part of the indignity, hooker wrote of sherman appointing howard over me the would give greatest satisfaction to break my saber over the head of sherman. sherman is crazy. he has no more judgment as a is yet with such men that i places in the army are being filled. in the same letter, he wrote of grants, in december of 1864, " grant is determined to have no officer of ability near him and rank your he unless the senate should interpose our armies will be more and more feebly ."mmanded be restored to some command. he would not be. he would stay in service until 1868, having suffered a stroke in 18 65 and another in 1867. he did get married. his wife lived for years. she died in 1868. go on an war, he would interview to her, giving interviews to pretty much anybody who asked for one. and rhythmically, through the years between 1870 and 1879, the year he died, those interviews would appear in northern newspapers. and while i don't tell us a lot that is historically significant about the events he narrated, they are certainly vivid windows into the psyche of joseph poker. and i would follow -- the hooker.f joseph po those of you who manage have had people like that. know howyou who know, difficult it is to manage a situation like that. but as hooker demonstrated, everyone's in a while a person with those characteristics, who rises into a position that they forre to, unobstructed now, the don't necessarily have to answer to anybody else, can succeed. when come up for a few months in the spring and late winter of 1863, george joseph hooker stopped his backbiting and denigrating of others and focused on the improvement of the army under his command. is hist, as i have said, greatest legacy. i would be glad to take any questions that you have. [applause] >> thank you. you are welcome to defend yourself, if you wish. [laughter] hooker indering about the national hockey league. [applause] >> i would just point out, while i asserted the similarities between will and ambrose burnside, i just detected a similarity between will and hooker, right there. >> was that a name he picked up, early on? ance of a misconstrue on newspaper report, summit he called them fighting joe hooker but there was no, there. hooker a name himself didn't like but he occasionally referred to himself it madeame, but he said him sound like a wagon master or dealer. but yes, this was a transcription error in a newspaper that ultimately led to it. referred hosionally oker as mr. fl hooker, and it was not said in flattery. >> thank you john, for that speech. let's come back at 2:44 the last speech of the afternoon. at 2:40 for the last speech of the afternoon. >> you are watching live civilge of the pamplin war park symposium here on c-span-threes american history tv. we will be back with stephen hood:author of "john bell the rise, fall, and resurrection of a confederate general." >> the portland headlight is the most photographed lighthouse in the country. c-span's american history tv's in maine to learn about this great icon. >> this is portland headlight in maine.

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