June 2, 1863, The New York Herald
When General Hooker was before the Congressional committee sundry questions were put to him which accomplished what they were intended to do, and brought out, not the truth, but General Hooker. He was purposely given an opportunity to say to the country, from a high standpoint, whatever he had to say about the war. He was asked about Yorktown. Upon that subject his opinions were positive, and after some preliminary queries he was squarely requested to state what he would have done at Yorktown had he then been in command of the army. He cited the battle of Williamsburg as the indication of what he would have done. He invited the country to judge of his abilities by that battle. There, he said, he had advanced with his single division against a line of works stronger than the line at Yorktown. Here is a military opinion of the relative strength of those two line. Can it be credited that the finest army in the United States is now under the command of a man who is such a tyro in military matters as not to know which of those two lines was the stronger, and not to know that this statement was absurdly false? Well, Gen. Hooker advanced, and this is what came of it: he fought all day, lost seventeen hundred men, and failed – disastrously, miserably failed – to carry the position. That is what he would have done at Yorktown – that is the battle he desires to be known by. With all deference to those who are wise in war, we are of the opinion that any one could do that. Yet such was in reality Gen. Hooker’s part in the great battle by which he first became widely known. Moreover, his battle had been fought in defiance of orders. Now, when a general fights in violation of orders, loses heavily, and does not accomplish his object, it is, or ought to be, a serious mater. Charges were accordingly made out against Gen. Hooker by the [continue reading…]