Prelude to Chancellorsville: Hooker Takes Command
The army has become greatly disorganized. Our troops are rushed about, managed and maneuvered little better than a mob, and discipline is sinking to its lowest ebb. There is a want of unity, accord and confidence in each other, in the general officers, and the Administration. The remedy must begin at Washington. --Brigadier General Gouverneur K. Warren, V Corps, Army of the Potomac
Lee had just achieved his greatest and most one-sided victory of the War. The debacle at Fredericksburg left the South in jubilation and with confident fervor, the North in disarray and anger. Once again a commander of the Army of the Potomac had greatly disappointed Lincoln, the American people, and the Army. This time it was not McClellan, nor was it Pope. Ambrose Burnside, after concocting a feasible strategy for the destruction of Lee's army, had his army nearly decimated after a series of fruitless and suicidal advances against the enemy. Over 17,500 men had fallen at Fredericksburg, 12,000 of those were men in blue. And the end result did not bring a Lee rout but rather a Federal retreat back across the Rappahannock, thus ending yet another offensive movement toward Richmond.
Following the battle, nearly everyone involved were the targets of criticism and blame from outside critics: Burnside, his subordinates, Stanton, Halleck, and, of course, Lincoln. But no one was more distraught over this setback than Lincoln. He had entrusted the Army with yet another commander, and that commander failed miserably. After hearing from Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin, who had visited the battlefield, that it "was not a battle, it was butchery," Lincoln described his emotional position succinctly: "If there is a worse place than hell, I am in it" (Goolrick, 1985, p. 93).
However demoralized the Army and its commander may have been after Fredericksburg, Burnside remained committed to taking the offensive against Lee. But a late January attempt at another offensive failed miserably, and Burnside's critics from within the Army would not let it go without consequence. The most vocal of these was General Joseph Hooker. He referred to the commanding general as incompetent, and told a newspaper outright that the country "needed a dictator" as soon as possible. The two generals battled back and forth with words and threats, but Burnside was too beaten. Lincoln relieved him of command and would later put him in command of the Army of the Ohio. Also relieved were Burnside's three division commanders. Franklin and Sumner were sent elsewhere, Hooker assumed command of the Army of the Potomac.
Latest Articles