Chancellorsville Hooker's Council of War at Chancellorsville

Andy Cardinal

1st Lieutenant
Forum Host
Joined
Feb 27, 2017
Location
Ohio
I recently watched an interesting Sacred Trust video by Frank O'Reilly:

I think O'Reilly makes some interesting points, and believe this might have been an even bigger factor in the corps commanders' loss of confidence in Hooker than the withdrawal to Chancellorsville on May 1. I also like his point that this was the point where Meade gained some support to be the next commander of the Army of the Potomac.

The only first-hand account that I am familiar with regarding the Council of War is Darius Couch's in Battles and Leaders. Does anyone know of any other accounts from any of the participants regarding the Council of War?
 
I recently watched an interesting Sacred Trust video by Frank O'Reilly:

I think O'Reilly makes some interesting points, and believe this might have been an even bigger factor in the corps commanders' loss of confidence in Hooker than the withdrawal to Chancellorsville on May 1. I also like his point that this was the point where Meade gained some support to be the next commander of the Army of the Potomac.

The only first-hand account that I am familiar with regarding the Council of War is Darius Couch's in Battles and Leaders. Does anyone know of any other accounts from any of the participants regarding the Council of War?
The only first-hand account I've read is Couch's. There are accounts in all the books about the battle. We should check their sources.
 
Last edited:
I'm only aware of Couch's account but I've never studied Chancellorsville in the detail that I have Antietam or Gettysburg. I'd be hard-pressed to believe that his is the only extant record on the matter.

Ryan
 
I think the best secondary account is in Bigelow's history, but I can find no sources other than JCCW testimony. I have not checked the JCCW testimony, so I suppose that is a good place to start.
 
Does Sears only reference Couch in his book? I'd have to pull that one out of storage to look it up.

Ryan
 
Howard in his Autobiography recommends Comte de Paris & Dodge's accounts referring to the council but says next to nothing about it himself.
 
Sources cited in the Blue & Gray special edition (written by O'Reilly):

Marsena Patrick, Inside Lincoln's Army (Sparks) p. 253

Life & Services of Major General Henry W. Slocum, p. 84

Wesley Brainerd, Bridge Building in Wartime, p. 144

Couch's journal, located in the Old Colony Historical Society in Tauton, Massachusetts.

An O'Reilly article entitled "Such Then is the Decision," published in America's Civil War (September 2005), p. 24-25
 
Sources cited in the Blue & Gray special edition (written by O'Reilly):

Marsena Patrick, Inside Lincoln's Army (Sparks) p. 253

Life & Services of Major General Henry W. Slocum, p. 84

Wesley Brainerd, Bridge Building in Wartime, p. 144

Couch's journal, located in the Old Colony Historical Society in Tauton, Massachusetts.

An O'Reilly article entitled "Such Then is the Decision," published in America's Civil War (September 2005), p. 24-25

Marsena Patrick had an opinion on everything. I'm not surprised that he wrote something about it.

Ryan
 
Here is Hookers opinion, and some of the letters back and forth from other folks at the 'council.
pages 184-186 from the Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the ... v.1. United States.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044019375369;view=1up;seq=218
So sorry this is so long, I couldn't figure out how to shorten it to just show the applicable bits. It starts at the end of page 184.
Apparently, Hooker doesn't think it was really a council of war, and disagred that Couch didn't really want to advance that much, because it wasn't practical at that point.
Image1.jpg
Image2.jpg
Image3.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Back
Top