CanadianCanuck
First Sergeant
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2014
Now I'm not the biggest fan of Joe Hooker, I'll say so right off the bat. I think that while he was an aggressive commander and a capable corps leader he was far too bombastic for his own good and bought into the public image of himself which he found he couldn't live up to.
Therefore I think that Fighting Joe was promoted beyond his abilities, which is what led to the very poor performance at Chancellorsville and the sluggish response to the Gettysburg campaign. I think this is well evidenced as when he got to the top commanding the AOP he was confident, cocky almost, and devised a meticulous, well reasoned plan which if implemented would probably have given Lee one hell of a bloody nose. As we all know he seems to have just up and lost his nerve when it really counted, and his lack of decisive action almost lead to debacle during the Gettysburg campaign.
However, the story of his actions after Chancellorsville and Gettysburg paint the picture of a man once again in his element, successfully leading XX Corps at Chattanooga and during the Atlanta campaign.
All in all I think this just shows that Hooker was a victim of the Peter Principle, and the debacle at Chancellorsville doesn't reflect poorly on his abilities overall, just on a sad fact of management.
Therefore I think that Fighting Joe was promoted beyond his abilities, which is what led to the very poor performance at Chancellorsville and the sluggish response to the Gettysburg campaign. I think this is well evidenced as when he got to the top commanding the AOP he was confident, cocky almost, and devised a meticulous, well reasoned plan which if implemented would probably have given Lee one hell of a bloody nose. As we all know he seems to have just up and lost his nerve when it really counted, and his lack of decisive action almost lead to debacle during the Gettysburg campaign.
However, the story of his actions after Chancellorsville and Gettysburg paint the picture of a man once again in his element, successfully leading XX Corps at Chattanooga and during the Atlanta campaign.
All in all I think this just shows that Hooker was a victim of the Peter Principle, and the debacle at Chancellorsville doesn't reflect poorly on his abilities overall, just on a sad fact of management.