Once more has the
President on his hands the serious problem of finding the right man.
This time the commission was given to General Joseph Hooker. With the
later records before us, it is easy to point out that this selection
also was a blunder. There were better men in the group of
major-generals. Reynolds, Meade, or Hancock would doubtless have made
more effective use of the power of the army of the Potomac, but in
January, 1863, the relative characters and abilities of these generals
were not so easily to be determined. Lincoln's letter to Hooker was
noteworthy, not only in the indication that it gives of Hooker's
character but as an example of the President's width of view and of his
method of coming into the right relation with men. He writes:
"You have confidence in yourself, which is a valuable if not an
indispensable quality.... I think, however, that during General
Burnside's command of the army, you have taken counsel of your
ambition and have thwarted him as much as you could, in which you
did a great wrong to the country and to a most meritorious and
honourable brother officer. I have heard of your recently saying
that both the army and the government needed a dictator. Of course
it was not for this but in spite of it that I have given you the
command.
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