enemy's batteries which so long blockaded the Potomac, and advanced some distance into the interior.

When McClellan entered upon his peninsular campaign, General Hooker joined him with his division. In the severe battles which were fought from Williamsburg to Malvern Hills, Hooker and his men did a large share of the fighting, and became noted for their readiness and courage.

At the battle of Antietam, General Hooker commanded a wing of McClellan's army, and for his bearing on that day received great applause. He was He was wounded in the foot during the fight, but remained on the field until the victory was won, which he thus announced to General McClellan :

"A great battle has been fought, and we are victorious. I had the honor to open it yesterday afternoon, and it continued until ten o'clock this morning, when I was wounded and compelled to quit the field. The battle was fought with great violence on both sides. The carnage has been awful. I only regret that I was not permitted to take part in the operations until they were concluded, for I had counted on either capturing their army or driving them into the Potomac. My wound has been painful, but it is not one that will be likely to lay me up. I was shot through the foot."

July 4th, 1862,* and soon after appointed to the brigadier-generalship in the regular army, vacated by the death of General Mansfield, killed at Antietam, with a commission dating from September 20, 1862. On the removal of General Fitz John Porter, General Hooker was appointed to the fifth army corps, the command of which he assumed on the 12th of November, 1862. Subsequently, when the Army of the Potomac was divided by General Burnside into three grand divisions, he was given the command of the centre, composed of the third and fifth army corps. At the battle of Fredericksburg, Hooker's troops, as usual, distinguished themselves by their fighting qualities.

General Hooker is described as "very tall, erect, compactly but not heavily built, extremely muscular, and of great physical endurance; of a light complexion, a fresh, ruddy countenance, full, clear mild eyes, intellectual head, brown hair, slightly tinged with gray-and altogether, one of the most commanding officers in his bearing and appearance in the army." With a social disposition. and unreserved manners, he yields readily to the influence of conviviality, and has thus incurred the censure of the more rigid.

From the gallantry and activity shown by General Hooker on various battle

On Hooker's appointment to the command of the

Army of the Potomac, the President requested that his

commission of major-general of volunteers should date

from May 5, 1862, instead of July 4th, 1862, since the

former was the day of the fight at Williamsburg, in which he had so greatly distinguished himself. † N. Y. Herald.