November 22, 1863 Today’s letter is written by Isaac Mark to his sister Becca. He begins by telling her that he promises to fulfill her request and write a long letter to her. Most of it is personal anecdotes from home, such as their brother Hiram hoping Mark could get a furlough to come home for Christmas. I chose to focus on a brief mention of General Hooker, who was one of the leaders of the Union forces. Though Abbott only talks about him for a few lines, his comments are pretty great, so I thought it would be interesting to look up some information about Hooker. Towards the end of the letter, Abbott comments that a leading general was at his fort, so naturally he went to look. I included the entirety of Abbott’s comments about encountering Hooker, since I don’t think paraphrasing in this case would do his thoughts justice: “Yesterday old Gen’l Hooker and Stuff were up here at our fort and I went out and stood in the rain about an hour waiting for him to come out so that I could get a squint at him. He came out finally and tell you he is a rare beauty…he is an older man than I had thought he was for his whiskers were as white as wool. But he is a keen looking old fellow and he has given the Rebs good reason to hate the looks of him as much as I did.” Here’s a fun fact: Hooker really wasn’t that old- he was actually only forty-nine. But to a twenty-one year old Abbott, it’s realistic that he would look pretty ancient! This is perhaps one of my favorite quotes from Abbott’s letters. It’s honest, fun, and it isn’t common to read about Civil War leaders from a soldier’s perspective. Typically, you only get the highlights of their military careers. Obviously, that information is still important. I decided to look up Hooker’s Civil War career to learn a bit more about the man Abbott stood out in the rain to see. Hooker started his time in the Civil War leading a segment of General McClellan’s Army of the Potomac. Eventually, he would be promoted to commander of this Army in the earlier part of 1863, following Lincoln’s dismissal of both McClellan and his successor, Major General Ambrose Burnside. During his tenure as leader of the Army of the Potomac, “Hooker improved conditions for the soldiers including food, medical care, and leave.” However, he encountered disagreements and tensions amongst his fellow leaders and following a major loss at the Battle of Chancellorsville, tendered his resignation. This event brings us to why he was in Abbott’s next of the woods. Following his resignation, he transferred, in mid-1863, to the Western Theater and the Army of the Cumberland. This is where Abbott spends his time during the war. In fact, the Civil War Trust notes that Hooker found success at both the Battle of Chattanooga and the Battle of Lookout Mountain. These are battles in which Abbott’s regiment took part! This letter is another great example of why Abbott’s letters are a wonderful addition to Civil War scholarship. His personal views about a fairly prominent general are fun to read and offer up a more real, personal interpretation, rather than the typical cut and dry descriptions found in other sources. Abbott’s thoughts can be perfectly paired with textbooks to give a more thorough understanding of the war. Works Cited: The Civil War Trust: Saving America’s Civil War Battlefields. “Joseph Hooker.” http://www.civilwar.org /education/history/biographies/joseph-hooker.html (accessed March 5, 2014).
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AuthorTessa Wakefield, student intern at the Concordia College Archives, assembled these blog entries in 2013-2014 for the Isaac Mark Abbott Civil War Letters Collection. The posts summarize the content of the letters, interpret Abbott's experiences and place them in the larger context of the Civil War. Archives
March 2014
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