would have required twice the number which either commanded in winning great victories. Captain John Paul Jones was of Scotch birth, a Virginia colonist, who struck one of the first blows in our Revolutionary struggle by knocking down an English naval officer in a ball-room in Norfolk, Virginia, for words spoken derogatory to American women. Our navy will maintain its invincible character so long as his spirit inflames the officers on the bridge and the men behind the guns.

General Horace Porter, soldier and diplomat, has well performed his part in military and civil life, and deserves commendation for his valuable services in matters of great concern: but it is certain that his unselfish and unremitting efforts to discover the burial place of John Paul Jones, and the steps taken to have his remains brought to the country he served so well, have tended to enhance in the minds of our people the value of General Porter's public services, and drawn to him sentiments of affectionate esteem.

Both of these men, John Paul Jones and "Stonewall" Jackson, were great Virginians; Jones a courtier, a dashing favorite of royalty, of statesmen, of martial heroes, and of fortune as well; Jackson, a modest Christian gentleman, who lived the life of an ascetic, not in a desert or in a cell, but before the world, illustrating by sincerity and devotion his unquestioned faith in the beauty of that philosophy, of which Plato wrote, and Milton sang:

"How charming is divine philosophy!

Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose;
But musical as is Apollo's lute,

And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets,
Where no crude surfeit reigns."

President Roosevelt has drawn still nearer to himself many a soldier of our Civil War, men who stood before, as well as

those who stood beside "Stonewall" Jackson, by his recent appointment of Jackson's grandson as a cadet at West Point, where, it is hoped, he will bring to the best of instruction in military science the spirit and genius of his distinguished grandfather.

I have written of General Hooker's failure at Chancellorsville, with no unfriendly feelings toward one who was justly esteemed a most splendid fighter, but as one who desires to treat all the distinguished participants in that unfortunate campaign with fairness, and to permit no favoritism to place undeserved responsibility for errors committed on those who, from first to last, not only performed all prescribed duties faithfully, but went to the extreme of prudence and of strict propriety in urging a policy which would have led to success. That this spirit has prompted the criticism made, the following analysis of his character and recognition of his valuable service will readily show.

General Hooker's forte was that of an aggressive fighter; to strike and to strike first was the natural bent of his character. He exhibited none of that keen watchfulness which enables one to take advantage of an adversary's mistake, to strike a counter and telling blow; if he had, he would not, with the overwhelming force at his command, have permitted "Stonewall" Jackson's flank attack to have ended with less than his destruction. On arriving at Chancellorsville, he reversed the inclination and habits of a lifetime, assumed the defensive, found himself beset with conditions with which he was unacquainted, and to meet which he had neither the skill nor energy required.

His title of "Fighting Joe Hooker" was well won at Williamsburg, Virginia, at South Mountain and Antietam, Maryland, and at Fredericksburg, Virginia. Frederick the Great said, "A general who never made a mistake is one who never fought a battle." It may truthfully be said that

Chancellorsville was General Hooker's one mistake. It should be remembered also that in all his battles except Chancellorsville he executed the instructions of another.

General Hooker's appointment to the command of the Army of the Potomac was earnestly favored by Secretary Chase, and supported by a strong public sentiment; it was opposed by the Secretary of War, Mr. Stanton, and by the Generai-in-chief, General Halleck, and, it is believed, had the corps commanders been consulted not one would have advised it. While there was no change in the opinion of those who doubted the wisdom of his appointment, every one faithfully supported all his efforts, and none more loyally than the corps commanders who saw the most promising prospects for a decisive victory turned into a humiliating defeat, wholly due to his changing from an aggressive to a defensive policy.

General Hooker's army life was marked by many incidents which must have awakened feelings of the most intense satisfaction. One was that of his assignment to the command of the Army of the Potomac, which immediately followed General Burnside's request that Hooker should be dismissed from the rolls of the army. This appointment was an official endorsement of his ability and services and this, too, notwithstanding the biting letter of the President which accompanied it. One sentence of that letter should never have been written. This sentence, the most unfortunate ever spoken or penned by President Lincoln in his official life, in which he justly gained the reputation of being one of the wisest and best rulers in the world's history, is reproduced:

"I think that during General Burnside's command of the army you have taken counsel of your ambition, thwarted him as much as you could, in which you did great wrong to the country and to a most meritorious and honorable brother officer."

Those who best knew the condition of the Army of the Potomac at Falmouth did not credit the charge that Burnside's officers thwarted the plans of the commanding general, or withheld loyal coöperation; they did advise against fruitless efforts; that disasters followed their attempted execution proved the fault of the plans, not that support was withheld.

The President had construed the prudent advice given by General Hooker and other officers of the Army of the Potomac as evidence of insubordination and of culpable negligence, but when he said "I think you thwarted him," and in that belief placed him in command of the army, he indicated his readiness to condone the gravest of military offences the unpardonable sin in war-the withholding of support in action. Probably no event of Hooker's official life gave him greater pleasure than the words of General McClellan, written three days after the battle of Antietam, expressing his high commendation of Hooker's ability and gallantry in action. I quote the latter part of the letter:

"Had you not been wounded when you were, I believe the result of the battle would have been the entire destruction of the rebel army; for I know that with you at its head your corps would have kept on until it gained the main wall. As a slight expression of what I think you merit, I have requested that the brigadier-general's commission rendered vacant by Mansfield's death be given to you."

CHAPTER XXV

SALEM HEIGHTS. THE SIXTEENTH'S LAST BATTLE

T

HERE were thirty two-years' regiments from New York

in the Army of the Potomac (eight of them in the Sixth Corps), whose terms of service were about to expire, when the preliminary orders were issued for the beginning of the Chancellorsville campaign. The superior officers felt some concern as to the willingness of these regiments to engage in battle immediately before the expiration of their term of service. The members of a few regiments had expressed the opinion that they were entitled to be discharged in two years from their enrolment by the State, and, had this construction been accepted, many would have been discharged in April, for tender of service and enrolment in companies had been made as early as the day on which President Lincoln called for troops. The correct view, however, that their term of two years began on the date of their muster into the United States service, was entertained in most of the regiments. That was the opinion of the officers and men of the Sixteenth, and had been since the question was settled on the 11th of August, 1861.

Brigade and division commanders visited certain twoyears' regiments to discuss the subject, and it was proposed to have the Sixteenth addressed. To this proposition, Colonel Seaver stated that such effort was quite unnecessary, for he could assure them that the regiment was willing to go into battle at any time before the actual expiration of their