The union of Oregon Senator James Nesmith and California-Massachusetts rancher-soldier Joseph Hooker worked at high levels within the Federal attempts to quell the rebellion of 1861-1865. The two men were not necessarily meant for each other. However, life has twists and turns. The same turns that brought Hooker into the doghouse with such Federal luminaries as Henry Halleck, William T. Sherman, and Winfield Scott brought Hooker into the light with Nesmith, Edward Baker and most conspicuously, Abraham Lincoln.
“FIGHTING JOE”
BEGINNINGS OF A GENERAL
Joseph Hooker was the fifth in his long family line with the name of Joseph. The family emigrated to Wenham, Massachusetts, just north of Salem, in 1698. His grandfather served as a captain of minutemen during the American Revolution. A great uncle had been present at the British surrender at Saratoga in 1777. Hooker’s family had slowly moved west with the years, Joseph raised in Hadley across the Connecticut River from Northampton in western Massachusetts. A graduate of West Point in the class of 1837, Hooker served in the Second Seminole War before moving south to serve in the Mexican War. There is where he gained his reputation as an able officer, serving first as a brigade commissary officer for the politically appointed General Persifor Smith. Soon he was chief of staff for another political appointee, General Thomas L. Hamer, and the 1st Ohio.
MEXICAN ADVENTURES
Not long after the Battle of Monterrey 20 September 1846, Hamer died. Hooker became chief of staff for George Cadwalader to compensate for more lack of experience on the part of another political appointee. After successes in the landing at Vera Cruz, Hooker became the chief of staff for Gideon J. Pillow on a staff including others who figured in Pacific Northwest history such as Gideon Rains (He also would become a general in the Confederate States Army).
Hooker’s time in Mexico showed the aptitude of a young brave officer gaining brevets to lieutenant colonel especially after his experiences at Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City. Following the war, Hooker served as a founding member of the Aztec Club. He also testified on behalf of his commander Gideon Pillow in the tendentious court martial proceedings of Pillow vs Winfield Scott. Hooker did not give evidence critical of Scott’s performance in Mexico, but simply appearing on Pillow’s team, ramifications would evolve with time.
After the war, Hooker was initially sent to Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, but the assignment he really wanted soon came open. Chosen as the Adjutant General for the Pacific Division, Hooker left the east coast along with Persifor Smith on the first steamboat to reach California – appropriately named the California – in early 1849. En route, he spent four months helping the men of the border commission develop the new border between Mexico and the US in California.
CALIFORNIA
He reached Sonoma – the headquarters of the Pacific Division encompassing the entire Pacific frontier – in early June 1849 sharing a house with General Smith, Major Philip Kearney and Captain George Stoneman. The man he relieved was Lieutenant William T. Sherman. In the next several months, Hooker traveled with Smith over the entirety of the Pacific Division’s realm. This was followed by a long stay in Sonoma. Boredom weighed in and he started to drink – not unlike other frontier officers like Grant – with one officer noting he was “going to the dogs”. At the end of November 1851, he was granted a two-year leave of absence. Purchasing a 550-acre ranch near Sonoma, Hooker generated income from having wood cut from his domain.
When his leave of absence finished, Hooker resigned his commission in the active army – 12 December 1853. He became the Sonoma County Overseer of Roads. Hooker also became involved with stories dealing with monies borrowed from fellow West Pointers like Henry Halleck and William Sherman. Failure to pay served as an ember for future dealings with these men for Hooker.
A NEW JOB AND PURPOSE
In the Spring of 1859, Hooker became the Superintendent of Military Roads in Oregon. This is where Hooker and Nesmith first became acquainted. Hooker established a military road from Scottsburg on the lower Umpqua River to California, known as the “Hooker Road”. His efforts were applauded in the print of the Oregon Statesman, voice piece of the Salem Clique of which Nesmith was a primary member, “Much praise for Colonel Hooker”. He went on to begin plans for both a military road between Salem and the port of Astoria as well as a possible road extending up the eastern shore of the Puget Sound.
Nesmith and the Clique, like Hooker, were good Democrats. But the Democratic party was far from a monolithic organization. Joseph Lane, a political appointee as the first territorial governor for Oregon after a successful run as a political general in Mexico, had established a bit of a political machine in the new territory. Responsible for political patronage in the territory, Lane made friends and enemies. At first, the Salem Clique – a group of Oregon Democratically-inclined settlers – and Lane were on the same page. As time went on, disappointment set in on the part of the Clique. Everyone seemed to have their eyes set on the next rung. On the part of Lane, it was either the presidency, itself, or, as it turned out, the vice-presidency.
JAMES NESMITH
James Nesmith was one of those of the Clique who felt he had been left out by Lane. Nesmith could be accounted as a good friend or a just as good hater. Born in New Brunswick but grown up across the border in Maine, the family moved to New Hampshire before moving on to St Charles, Missouri. A member of the Applegate wagon train which included Dr Marcus Whitman returning from the east after salvaging his mission in Walla Walla. Nesmith learned law along the way taking part in imaginary law cases as the wagons made their way west. Their advice helped push him to become a judge with the Provisional Government.
indian affairs and other territorial appointments
During the Cayuse War, Nesmith served as a militia captain, decamping soon after for a successful year in the goldfields of California. The monies gained allowed him to settle comfortably around what is today the town of Rickreall. The money also helped finance other like-minded Democrats in the newly formed Salem Clique.
He played a significant role during the wars between settlers, miner s and Native Americans in southern Oregon. Lane got Nesmith named US Marshal for Oregon Territory in March 1854. In 1857, Lane pushed to have Nesmith named Superintendent for Indian Affairs in both Oregon and Washington Territories. That appointment became blocked in the Senate and Nesmith blamed Lane, “I am inclined to think he has manufactured the things for the purpose of magnifying his efforts on my behalf.” Nesmith became another member of the Clique disenfranchised with the skills and persona of Joseph Lane.
Hooker and Nesmith got along well together with Hooker giving what influence he had behind Nesmith and the Clique.
1860
Slavery stuck its ugly face in Oregon politics at the same time. Oregon was a free state, technically, though Black settlers were not allowed to become part of the Beaver State. In the early 1859s, the main political rivals of the Democratic party, the Whigs, had imploded over the slavery question. One of the splinter successors of the Whigs, what became the Republican party, pushed forward. Oregon politically was mostly Democratically inclined with exceptions like in Portland where the local newspaper, the Oregonian, espoused a Whig like attitude.
Similarly, in the elections leading up to 1860, slavery split the Democratic party, as well. Stephen Douglas, a proponent of States Rights, wanted people in the new territories to decide for themselves to allow slavery or not. Other Democrats, especially in the deep South, saw things differently. More free States meant the long-term possibility of the ending of the peculiar institution. Lane, a native of southern Indiana with longtime roots in the South, was a contemporary of those northern Democrats like Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan known as doughfaces, politicians perceived to be moldable and pliable to Southern interests in return for their own political gains.
Oregon became a state on 14 February 1859 with Lane and Delazon Smith nominated by the Oregon legislature to become the first senators. The two men drew straws to see which would get the longer term as the shorter term finished in 1860 after only 17 days. Smith drew the short straw, and his re-election was blocked by Asahel Bush and the Clique in the legislature. Lane ran as vice president on a southern Democratic ticket with John Breckinridge of Kentucky – vice-president under Buchanan. That left two senate seats up for grabs.
A SENATE SEAT TO FILL
Hooker had spent enough time in Oregon with his road venture to be considered by the Clique, but they eventually coalesced behind Nesmith. The Clique working against men of the Lane wing of the Democratic party with Oregon members of the Republican party to split the senate seats – Nesmith for one seat and Edward Baker, another Californian and former Illinoisan law friend of Lincoln for the other seat. Hooker put his weight behind Nesmith.
With Nesmith and Baker defeating Lane’s forces, Hooker returned to California expecting to be named chairman of the Boundary Commission responsible for demarcating the state line between California and Utah. He, also hoped, Baker could take advantage of his friendship with the President-elect Abraham Lincoln to name Hooker Superintendent of Indian Affairs of Oregon, a position earlier held by Nesmith.
Nesmith proved to be a strong Unionist – as was Hooker – during the ensuing Civil War, as opposed to Lane who basically left politics for his farm near Roseburg, Oregon. He served as an influential member of the Senate Committee for Military Affairs during the war. Secretary of War, Edward Stanton, asked for his help in the oversight of the Federal draft of soldiers in 1863.
Hooker would rise to become one of the most important men in the US as commanding general of the main Federal army, the Army of the Potomac in early 1863. To reach those heights, his friendship with Nesmith played no small role.
RETURN TO THE EAST
But for Hooker, still living in California, he had to think out a way to return to the East Coast if he were to figure in the upcoming war. He helped train a regiment of California militia in hopes of bringing them east. But the Federal army decided the cost to bring California volunteer units east was too much, plus the militia were needed to take the place of the few Regular US forces which did come east.
At the last moment, stopping in at a favorite watering hole in San Francisco run by his friend, Billy Chapman, Hooker revealed his plight. He noted how he wished to be in the East, but lack of funds left him stranded in California. “I’m a West Pointer, as you know, a trained soldier. I could be of use in this struggle, but here I am tied down to a ranch in California, merely because I lack funds to clear off some debts and pay my expenses to Washington.”
billy to the rescue
Billy went to his safe and brought him out a roll of money, “Here’s a thousand, Captain. Take it and go to the front. I wish I could go with you – but I am not quite willing to be a private, and they wouldn’t give a commission to a faro dealer.” Apocryphal story or not, Hooker did come up with money to clear his debts – except for possibly Halleck and Sherman – gaining passage on the steamer St. Louis for Panama. Billy would not live to see his present repaid either literally or in witnessing Hooker’s rise to the top of the Federal command structure in the East. A few months later he was killed by a drunken jockey.
IN COMMAND AGAIN AT LAST
Hooker was always a good letter writer. Many of his letters to James Nesmith are held in the archives of the Oregon Historical Society. One of the first letters Hooker wrote after reaching New York in mid-June 1861 was to Nesmith asking for help in securing a commission. Senator Edward Baker, Nesmith’s Senate partner from Oregon and one of Abraham Lincoln’s closest friends wrote to Lincoln on Hooker’s behalf: “No regular officer of his rank won more renown [in the Mexican War], and no man of any rank showed more gallantry. His testimonials are of the very highest order. I have known him well and add mine. You cannot rely too much on his capacity as a soldier and his loyalty as a man.”
Arriving in Washington, Hooker sent his credentials to the White House. Not content with the backing of Oregon’s two senators, he enlisted Charles Sumner and the rest of the Congressional members of his home state of Massachusetts. Supremely confident in his abilities, Hooker held out for a commission for command of more than a regiment, declining the offer to become the colonel of a Massachusetts regiment then stationed in Washington. He thought his experience and position pointed him to a higher grade.
ATTENTION GAINED?
While the War Department seemed in no hurry to get back in touch with Hooker, his letters did have an effect on another important individual:
“My Dear Sir:
“The inclosed papers of Colonel Joseph Hooker speak for themselves. He desires to have the command of a regiment. Ought he to have it, and can it be done, and how?
“Please consult General Scott, and say if he and you would like Colonel Hooker to have a command”
“Yours truly, A. Lincoln” – letter written to General Joeph Mansfield, Commander of the Department of Washington.
REJECTION BY CONDENSCENSION
Therein lie the rub, “General Scott”. Scott remembered Hooker well. He was not a man to forgive and forget slights endure upon his person. And while Hooker, during the post Mexican War court-martial of his former superior, Gideon Pillow, never said anything derogatory about Smith, just appearing as a witness for Pillow was enough to put Hooker in the doghouse.
Still with no word on the possibility of a recall to action, Hooker rode out with many others of the Washington glitterati to witness the mid-July battle of First Manassas. He saw enough of the battle, coming away with strong opinions which he was only too ready to share with others.
FATEFUL MEETING
Accompanying fellow Aztec Club member and former commander in Mexico, George Cadwalader, presently military commander in Maryland, to a meeting with Lincoln. Introduced by Cadwalader as “Captain” Hooker, Hooker spoke up as Lincoln was turning away.
“Mr. President, I was introduced as Captain Hooker. I am, or was, Lieutenant Colonel Hooker of the Regular Army. When this war broke out I was at home in California, and hastened to make a tender of my services to the Government; but my relation to General Scott, or some other impediment, stands in the way, and I now see no chance of making my military knowledge and experience useful.
I am about to return, but before going I was most anxious to pay my respects to you, Sir, and to express my wish for your personal welfare, and for your success in putting down this rebellion. And while I am about it, Mr. President, I want to say one thing more, and that is, that I was at the battle of Bull Run the other day, and it is neither vanity nor boasting in me to declare that I am a damned sight better General than you, Sir, had on that field.”
REACTION
Lincoln, impressed with Hooker, sat him down and after sharing stories when it was time to take leave, put his hand on Hooker’s shoulder saying, “Colonel – not Lieutenant Colonel – Hooker, stay. I have use for you and a regiment for you to command.” He commented later that evening Hooker ‘had the air of a man of sense and intelligence, who thoroughly believed in himself and who would at least try to make his words good.” Further learning from Hooker’s political allies that he was seeking a position higher than that of regimental command, Lincoln placed his name on a list – fifth out of eleven – for nominees to gain commissions as brigadier general of United States Volunteers. Others on the list included Ulysses Grant, Wiiliam Franklin, Samuel Heintzelman and Illinois political friends Edward Baker and John McClernand. Hooker gained his star on 6 August 1861 with a predate to 17 May.
ONWARD
HOOKER ON A COMET
Hooker went on to show strengths as a commander of troops in the field, rising from brigade commander to division – Hooker wrote several of his letters to Nesmith during his time leading a division in the Peninsula Campaign – to corps and finally rising to command of the Army of the Potomac, the main Federal army involved in fighting in Virginia. His time at the top lasted a quick six months, best known for his defeat at Chancellorsville against a significantly weaker Confederate foe. Being brash, confident – too much so for many – and one to ever blow his horn, Hooker gained as many enemies along the way as those he was able to impress. And there is nothing like a defeat to change the minds of some of those impressed on the way up.
a PIONEER COMES TO WASHINGTON
Senator James Nesmith served as a Unionist during the war, though remaining a die-hard Democrat at heart. With an ex-military background gained fighting Native Americans in the Northwest, Nesmith found himself as a member of the Senate Committee for Military Affairs. Secretary of War, Edward Stanton asked him to help in the oversight of the Federal draft of soldiers in 1863. In addition to the two committees Nesmith served on – Indian Affairs and Public Lands – several times, he was asked to take inspection trips by the Lincoln administration.
chickamauga
Nesmith was on an inspection trip when he was caught up in the dramatic events of 20 September 1863. Probably, he was checking out questions of supply emanating from a lack of respect for the difficulties faced by the Army of the Cumberland. Commanding General William Rosecrans and Stanton were not on the best of terms. Nesmith joined the federal army early in September as they maneuvered their opponents out of Chattanooga in a bold and bloodless coup.
Catching up with Colonel Henry Hodges, the chief quartermaster for the Army of the Cumberland, on September 15, the two headed out to meet up with Rosecrans. Nesmith probably knew Hodges as a young second lieutenant at Vancouver Barracks during the Yakama War.
They met up first with General Gordon Granger at Rossville on the 17th. Granger and Nesmith were old friends dating back to the time Granger came west with the US Regiment of Mounted Rifles in 1849. Nesmith and Hodges then rode on to Rosecrans’s headquarters at Crawfish Spring the next day just south of what would become the battlefield at Chickamauga.
the battle
They remained with Rosecrans until the midday collapse of the Union right on 20 September at which point, they became separated. Writing back to Oregon, he noted in the aftermath of battle he “saw enough of cowardice and imbecility to disgust any … man.” Returning to Washington in early November, he reassured everyone that while the Army of the Cumberland had been defeated, the position taken up at Chattanooga was excellent as were prospects for the future with the army under the new command of U.S. Grant.
He probably provided input into the several Federal officers removed from their positions after the battle. In a letter home to his cousin, Nesmith described another Federal corps commander he encountered, Alexander McCook, “McCook ought to try some other business besides fighting.”
NESMITH PAPERS
Oregon Historical Society has the largest collection of papers left behind by the Pioneer Senator. There are three boxes of letters in which the letters written by Joseph Hooker make up one of the larger folders in the collection. The letters date from 1859 to 1865. Most of the letters are written in Hooker’s fast scrawl, but the later letters were dictated, proof that Hooker was out of the field by that time.
hooker’s letters to nesmith
The letters are all one-way, meaning none of Nesmith’s responses or original letters are included. What we hear through the pages are Hooker’s views, which by the tone and text seem to coincide with his like-minded Democrat. His earliest letters note his opinions regarding the Democrats convention in Eugene regarding the elections of 1860.
His next letters note his move to the East asking for any help Nesmith might provide in securing a position in the army for a man of his unique experiences. (There are several other requests from military men seeking colonelcies in regiments or support in becoming brigadier generals – Phil Sheridan was one as was William B. Hazen, Cuiver Grover – his brother was La Fayette Grover, a fellow member of the Salem Clique, Rufus Ingalls, Alfred Pleasanton, George L. Hartsuff, and Christopher C. Augur – post commander from Fort Hoskins not far from Nesmith’s home in Rickreall,) Many of Hooker’s letters date from the time of the Peninsula Campaign in the spring of 1862. He writes about his men and the actions of his division including his opinion of McClellan as a leader.
later notes
There are two letters later from his time as Northern Commander in Cincinnati. His last letter came at the end of the war before his series of strokes ensued. In this letter – dictated – Hooker commends Nesmith for all of his actions as a senator during the war. Hooker found himself placed in command of the honor guard protecting the body of Abraham Lincoln after his assassination on the way to his final resting place in Springfield, Illinois. It would have been interesting to know what thoughts the two may have discussed at that time. Also, it might have been interesting to know if Nesmith made it to Cincinnati for General Hooker’s wedding 3 October 1865. It was only a few weeks after the wedding when Hooker suffered the first of several strokes impinging greatly on his postwar life.
POSTSCRIPT
NESMITH
Nesmith served out the rest of his term as senator for Oregon until his term ended in 1866. In 1864, Nesmith drifted away from the Union Party. He fell back into the folds of the Democrats by supporting the candidacy of George McClellan for president. Still, he was one of only four Democrats in the Senate to support the 13th Amendment. With Lincoln’s assassination and Andrew Johnson’s elevation, Nesmith found himself pulled in Johnson’s direction. He supported Johnson’s attempts to modify the Republican Congressional Reconstruction policies. This eventually backfired in his postwar re-election campaign in Oregon where Republican Henry Corbett defeated him.
But it was Oregon’s other senator, George Williams, who proved to be a real sticking point with Nesmith. Williams, also a Democratic supporter of Stephen Douglas before the war and a believer in the abolishment of slavery – not a common position among Democrats – drifted into the Union Party with the Civil War. His anti-slavery pushed him into the Republican Party as the war went on. His reward, election as a US senator in 1864. In Washington, Williams joined with the Radical Republicans helping to write both the first Reconstruction Act and the Tenure of Office Act in 1867. These factors placed Williams and Nesmith on totally opposite sides during the administration of Andrew Johnson. Williams voted to impeach Johnson while Nesmith did not.
end of senate term
As Nesmith was about to return to Oregon, with his Senate term ending, rewarding his President Johnson nominated Nesmith to become the ambassador to Austria-Hungary as a reward for political support he received. The Senate committee overseeing the nomination, with Williams playing a significant role, declined to confirm the appointment.
Nesmith would return to Congress in 1873 to replace his nephew Joseph G. Wilson who died in office. Nesmith teamed up with Corbett to block the nomination of Williams by President Grant as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Revenge best served cold. The old Pioneer died on his farm back in Rickreall in 1888.
hOOKER
The end of the Civil War found the meteoric career of Joseph Hooker puttering out. Just before Gettysburg, Henry Halleck managed to frustrate Hooker into offering his resignation. Given another chance by Lincoln to command troops sent west to reinforce Union forces after their defeat at Chickamauga, Hooker served as a competent commander at Chattanooga and during the Atlanta Campaign. He had the misfortune of having William T. Sherman as his commander, however. Passed over for a promotion just before Atlanta fell, Hooker again resigned, something Sherman quickly accepted, as well.
Hooker gained command of the Northern Department – Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. He moved his command from Columbus to Cincinnati travelling throughout his command to ensure quiet and peace held the floor on the home fronts. Meanwhile, a good Democrat, Hooker nonetheless stumped for the re-election of Lincoln against his one-time superior McClellan, calling Lincoln’s victory in November the greatest victory of the war.
marriage
On 3 October 1865, Hooker – 51 years of age – finally married. Olivia Grosbeck was almost forty. They were able to only enjoy a short time together before “sickness and health” kicked in. Only a few weeks after the marriage at a reception for General Grant in New York in November, Hooker suffered a stroke affecting his right side. He slowly recovered gaining a new command in the summer of 1866 – Department of the Lakes headquartered at Detroit. Another stroke intervened in early 1867 forcing him to take a leave of absence.
Travelling to Europe in the hope of helping his recovery and that of his wife who came down with tuberculosis. Shortly after their return from Europe, she died 15 July 1868. Three months later, Hooker retired from the army for a final time. He remained opinionated during the last years of his life.
His wife’s inheritance left him comfortable during these retirement years. Sherman was still “crazy”. Grant retained “no more moral sense than a dog”. Howard could “command a prayer meeting with a great more ability than he would an army”.
Hooker commissioned James Walker to paint his panorama masterpiece showing Hooker at the center of the battle for Lookout Mountain – it takes up the main wall at the National Park Service Visitor Center auditorium at Point Park on top of the mountain today. Finally dying at the end of October 1879. He and his wife lay buried together in a fine tomb atop a small hill in Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati.