terian, but subsequently took orders in the Protestant Episcopal church. Failing health compelled him to retire from the ministry, and he became a bookseller in Philadelphia, also devoting himself to literature. He made Nashotah seminary a residuary legatee, and that institution thus received about $10,000 at his death. His principal works are "The Portion of the Soul" (Philadelphia, 1835); "Popular Infidelity" (1836); "Family Book of Devotion" (1836); "The Uses of Adversity and the Provisions of Consolation" (1846); "Thoughts and Maxims" (1847); and "The Christian Life a Fight of Faith" (1848), and also contributed to various periodicals.
HOOKER, Horace, author, b. in Berlin, Conn., in 1793; d. in Hartford, Conn., 17 Dec, 1864. He was graduated at Yale in 1815, and also studied
at Andover theological seminary. Many years before his death, in connection with Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudet, he essayed the preparation of religious
books for the young. He was for more than twenty years secretary of the Connecticut missionary society, and was for several years chaplain of
the insane retreat at Hartford. As a writer he was distinguished for the elegance and purity of his style. Among his publications are the "Youth's
Book of Natural Theology," and a series of twelve volumes on " Bible History."
HOOKER, Isabella Beecher, philanthropist, b. in Litchfield, Conn., 22 Feb., 1822. She is the youngest daughter of Lyman Beecher, and was educated at her sister Catherine's schools in Cincinnati and Hartford. In 1841 she married John Hooker, a successful lawyer of Hartford, Conn., and ever since has been a careful student of social, political, and religious questions. In middle life she became a convert to spiritualism. Her work in later life developed into a series of “conversations,” which were originally confined to Hartford, but which now extend to New York, Boston, and other cities. Her method consists generally in the reading of a short essay, after which she illustrates the subject by familiar conversation. Mrs. Hooker is well known at the woman's clubs, the meetings of the philanthropic societies, and in quarters where the advocates of woman's rights and the more refined and intelligent believers in spiritualism are accustomed to meet. She has published “Womanhood: its Sanctities and Fidelities” (Boston, 1873).
|
|
HOOKER, Joseph, soldier, b. in Hadley, Mass., 13 Nov., 1814; d. in Garden City. N. Y., 31 Oct., 1879. After a good elementary education he was appointed a cadet in the U. S. military academy, where he was graduated in 1837 with Braxton Bragg, Jubal Early, John Sedgwick, and Edward D. Townsend. He was appointed a 2d lieutenant in the 1st artillery, and after serving in the Florida war was sent with his regiment to the Maine frontier, on account of the disputed boundary controversy. On 1 Nov., 1838, he was promoted to a 1st lieutenancy. After continued service with his regiment, he was appointed adjutant of the military academy, 1 July, 1842, but soon afterward, having been offered the adjutancy of his own regiment, accepted it, and retained it until 11 May, 1846. He served with distinction in the Mexican war from 1846 till 1848, and in the former year was appointed a captain in the adjutant-general's department. He was attached successively to the staffs of Gens. Persifer F. Smith. Thomas L. Hamer, William 0. Butler, and Gideon I. Pillow. He was particularly distinguished in the siege and assault of Monterey, under Gen. Zachary Taylor, and received the brevet of captain. He took part in the movements from Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico, and for his gallantry in a spirited affair at the National bridge on 11 Aug., 1847, was brevetted major. He was favorably mentioned in the despatches announcing the series of actions and victories in the valley of Mexico — Contreras, Churubusco, Molino del Rey, Chapultepec, and the capture of the city. For the decisive action of Chapultepec he received the brevet of lieutenant-colonel, being thus among the very few to whom were given three brevets during the war. After a year's sojourn at the east he was sent, on 9 July, 1849, as assistant adjutant-general to the Division of the Pacific, where he served until 24 Nov., 1851. By regular lineal promotion he had become a captain in his regiment on 29 Oct., 1848; but this post he declined and vacated, since he could not hold both, in order to retain his captaincy in the adjutant-general's department. From 1851 till 1853 he was on leave of absence. Being, like many others, smitten with the “California fever,” he resigned from the army on 21 Feb., 1853, and from that time until 1861 lived a precarious and not very successful life. At first he was a farmer in Sonora county, Cal. In 1858 he was appointed superintendent of military roads in Oregon, and had other government surveying. From 1859 till 1861 he was colonel of California militia, expecting the cloud of war soon to burst. Thus by his needs, his training, and his forecast he was ready to avail himself of the opportunity that soon presented itself to his uncommon military talents. Still young, tall, handsome, cool, brave, and dashing, he was at once a soldier and a general, the beau-ideal of a leader of men. The government made haste to accept his services, which he had promptly offered, and he was appointed on 17 May, 1861, a brigadier-general of volunteers. The actual time of issuing his commission was in August, but it was dated back to give him a claim to higher command. He saw the battle of Bull Run, without participating in it. He was employed in the defences of Washington, 12 Aug., 1861, and then on the eastern shore of the lower Potomac, and was appointed in April, 1862, to the command of the 2d division in the 3d corps, Army of the Potomac, under Heintzelman, and fought in that capacity during the peninsular campaign. He was distinguished at the siege of Yorktown, 5 April to 4 May, and was appointed a major-general of volunteers on the day after the evacuation, 5 May. In the battle of Williamsburg his single division held the whole Confederate army in check, and lost 2,228 men, killed or wounded, while 30,000 National troops looked on and gave no assistance until, when all his men had been engaged, and he was obliged to retire, Kearny and Hancock came to his relief. He was also distinguished at the battles of Fair Oaks, Fraziers Farm, Glendale, and Malvern, where so much depended upon defeating the enemy while the change of base was being executed. At the close of the campaign, Hooker was employed, still as a division commander, in the new movement under Gen. John Pope, against Gen. Lee's Army of
