HOOKER'S APPOINTMENT AND REMOVAL.

BREAKING UP THE UNION CAMP AT FALMOUTH.

HOOKER'S APPOINTMENT AND REMOVAL.BY CHARLES F. BENJAMIN. #WHEN, after the Mud March $ that succeeded the disaster of Fredericksburg, General Burnside, in a fit of humiliation, telegraphed to Washington requesting, for the second time, to be relieved, the question of his successor was already being considered as a probability. Though stung by the loud call that went up for McClellan from the army that had twice met disaster after part-lug with him, the cabinet were not shaken in .the conclusion that McClellan must not be restored, for the jocund Seward, equally with the patient Lincoln, drew the line at a military dictatorship, such as would be virtually implied by a second restoration, under such pressure. But while firm, the authorities were circumspect, and concluded that it would not be prudent to increase the tension between themselves and a possible praetorian camp by sending an outsider to take the command from Burnside. Subject to this conclusion, General Halleck and Secretary Stanton favored the transfer of Rosecrans, for whom McClellan might be expected to say a good word to supplement his inherent strength as a repeatedly victorious commander; but it was then thought injudicious to put another Western man in command

- The choice being narrowed to the Army of the Potomac, a process of exclusion began. Franklin was under a cloud [see note, p. 216] and was considered out of the question; Sumner had many qualifications, but his age and growing feebleness were beyond remedy; Couch was a possible second, and still more likely third choice; and, briefly, the selection was found to lie among Hooker, Reynolds, and Meade. * The first-named had a strong popular lead, but General Halleck, backed by the Secretary of War contended that there were reasons of an imperative character why he should not be intrusted with an independent command of so high a degree of responsibility. Stress was laid upon the fact that in the dispositions for the attack on Marye's Heights, General Burnside, who at that time could have had no valid motive for jealousy

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# The writer of this paper occupied responsible and confidential positions at the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac and in the War Department.--EDITORS.

$ In his official report of the Rappahannock campaign, General Burnside says: "I made four distinct attempts, between November 9th, 1862, and January 25th, 1863. The first failed for want of pontoons; the second was 'the battle of Fredericksburg; the third was stopped by the President; and the fourth was defeated by the elements or other causes. After the last attempt to move I was, on January 25th, 1863, relieved of the command of the Army of the Potomac." The fourth attempt men tioned by General Burnside has passed into history as the "Hurl March." The plan was to move Franklin's two corps, or the Left Grand Division, to Banks's Ford, where Franklin was to cross and seize the heights on the river road north of the Orange Turnpike. Franklin was to be supported by Hooker and Sumner, with the Center and Right Grand' Divisions. Franklin and Hooker marched from their camps and bivouacked near Banks's Ford on January 20th; but a rain storm set in that evening making the roads impassable for pontoon wagons, and after several attempts to haul the boats to the river by hand the movement was abandoned. The artillery and wagons became mired, and the army, with all of its necessary material, was in fact foot-fast in the soft, clayey soil that abounds in that region. In a dejected mood the army splashed back to its old camps around Falmouth. See also p. 118.-- EDITORS.

* I have been told recently, on hearsay testimony, that Sedgwick was sounded and said he ought not to be appointed because he was a McClellan man. I never heard that Sedgwick was ever proposed as successor to Burnside, and I cannot believe it, knowing the limited though warm regard of Secretary Stanton for him.: Stanton always spoke of Sedgwick as a brave, thoroughgoing soldier, who staid in camp, gave Washington a wide berth, and did not intrigue against his superiors; but I never heard him attribute to Sedgwick such high qualities for a great command as he imputed to some other officers of that army.-- C. F. B.
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