Fighting Joe Hooker
Or the Joe Hooker entrance to the Massachusetts State House, anyways. In a further illustration of the descent of the US into PC madness, MA State Rep. Michelle DuBois (D-Plymouth) is calling for the removal of a sign designating one entrance of the State House as the General Hooker Entrance because it is an “affront ‘to women’s dignity.'”
Oh please. Fightin’ Joe’s last name has been a source of much tittering over the years. (Tittering–can I say that? Or will that trigger Mizz DuBois too?) Some have claimed that his name inspired the slang for “prostitute” but that has long been disproven. Yes, Joe’s moral character was rather dubious, but hardly that bad.
Why did Massachusetts honor Hooker with a statue, and emblazon the entrance to the State House facing said statue with his name? Well, Hooker’s Civil War record was largely creditable, with a few exceptions. He was a very solid division and corps commander, both in the Army of the Potomac and the Army of the Cumberland. His rejuvenation, reorganization, and reform of the Army of the Potomac after the disaster and deep demoralization of the Burnside era was truly remarkable, and laid the foundation for the Army’s eventual triumph.
Hooker’s initial moves in the Chancellorsville Campaign were excellent, and seriously wrong-footed Lee. Then, as Hooker himself said, Joe Hooker “lost confidence in Joe Hooker.” Rather than pushing out of The Wilderness, he stopped his advance and left the initiative to Lee. Lee launched Jackson against Hooker’s right flank, which Oliver Otis “Uh-oh” Howard failed to post properly. Even after Jackson’s stunning flank attack, Hooker could have prevailed, but he made some fatal errors (notably ordering Sickles to withdraw from Hazel Grove, thereby gifting the Confederates with an artillery position that dominated the Union lines, and then withdrawing from an extremely strong position that Lee could not have possibly driven him from) and eventually slunk away from the battlefield.
Ironically, given the location of his statue, Hooker’s biggest flaw was politics. He was an inveterate schemer who attempted to advance himself by pulling down his superiors, in part by saying nasty things about them to politicians.
But all in all, Hooker’s accomplishments were not undeserving of memorialization by his native state. Who else would Massachusetts so honor? Its other sons who reached army command–Ben Butler and Nathaniel P. Banks–were serial disasters as commanders, and only reached and retained their elevated positions because they were prominent Massachusetts politicians. For all his flaws, Hooker far outshone them. (The other Civil War general to have a statue on the State House grounds, Charles Devens, was a rather undistinguished division commander–including ironically in Howard’s XI Corps at Chancellorsville–whose post-war career that culminated in his service as Attorney General in the Hayes administration was actually much more impressive than his war service.)
But service and achievement in America’s greatest historical episode is irrelevant to twits (that’s with an “i”, people) like Rep. DuBois. Their sensitive feelings must come first, history be damned.
This is yet another example of iconoclasm as an assertion of power by those with an agenda. Hooker fought against slavery, and was indeed closely aligned with the Radical Republicans. Perhaps that was merely political opportunism on Hooker’s part, but it definitely went against the grain in the high command of the Army of the Potomac, which was adamantly opposed to waging war on slavery. You’d think that would win Joe some plaudits from Mizz DuBois–but no! His name is an affront to her dignity, and what’s more important than that?
Oh yeah? Portland just changed school names with the word “Lynch” in them. Lynch was a landowner in the 1800’s who donated land for the schools to be built. But no matter, he is to be disappeared. They’re also considering renaming Jefferson High School for all the expected reasons, of course. Maybe we should just what NYC does for schools and just number everything. How will (or will) this madness end?
Comment by Howard Roark — March 17, 2018 @ 12:57 pm
@Howard. Can’t do numbering. That’s offensive to the innumerate.
That’s nuttin’. There’s a hospital ward in Fife named after the benefactor family. You get wheeled into The Risk Ward.
Comment by dearieme — March 17, 2018 @ 2:19 pm
@Howard. The insanity is beyond belief. In Houston, Dowling St. has been changed to Emancipation St. because Dick Dowling commanded the Confederates at the Battle of Sabine Pass. I have no objection to an Emancipation Street, but it needn’t be at the expense of Dowling, who was a hero to many Irish Americans. (There’s been a regular commemoration at his monument on the Sunday prior to St. Patrick’s Day since 1905.)
I don’t see how it is possible to keep Houston as the city name, by those standards.
But it gets even weirder. In Alaska a high school that had recently renamed its sports teams the Thunder Bears decided to change it because someone looked in the Urban Dictionary and found that in 2004 someone had defined “thunder bear” to be someone (esp. a Native American) who drinks too much.
Yeah. That’s the first thing that comes into my mind! I bet no one else thought that either. But now these geniuses have made more likely that people will use it as an epithet now.
In Scandinavian languages “Torbjörn” means “thunder bear.” I guess all those old Norsemen were ridiculing Native Alaskans. Who knew?
Good luck with Houston!
Meanwhile, I’m sure the atheists are offended by San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, et al. Religion! Separation of church and state! Eek, eek!
I’m sure Obamagrad is coming soon. I’m only half-joking. Some want to change Jefferson High School to Barack Obama High School since, you know, he’s accomplished so much more.
Comment by Howard Roark — March 17, 2018 @ 6:54 pm
I just realized that I spoke too soon on the numbering idea. Years ago, our management team set up several project teams for a big initiative. We named them Team 1, Team 2, etc. Unfortunately, some people complained that Team 2 implied that they were inferior to Team 1 (and on down the line, of course). We threw up our hands and let them pick colors instead. If I’m not mistaken, I think they had a White Team. Imagine the scandal if done today.
Comment by Howard Roark — March 17, 2018 @ 7:10 pm
Du Bois? Miss Woody complains about a name? Must be a sensitive topic for her…
(French bois = ‘wood’)
Comment by Mark — March 17, 2018 @ 8:39 pm
@Mark–Je sais!
I’m puzzled that Yale hasn’t changed it’s name. He was a slave trader after all. Am I to assume that academics, and even more academic administrators, are a bunch of hypocritical bastards?
Comment by dearieme — March 18, 2018 @ 7:00 am
Good grief. It’s catching! “its name”
Comment by dearieme — March 18, 2018 @ 7:01 am
How about “General Joseph Hooker” Entrance?
Comment by Michael Cosgrove — March 18, 2018 @ 8:25 am
Anyone who has ever played or followed rugby knows that one of the positions is – hooker!
EGADS!
Comment by elmer — March 18, 2018 @ 9:56 am
And what of poor John Lee Hooker? His name gets him deleted twice!
Comment by Tim Newman — March 18, 2018 @ 1:10 pm
Thrice (if you know what a “john” is).
Comment by dearieme — March 18, 2018 @ 1:25 pm
@dearieme–John Hooker has all the bases covered. It’s what economists call “vertical integration.” A how how how how.
Trust me, military appreciation and heroes are thin on the ground in Massachusetts—I’m amazed there’s anything named after a military person.
Comment by The Pilot — March 19, 2018 @ 1:57 pm
@Pilot-The statue went up in 1903. I dunno when the sign over the entrance went up. MA’s denigration of military heroes is ~50 years in the making.
I am also amused that Mizz DuBois is so sexists as to think that “hooker” refers only to women. There are male hookers, and transvestites. Given the plethora of genders (a trend I am sure she celebrates), there is currently probably N>10 genders of hooker now. So why does she believe that the name is an affront to women only?
Clearly this item should be banned as offensive
https://www.amazon.com/T-J-Hooker-Complete-William-Shatner/dp/B06Y3K8ZX9/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1521827484&sr=8-1&keywords=t+j+hooker&dpID=51s74BIi6oL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
Comment by Green as Grass — March 23, 2018 @ 11:52 am