Friday, January 25, 2008
This Day in the History of Searching for Effective Generals
On this day in 1863, General Joseph Hooker replaced General Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac. Better, but not good enough. One of the South's greatest victories, at Chancellorsville, was against Fighting Joe, whose forces then outnumbered the Army of Northern Virginia 2 to 1. We do have a verbal remnant of his tenure as general of the Army of the Potomac, using the term 'hookers' for prostitutes. The general imported them from D.C. for his men and the grateful troops, knowing what side of the toast the butter was on, started calling them hookers. The name stuck.
Possibly not the historical legacy he was hoping for.
Labels: American Civil War
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 8:03 AM 
