Editing Joseph Hooker (section)

==Legacy==
Hooker was popularly known as "Fighting Joe" Hooker, a nickname he regretted deeply; he said, "People will think I am a highwayman or a bandit."<ref>"Hooker's Comments on Chancellorsville", ''Battles and Leaders'', Vol. III, p. 217.</ref> When a newspaper dispatch arrived in New York during the Peninsula Campaign, a typographical error changed the entry "Fighting – Joe Hooker Attacks Rebels" to remove the dash and the name stuck.<ref>Foote, p. 234.</ref> Robert E. Lee occasionally referred to him as "Mr. F. J. Hooker" in a mildly sarcastic jab at his opponent.

Hooker's reputation as a hard-drinking ladies' man was established through rumors in the pre-Civil War Army and has been cited by a number of popular histories.<ref>See, for example, Catton, p. 134, "a profane, hard-drinking soldier", and Foote, p. 233.</ref> Biographer Walter H. Hebert describes the general's personal habits as the "subject of much debate"<ref name=Hebert65>Hebert, p. 65.</ref> although there was little debate in the popular opinion of the time. His men parodied Hooker in the popular war song ''Marching Along''. The lines

{{Quote|McClellan's our leader,<br />He's gallant and strong}}

were replaced by

{{Quote|Joe Hooker's our leader,<br />He takes his whiskey strong.<ref name=Hebert65/>}}

Historian [[Stephen W. Sears]], however, states that there is no basis for the claims that Hooker was a heavy drinker or that he was ever intoxicated on the battlefield.<ref>Sears, ''Chancellorsville'', pp. 54–55, 60, 505–506.</ref>

{{anchor|prostitute}}
There is a popular legend that "hooker" as a slang term for a prostitute is derived from his last name<ref>Hebert, p. vii.</ref> because of parties and a lack of military discipline at his headquarters near the [[Murder Bay]] district of Washington, DC. Some versions of the legend claim that the band of prostitutes that followed his division was derisively referred to as "General Hooker's Army" or "Hooker's Brigade".<ref>See, for example, [http://www.loudounhistory.org/history/loudoun-cw-chronology.htm Loudoun County, Virginia, history website].</ref> However, the term "hooker" was used in print as early as 1845, years before Hooker was a public figure,<ref>[http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-hoo4.htm World Wide Words website]</ref> and is likely derived from the concentration of prostitutes around the shipyards and ferry terminal of the [[Lower East Side#Corlear's Hook|Corlear's Hook]] area of [[Manhattan]] in the early to middle 19th century, who came to be referred to as "hookers".<ref>[[Edwin G. Burrows|Burrows, Edwin G.]] & [[Mike Wallace (historian)|Mike Wallace]]. ''[[Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898]]''.  New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. p. 484</ref> The prevalence of the Hooker legend may have been at least partly responsible for the popularity of the term.<ref>[http://www.word-detective.com/052003.html The Word Detective website, May 20, 2003, issue] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080508140613/http://www.word-detective.com/052003.html |date=May 8, 2008 }}.</ref> There is some evidence that an area in Washington, DC, known for prostitution during the Civil War, was referred to as "Hooker's Division". The name was shortened to "The Division" when he spent time there after First Bull Run guarding D.C. against incursion.<ref>[http://ghostsofdc.org/2012/03/29/washingtons-rough-and-tumble-lost-neighborhood-of-murder-bay/ ''Ghosts of D.C.'' website], accessed September 10, 2013.</ref>

There is an [[equestrian statue]] of General Hooker outside the [[Massachusetts State House]] in [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]], and [[Hooker County, Nebraska|Hooker County]] in [[Nebraska]] is named for him.

In Sonoma, where he settled before the Civil War, his historic house near [[Sonoma Plaza]] currently houses a winery office and tasting room, and a thoroughfare in nearby [[Fetters Hot Springs-Agua Caliente, California|Agua Caliente]] is named Hooker Avenue in his honor.
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