Charles Edward Hooker (April 9, 1825 – January 8, 1914) was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

Biography

Born in

Union, South Carolina The city of Union is the county seat of Union County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 8,393 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Union Micropolitan Statistical Area (population 28,961 a ...

, Hooker was raised in Laurens District, South Carolina. He attended the common schools and graduated from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

in 1846. He was admitted to the bar in 1848 and commenced practice in

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...

. He served as district attorney of the river district 1850–1854. He served as member of the

Mississippi House of Representatives The Mississippi House of Representatives is the lower house of the Mississippi Legislature, the lawmaking body of the U.S. state of Mississippi. According to the state constitution of 1890, it is to comprise no more than 122 members elected for ...

in 1859. On December 15, 1860, he was dispatched by the state of Mississippi to South Carolina as a secession commissioner. He was described by one Mississippi newspaper as "a fire-eater of the most ultra disunion stripe." He resigned to enter the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...

as a private during the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. He became lieutenant and later captain in the First Regiment of Mississippi Light Artillery, losing an arm at the

siege of Vicksburg The siege of Vicksburg (May 18 – July 4, 1863) was the final major military action in the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of maneuvers, Union Major General Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed th ...

. He was later promoted to the rank of colonel of cavalry. Hooker was elected

Attorney General of Mississippi The attorney general of Mississippi is a statewide elected office in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The attorney general is a constitutional officer responsible for representing state agencies in legal matters, supplying other state officials a ...

in 1865 and the same year was removed with the other officers of the state by the U.S. military authorities. Hooker was again elected to the position in 1868. He resumed the practice of law in

. Hooker was elected as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

to the Forty-fourth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1883). He served as delegate to the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 18 ...

in 1884. Although he had been a strong defender of the Confederacy, he distinguished himself from many Deep South congressman of that era with his opposition to some types of racial discrimination, such as his opposition to efforts to restrict Chinese immigration. Unusual for a southern congressman of that era, Hooker spoke positively about some of the racial change the Civil War had brought, declaring that the former slave had become "a full-fledged American citizen . . . with all the powers, duties, and responsibilities of an intelligent American freeman." Hooker was also one of the few American politicians critical of reforming the Native American policy of the United States by means of destroying tribal sovereignty and allotment of Native American land in severalty. He maintained that allotment would cause citizens of Native American nations to lose their land “and all the proceeds from the sale of it by fraud, force, or violence.” The allotment reforms ultimately were ratified in the

Dawes Act of 1887 The Dawes Act of 1887 (also known as the General Allotment Act or the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887) regulated land rights on tribal territories within the United States. Named after Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, it authorized the P ...

which, as Hooker presaged, resulted in the loss of 86,000,000 acres of Native American territory nationwide between 1887 and 1934. Hooker was elected to the Fiftieth Congress and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1895). Hooker was again elected to the Fifty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1901 – March 3, 1903). He continued the practice of law in

, where he died January 8, 1914. He was interred in Greenwood Cemetery.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Wheeler, Joseph Lt. Gen., and Col. Charles E. Hooker (1899). Vol. XII of ''Confederate Military History''. 12 vols. Ed. Brig. Gen. Clement A. Evans. Atlanta: Confederate Publishing.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hooker, Charles E. 1825 births 1914 deaths 19th-century American lawyers Confederate States Army officers Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Mississippi Harvard Law School alumni Lawyers from Jackson, Mississippi Mississippi attorneys general People from Laurens County, South Carolina People from Union, South Carolina Politicians from Jackson, Mississippi 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives