Turning point: The road to Appomattox – Part 2: 1863

In January 1863, Abraham Lincoln was determined to improve the fortunes of the Union in its struggle with the secessionist states. Having been dismayed and disappointed by George B McClellan and then by his replacement Ambrose Burnside, he was desperate to find a general who could save the army and thus the Union. He thought he had found the right man for the job in the person of Brigadier General ‘Fighting Joe’ Hooker. A veteran of the Seminole Wars and the Mexican-American War, Hooker had graduated from West Point in 1837 but resigned his commission when snubbed by US Army commander-in-chief Winfield Scott at the beginning of the war. After witnessing the debacle at the First Battle