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In the [[Peninsula Campaign]] of 1862, Hooker commanded the 2nd Division of the [[III Corps (Union Army)|III Corps]] and made a good name for himself as a combat leader who handled himself well and aggressively sought out the key points on battlefields. He led his division with distinction at [[Battle of Williamsburg|Williamsburg]] and at [[Battle of Seven Pines|Seven Pines]]. Hooker's division did not play a major role in the [[Seven Days Battles]], although he and fellow division commander [[Phil Kearny]] tried unsuccessfully to urge McClellan to counterattack the Confederates. He chafed at the cautious generalship of McClellan and openly criticized his failure to capture [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]]. Of his commander, Hooker said, "He is not only not a soldier, but he does not know what soldiership is." The Peninsula cemented two further reputations of Hooker's: his devotion to the welfare and morale of his men, and his hard-drinking social life, even on the battlefield.
On July 26, Hooker was promoted to major general, ranked from May 5. During the [[Second Battle of Bull Run]], the III Corps was sent to reinforce [[John Pope (general)|John Pope]]'s [[Army of Virginia]]. Following Second Bull Run, Hooker replaced [[Irvin McDowell]] as commander of the Army of Virginia's III Corps, which soon redesignated the I Corps of the Army of the Potomac. During the Maryland Campaign, Hooker led the I Corps at [[Battle of South Mountain|South Mountain]] and at Antietam, his corps launched the first assault of the bloodiest day in American history, driving south into the corps of [[Lt. Gen. (CSA)|Lt. Gen.]] [[Stonewall Jackson]], where they fought each other to a standstill. Hooker, aggressive and inspiring to his men, left the battle early in the morning with a foot wound. He asserted that the battle would have been a decisive Union victory if he had managed to stay on the field, but General McClellan's caution once again failed the Northern troops and Lee's much smaller army eluded destruction. With his patience at an end, President Lincoln replaced McClellan with Maj. Gen. [[Ambrose Burnside]]. Although Hooker had criticized McClellan persistently, the latter was apparently unaware of it and in early October, shortly before his termination, had recommended that Hooker receive a promotion to brigadier general in the regular army. The War Department promptly acted on this recommendation, and Hooker received his brigadier's commission to rank from September 20. This promotion ensured that he would remain a general after the war was over,
December 1862 [[Battle of Fredericksburg]] was another Union debacle. Upon recovering from his foot wound, Hooker was briefly made commander of [[V Corps (Union Army)|V Corps]] but was then promoted to "Grand Division" command, with a command that consisted of both III and V Corps. Hooker derided Burnside's plan to assault the fortified heights behind the city, deeming them "preposterous". His Grand Division (particularly V Corps) suffered serious losses in fourteen futile assaults ordered by Burnside over Hooker's protests. Burnside followed up this battle with the humiliating [[Mud March (American Civil War)|Mud March]] in January and Hooker's criticism of his commander bordered on formal insubordination. He described Burnside as a "wretch ... of blundering sacrifice." Burnside planned a wholesale purge of his subordinates, including Hooker, and drafted an order for the president's approval. He stated that Hooker was "unfit to hold an important commission during a crisis like the present." But Lincoln's patience had again run out and he removed Burnside instead.
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Hooker's military career was not ended by his poor performance in the summer of 1863. He went on to regain a reputation as a solid corps commander when he was transferred with the [[XI Corps (Union Army)|XI]] and [[XXII Corps (Union Army)|XII Corps]] of the Army of the Potomac westward to reinforce the [[Army of the Cumberland]] around [[Chattanooga, Tennessee]]. Hooker was in command at the [[Battle of Lookout Mountain]], playing an important role in [[Lieutenant general (United States)|Lt. Gen.]] [[Ulysses S. Grant]]'s decisive victory at the [[Battle of Chattanooga III|Battle of Chattanooga]]. He was brevetted to major general in the [[Regular Army (United States)|regular army]] for his success at Chattanooga, but he was disappointed to find that Grant's official report of the battle credited his friend [[William Tecumseh Sherman]]'s contribution over Hooker's.
Hooker led his corps (now designated the [[XX Corps (Union Army)|XX Corps]]) competently in the 1864 [[Atlanta Campaign]] under Sherman but
After leaving Georgia, Hooker commanded the [[Northern Department (Union Army)|Northern Department]] (comprising the states of [[Michigan]], [[Ohio]], [[Indiana]], and [[Illinois]]), headquartered in [[Cincinnati, Ohio]], from October 1, 1864, until the end of the war.<ref name=Eicher304/> While in Cincinnati he married Olivia Groesbeck, sister of [[U.S. Congressman|Congressman]] [[William S. Groesbeck]].
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