When General "Fighting Joe" Hooker was appointed commander in chief of the Union army during the Civil War, he endeavored to dispel the impressions of army inaction and incompetence created by his predecessors. Indeed, he once outlined his activities in a report entitled "Headquarters in the saddle."

Lincoln was not entirely pleased with the result. "The trouble with Hooker," he declared with a sigh, "is that he has got his headquarters where his hindquarters ought to be."

[Lincon's Gettysburg Address contains 266 words. By comparison, The Atlanta Journal once noted, a certain federal directive to regulate the price of cabbage contains 26,911 words.]