John Bell Hood

Background

John Bell Hood was born on June 1, 1831 in Owingsville, Kentucky, United States. He was third son and fifth child of Doctor John W. and Theodosia (French) Hood.

Education

Against the wishes of his father, who desired Hood to study medicine, he entered West Point in 1849 and was graduated, after an undistinguished career as a cadet, forty-fourth in a class of fifty-two that included Sheridan, McPherson, and Schofield.

Career

After brief garrison duty at Fort Columbus, New York, Hood served two years in California as second lieutenant in the 4th Infantry and was then transferred to Texas, to join the 2nd Cavalry, which was then under the care of its lieutenant-colonel, Robert E. Lee. Wounded in a scouting expedition against marauding Indians in July 1857, Hood was partially incapacitated for two years.

In April 1861 he resigned his commission, joined the Confederate army, and was sent, as first lieutenant, to Yorktown, Virginia, where General John B. Magruder put him in charge of the cavalry attached to his forces. By rapid promotion Hood became brigadier-general on March 2, 1862, and took command of the "Texas Brigade. " These troops, whom he personally led into action at Gaines's Mill, broke the Federal line on June 27, 1862, and won high reputation, which they confirmed by hard, successful fighting at Second Manassas and Sharpsburg (Antietam).

Following the Maryland campaign, Hood was promoted major-general, October 11, 1862, partly at the instance of "Stonewall" Jackson, and his troops became the first division of Longstreet's corps. At Gettysburg, Hood pleaded to be allowed to attempt to turn Round Top, but was ordered to attack up the Emmitsburg road, where he was badly wounded in the arm on the afternoon of July 2. Before he had fully recovered, he rejoined his men, en route to Georgia, and at Chickamauga he distinguished himself while directing Longstreet's corps and three divisions of the Army of Tennessee. Another wound, which necessitated the amputation of his right leg, deprived him of further part in the campaign.

Hood was made lieutenant-general on February 1, 1864, to date from the battle of Chickamauga. Crippled as he was, he went to Dalton, Georgia, a few days later to take command of one of the corps of the army under Joseph E. Johnston. This was the turning-point of his career. Trained to the offensive, he had now to fight under a general who held to the defensive. Successful previously in all his operations, in every battle thereafter he met defeat. Johnston's continued withdrawals from in front of Sherman, coupled with President Davis' distrust of that officer's ability, induced the President to remove Johnston on July 17, 1864, and to put Hood in his place, in the conviction that Hood's experience and inclination would lead him to take the offensive. Hood, with the temporary rank of general, tried to prevail upon Davis to defer the order for Johnston's removal until the impending battle for Atlanta was over, but when Davis refused and Johnston left army headquarters, Hood struck promptly against Sherman on July 20 and 22. Failing to drive back his adversary, he had to submit to a siege in Atlanta, whence he was forced to retire on September 1, after a battle at Jonesboro made it clear that Sherman would soon envelop him. Knowing that he could not successfully resist Sherman with inferior forces on the plains of Georgia, Hood waited only long enough to insure the safe removal of the 34, 000 Federal prisoners at Andersonville.

Then he turned toward Sherman's extended line of communications in the hope that he might cause his opponent to divide his army and to dispatch a force into the mountains where Hood hoped he could attack to advantage. Sherman, however, was strong enough to detach Thomas and Schofield, with a larger force than Hood possessed, while the remainder of the Federal army was being rested preparatory to the march to the sea, which Hood did not anticipate. Rains, the slow arrival of supplies, and the impaired morale of his army kept Hood from striking as early as he had planned. After October 16, when his corps commanders told him the army was in no condition to fight, Hood moved into Tennessee, abandoned the campaign against Sherman, and, amid the misgivings of Davis and of Beauregard, who had been given general supervision of his operations, launched operations against Thomas and Schofield, in the belief that he could defeat them, recruit his army, and move to reenforce Lee in Virginia.

The successive heavy defeats at Franklin, on November 30, and at Nashville, December 15-16, ended this dream. Assuming full responsibility for the failure of his plan, Hood asked to be relieved and on January 23, 1865, said farewell to his troops. He was on his way to the Trans-Mississippi department, with orders to collect troops for the reënforcement of Lee, when the capitulation of the last Confederate army led him to ride into Natchez, Mississippi, and surrender on May 31, 1865. Going into Texas, which he had regarded as his adopted state even before he had command of Texas troops, he was able to make good business connections and soon set himself up as a factor and commission merchant in New Orleans.

He died on June 1, 1831, and was buried in New Orleans.

Achievements

• Hood went down to history as a prominent Confederate Lieutenant General during the American Civil War. He also became known as the youngest officer on either side of the Civil War to independently lead an army, having been promoted to command of the Army of Tennessee at the age of just 33.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Advance and Retreat: Personal Experiences in the United States and Confederate Armies

    (John Bell Hood was one of the most notorious Confederate ...)

  • Australia and the East: Being a Journal Narrative of a Voyage to New South Wales in an Emigrant Ship, with a Residence of Some Months in Sydney and the Bush, and the Route Home by Way of India and Egypt, in the Years 1841 and 1842 (Paperback) - Common

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

Personality

In physique, Hood was commanding and dignified, with ample ability to inspire soldiers. As a commander, he undoubtedly deserved the reputation he won in Virginia as a "fighting general, " an admirable leader of a brigade or a division in action; but if he possessed the higher military qualities, they were marred by an irrepressible rashness. "Hood is a bold fighter, " Lee wrote Davis when the president asked his opinion on the substitution of Hood for Johnston, "I am doubtful as to other qualities necessary. "

Connections

In 1868 Hood married Anna Marie Hennen and seemed in a fair way to a fortune, but unwise ventures soon reduced him to poverty. On August 24, 1879, his wife died, presumably of yellow fever. Hood and several of his family were stricken shortly afterwards, and he and his eldest daughter died on August 30, 1879. He left ten children, among them twins, three weeks old.

Mother:

Theodosia (French) Hood

Spouse:

Anna Marie (Hennen) Hood

Father :

John Wills Hood

Brother:

W.A. Hood

Sister :

Fanny Hood

Sister:

Olivia Keziah Calloway (Hood) Graves

Daughter:

Anna Bell Hood

Daughter:

Anna Gertrude Hood

Daughter:

Odile Musson (Hood) Holland

Daughter:

Lydia Marie Hennen Hood

Daughter:

Lillian Marie Hood Post

Daughter:

Ida Richardson Hood

Daughter:

Ethel Genevieve Hood

Son:

Oswald Hood

Son:

Duncan Norbert Hood

Son:

John Bell Hood

References

• To The Gates of Richmond: The Peninsula Campaign
• Gettysburg--The Second Day (Civil War America)
• The Confederacy's Last Hurrah: Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville
• For Cause & for Country: A Study of the Affair at Spring Hill and the Battle of Franklin
• John Bell Hood: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of a Confederate General
• The Lost Papers of Confederate General John Bell Hood
• John Bell Hood and the War for Southern Independence