A Civil War Biography

John Bell Hood

Born the son of a rural doctor in Owingsville, Kentucky, John Bell Hood was raised in central Kentucky near the town of Mt. Sterling. His love for the adventure of military life is thought to have been founded in the influence of his paternal grandfather Lucas Hood, a crusty veteran of the Indian Wars, and his maternal grandfather James French, a veteran of the Revolutionary War. Against the wishes of his father, Hood enrolled in the United States Military Academy at West point in 1849, graduating in the bottom quartile of his class in 1853.

In October 1855 Hood was promoted to second lieutenant and assigned to the newly formed elite Second Cavalry Regiment at Fort Mason, Texas, commanded by future Confederate generals Col. Albert Sydney Johnston and Lt. Col. Robert E. Lee. In a battle with Indians at Devil's River, Texas on July 20, 1857 Hood received the first of his combat wounds - his left hand was pierced by a Comanche arrow. In September 1860 he received orders to report to West Point to serve as Chief Instructor of Cavalry. Declining the position, Hood remained with the Second Cavalry until April 16, 1861, when he tendered his resignation from the U. S. Army, and soon enlisted in the newly organized Confederate army.

After receiving a commission as a lieutenant, Hood was assigned to the Army of Northern Virginia, where he received several rapid promotions, culminating on March 7, 1862 when he was promoted to brigadier general and placed in command of the renowned Texas Brigade. Hood and his beloved Texans would play prominent roles in Gen. Robert E. Lee's important victories at Gaines' Mill (Seven Days Battles) and Second Manassas during the summer of 1862. The Texas Brigade's heroics in Miller's Cornfield helped save the Confederate left flank at Antietam in September 1862, after which Hood was promoted to major general by his corps commander, Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson.

As a division commander under Gen. James Longstreet , Hood was severely wounded on July 2, 1863 at Gettysburg, forever losing use of his left arm. In September, 1863, Hood was assigned as part of Longstreet's Corps to the Army of Tennessee, reporting for duty at Ringgold, Georgia on September 18, in time to command his division in the Battle of Chickamauga. Hood's division broke the Federal line at the Brotherton farm, leading to the rout of the Union army. Only the heroic rear guard actions of Hood's former West Point instructor Gen. George Thomas saved the Union Army from destruction. During the battle Hood received his second severe wound of the war, resulting in the amputation of his right leg.

Declining retirement after his second severe wounding, Hood, newly promoted to lieutenant general, arrived in Dalton, Georgia on Feb. 4, 1864, and assumed a corps command under newly installed Army of Tennessee commander Gen. Joseph Johnston.

In early May of 1864 Union Gen. William T. Sherman moved began the Atlanta Campaign, and during the next ten weeks advanced over 100 miles to within 17 miles of Atlanta. Hood’s Corps fought significant battles at Resaca and Kennesaw Mountain (Kolb’s Farm) during the Confederate withdrawal.

In July 1864, an increasingly alarmed and frustrated Confederate government, dissatisfied with Johnston’s performance, considered a new commander for the Army of Tennessee. Considering Hood as a replacement, Jefferson Davis solicited the advice of Robert E. Lee, who replied, "...Hood is a good fighter, very industrious on the battlefield, careless off, and I have had no opportunity of judging his action, when the whole responsibility rested upon him. I have a very high opinion of his gallantry, earnestness and zeal. Gen. Hardee has more experience in managing an army. May God give you wisdom to decide in this momentous matter".

With the support of Gen. Braxton Bragg , Davis determined that Hood be promoted to the temporary rank of full general, and on July 17 Hood replaced Johnston as commander of the Army of Tennessee. The Augusta Constitutionalist wrote on July 20, 1864, regarding Hood's replacement of Johnston, "If it means anything it must mean this: Atlanta will not be given up without a fight."

On July 20, Hood launched the first of four unsuccessful attacks designed to break Sherman's siege of Atlanta, attacking the Federals at Peachtree Creek. Hood again attacked Union forces at Decatur (aka The Battle of Atlanta) on July 22, Ezra Church on July 29, and finally at Jonesboro on August 29. The Confederate defeat at Jonesboro resulted in the severing of Atlanta’s sole remaining railroad lifeline, sealing the city’s fate. Saving his army from capture in the surrounded city, Hood evacuated Atlanta on September 2, retreating to Palmetto, Georgia.

Hood’s army spent the early autumn of 1864 harassing Sherman's supply and communications lines in northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama.

In November of 1864 Hood launched his ill-fated invasion of Tennessee, suffering decisive defeats at Franklin on Nov. 30 at the hands of his West Point classmate Gen. John Schofield, and at Nashville on Dec. 16 by his former instructor, Gen. George Thomas. Retreating with the shattered remnants of the Army of Tennessee into northern Mississippi, Hood resigned his command on January 23, 1865, reverting back to his permanent rank of lieutenant general.

During the waning days of the Confederacy, Hood was ordered by Jefferson Davis to travel to Texas and attempt to raise an army. However, learning of the capture of Davis and the surrender of Gen. Kirby Smith in Texas, Hood surrendered to Federal authorities in Natchez, Mississippi on May 31, 1865.

After the war Hood entered the cotton brokerage and insurance businesses in New Orleans. On April 30, 1868 he married native New Orleanian, Anna Marie Hennen and over the next ten years fathered eleven children, including three sets of twins. Hood lost all of his modest fortune during the summer of 1878 due to a yellow fever epidemic that closed the New Orleans Cotton Exchange, and wiped out almost every city insurance company. The following summer, on August 30, 1879, John Bell Hood died of yellow fever within days of his wife and oldest child. His ten orphaned children, all under the age of ten, were left destitute, and were eventually adopted by seven different families in Louisiana, New York, Mississippi, Georgia and Kentucky.

- Biography generously submitted by reader Sam Hood

http://www.johnbellhood.org/index.htm

Return to Biography Index