Dale Fishel
Cadet
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2013
Stephen (Sam) Hood gave me the opportunity to assist in several small ways to the creation of his new book regarding his second cousin Confederate General John Bell Hood. As a direct descendant of a Union soldier (my great grandfather was a member of the 125th Ohio Volunteer Infantry) I initially brought a predictable bias to our discussions relative to the General. Naturally I assumed Sam would do the same. But, with the passage of about five years, examination and transcription of copies of some of the newly recovered records and frequent discussions with Sam I have been able to add significantly to knowledge of General Hood at a personal, military and professional level and see him much differently than I once had. Sam has spent nearly 10 years conducting an exhaustive search of original records, challenging misconceptions while maintaining an unemotional, objective approach throughout the creation of his book. (It ships tomorrow!). I strongly recommend it and ask that interested students of the war read it with an open mind. As a result of the honor of being involved with this effort I have developed a sense of skepticism toward contemporary "non-fiction". We need to challenge opinion, check footnotes and sources and confirm FACTS. Opinion, innuendo and creation of titillating theories may make for good reading, but it makes for poor history. If an author chooses to include theory and opinion it should always be clearly identified as such and conform to known facts.
There's nothing quite like reading and transcribing dozens of letters the gentlemen General Hood wrote to his wife and children to begin to feel you know the man. Some modern authors really got him wrong. He was typical of leaders on both sides of the Civil War who fought for their beliefs to the best of their ability and made huge personal sacrifices in the effort. Unfortunately for him, he was not on the winning side, and like Longstreet, became a convenient whipping post for Lost Cause advocacy. He made his share of mistakes and won his share of victories; didn't they all?!
There's nothing quite like reading and transcribing dozens of letters the gentlemen General Hood wrote to his wife and children to begin to feel you know the man. Some modern authors really got him wrong. He was typical of leaders on both sides of the Civil War who fought for their beliefs to the best of their ability and made huge personal sacrifices in the effort. Unfortunately for him, he was not on the winning side, and like Longstreet, became a convenient whipping post for Lost Cause advocacy. He made his share of mistakes and won his share of victories; didn't they all?!