Hood's mismanagement of Army of Tennessee

Sorah_45thVA

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Good morning, I am currently reading "The Confederacy's last hurrah" by Wiley sword. Granted hindsight is 20/20, but I still think it had to be widely agreed upon as a bad idea for the army to rely upon Hood given his last six months. Also Why did Beauregard yield so easily to Hood's obvious mismanagement?
 
Good morning, I am currently reading "The Confederacy's last hurrah" by Wiley sword. Granted hindsight is 20/20, but I still think it had to be widely agreed upon as a bad idea for the army to rely upon Hood given his last six months. Also Why did Beauregard yield so easily to Hood's obvious mismanagement?
I have that book, I much enjoy it, BUT...Sword is very biased against Hood, and we have much more info on Hood that dispels, and refutes some of Sword's conclusions of the man.

I would love having Eric Jacobson write a great book on the battle of Nashville!

Kevin Dally
 
I have that book, I much enjoy it, BUT...Sword is very biased against Hood, and we have much more info on Hood that dispels, and refutes some of Sword's conclusions of the man.

I would love having Eric Jacobson write a great book on the battle of Nashville!

Kevin Dally

I was beginning to get that very sense as I read. I read early on in the book a staff officer or two had said the morale of the men at the change of command was somewhat disheartened for they felt Bragg had skillfully managed those retreats with an obvious plan in mind. Id imagine a lot less blood shed would have happened, how about you?
 
Also Why did Beauregard yield so easily to Hood's obvious mismanagement?
Beauregard was caught up in the same "multiple chain of command" problems that had dogged Joe Johnston during the Vicksburg Campaign. Although he was nominally the "theater commander," Hood communicated directly with the President, bypassing Beauregard completely in most cases. Beauregard felt he couldn't really protest, because he never was one of Davis's favorites either. So he basically just did what he could to shuffle resources towards the Army of Tennessee to the best of his ability and based on his limited understanding as to what Hood's plans really were.

BTW, others on this forum will disagree, and of course that's what makes it fun, but I like Wiley Sword and tend to lean towards many of his assessments of Hood, although I will admit I've softened somewhat in reading some of the more recent scholarship on him. Bottom line in my mind...Hood was the perfect example of the "Peter Principle" in action.

Regards,

Mike
 
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Beauregard had no ability to step in and counterman Hood's overall plan. Hood had gotten the rubber stamp on it from Davis, and that is all that mattered. As previously stated, Beauregard was a glorified quartermaster general for Hood at this point, just getting as many supplies assembled in northern Alabama as he could pull together.
 
I kinda like numbers where they are available. Now one can argue with Lawrence Livermore's numbers, but at least his approach was consistent...
Hood AoT Loss Ratios.jpg
 
Beauregard was caught up in the same "multiple chain of command" problems that had dogged Joe Johnston during the Vicksburg Campaign. Although he was nominally the "theater commander," Hood communicated directed with the President, bypassing Beauregard completely in most cases. Beauregard felt he couldn't really protest, because he never was one of Davis's favorites either. So he basically just did what he could to shuffle resources towards the Army of Tennessee to the best of his ability and based on his limited understanding as to what Hood's plans really were.

BTW, others on this forum will disagree, and of course that's what makes it fun, but I like Wiley Sword and tend to lean towards many of his assessments of Hood, although I will admit I've softened somewhat in reading some of the more recent scholarship on him. Bottom line in my mind...Hood was the perfect example of the "Peter Principle" in action.

Regards,

Mike
I think that Sword got it right when Hood was communicating with Richmond after he got to Corinth in January, 1865. I believe Hood was conspiring to keep his position by blaming others, and manipulating the situation to favor himself. His communications prior to crossing out of Tennessee were dismal, and purposely misleading.

Kevin Dally
 
I haven't read that particular book. However, I would say that Jefferson Davis' regard for Hood and in contrast, his dislike for Beauregard, certainly had something to do with keeping Hood in command (or giving him the AOT in the first place after relieving Johnston) while Beauregard was nominally his superior. Furthermore, as pointed out by other posters, the confederate command and control system of appointing department commanders such as Beauregard or Johnston, who did not really have direct command over the armies in their jurisdictions, was flawed, and contributed to ultimate defeat.
 
Hood had fostered a very close relationship with Davis between Gettysburg and Chickamauga. Hood was in Richmond to recover from his Gettysburg wound and that is when the bond was formed. It continued in spring 64 when Hood was being insubordinate and writing letters directly to Davis about Johnston
 
I actually read the book, John Bell Hood: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of a Confederate General, by Stephen Hood. That was an interesting read. From the way it sounds Wiley Sword and many others have mis-represented Hood. The author spent time researching and filling gaps that other authors left, i.e. only taking part of a quote but leaving the part behind that would look favorable on Hood's actions. Its a good, well thought out book and I think it represents Hood more fairly than he has been treated recently.
 
Hood was still a bad general. Way in over his head. I think he couldn't command a corps, let alone an army.. I think he was best suited to a division. I never read of any veteran writing anything good about Hood. They did not care for him. he got men killed. hood's relatives had an agenda in writing the book, so I would not go overboard with it. He was one of those who was suited for higher command. Davis kept Bragg around had outlived his usefulness. The Army of Tennessee was plagued by some bad commanders, men unsuited to lead men into battle. I think losing the use of and the loss of a leg takes a lot out of a person, and they compensate for the loss in other ways. hood was aggressive fighter, but this does not always play well at the level of an army commander.
 
The rank and file of the AOT sang this about General Hood after the defeat at Nashville (to the tune of "Yellow Rose of Texas").

"Oh my feet are torn and bloody, and my heart is full of woe,

I’m going back to Georgia, to find my Uncle Joe,
You may talk about your Beauregard, sing of General Lee,
But the gallant Hood of Texas, played hell in Tennessee.
 
The rank and file of the AOT sang this about General Hood after the defeat at Nashville (to the tune of "Yellow Rose of Texas").

"Oh my feet are torn and bloody, and my heart is full of woe,
I’m going back to Georgia, to find my Uncle Joe,
You may talk about your Beauregard, sing of General Lee,
But the gallant Hood of Texas, played hell in Tennessee.

Actually they didn't.
 
Not a scholar here, but the Texans who organized under him in 1861 kept his name attached to their brigade until the last surviving man died in the 20th century.

John Bell Hood's Texas Brigade, among the most famous infantry units of the War.

They did not hate him, quite the opposite.
 
Not a scholar here, but the Texans who organized under him in 1861 kept his name attached to their brigade until the last surviving man died in the 20th century.
Please don't take my tending to agree with Sword in some cases wrong. I think Hood was unequaled as a brigade and division commander. He was among the best in the ANV. My great-grandfather and his older brother served under him as a part of the 2nd Mississippi in Law's brigade when Hood took over Whiting's old division.
 
Please don't take my tending to agree with Sword in some cases wrong. I think Hood was unequaled as a brigade and division commander. He was among the best in the ANV. My great-grandfather and his older brother served under him as a part of the 2nd Mississippi in Law's brigade when Hood took over Whiting's old division.

Is this fun or what? My grandfather's favorite Crazy Confederate uncle was in the 12th Louisiana under Hood at both Franklin and Nashville.

Uncle Wes survived to tell the tale and lived to about 1925. He was very proud of the experience, so I was told.
 
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