Major General John B. Hood (CSA)

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Major General John Bell Hood (CSA)

Born in Owingsville, Kentucky on 29 June 1831 and a West Point Graduate at the age of 22, John Bell Hood was one of the most rapidly promoted leaders in the Confederate history of the Civil War. After serving in California and Texas for the United States Military, he resigned his commission in April of 1861 to join the Confederacy as a cavalry captain. From there, he was soon promoted to colonel of the Texas 4th Infantry. Thereafter he distinguished himself on a dozen fields, beginning in the Peninsula Campaign and at Second Manassas. At the Battle of Gaines' Mill on June 27, he distinguished himself by leading his brigade in a charge that broke the Union line - arguably the most successful Confederate performance in the Seven Days Battles. While Hood escaped the battle without an injury, every officer in his brigade was killed or wounded.

He was promoted to major general in 1862 serving with distinction at Sharpsburg and at Fredericksburg. Hood was a significant player at the Battle of Gettysburg, being ordered by Longstreet to attack the Union’s left flank against his own wishes. His command was bloodily blunted by union forces in Devils Den, and finally undone at Little Round Top. Hood was severely wounded in the arm at Gettysburg and was forced to hand off command, and soon thereafter lost a leg at Chickamauga. After some recovery, he was appointed to lieutenant general serving under J.E. Johnston, whom he would surpass in rank in the spring of 1864. Hood conducted the remainder of the Atlanta Campaign with the strong aggressive actions for which he was famous. He launched four major offensives that summer in an attempt to break Sherman's siege of Atlanta, starting almost immediately with an attack along Peachtree Creek; however, all of the offensives failed, with significant Confederate casualties. Finally, on September 2, 1864, Hood evacuated the city of Atlanta, burning as many military supplies and installations as possible.

Hood marched his army into Tennessee where his forces were crippled trying to break through Union breastworks at the Battle of Franklin. His army suffered again at the Battle of Nashville from Union forces lead by General Thomas. Hood was relieved of his rank (at his own request) in January of 1865 and returned to his post as lieutenant general. He desired to take control of the Texas army, but they surrendered before his arrival. In May 1865, Hood gave himself up to Union forces in Natchez, Mississippi. After the war, Hood moved to New Orleans and lived there with his wife and children until he died 30 August 1879 of yellow fever. - Civil War Trust -

John B Hood.jpg
 
Great colorizing to a classic portrait photo. I'm not sure when the original photo of Hood was made, but from his somber expression it would seem to be after his terrible wounds.
 
I would like to use a copy of this for my Camp newsletter. I'm doing an article in October on the Texas Brigade at 2nd Manassas and would like to use it, with attribution, of course. How would I get permission?
 
Yes, that would be great. I would want how you would want the attribution to read. If you're willing to allow that I'll PM my email for the file.
 
Nice! Great job on this one.
I don't think so. He had both his arms, which is why I labelled it Major General, since he would rank Lt. Gen. until after Gettysburg at least.
Actually he never really lost his arm after the wound at Gettysburg, he just wasn't able to move it, or barely so. And three stars on his collar without a wreath would mean he was probably a colonel when this photo was taken.
 
Hood did not lose his arm, although it was severely injured and he did lose some of the use of it. Sam Hood's recent biographies of his famous ancestor, based on private correspondence that was previously unavailable to other biographers, makes clear that the general's disability both from his arm wound at Gettysburg and the loss of his leg at Chickamauga impaired him less than other writers have suggested. The Minie ball was never cast that could kill John Bell Hood; that task required a mosquito.
 
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All 11 of them, including three sets of twins. He didn't marry until 1868; he was making up for lost time.

Mary Chesnut wrote about him convalescing late in the war and said that he got along just fine on crutches, and that he could get around slowly and a little unsteady using just a cane, on a prosthetic leg. (Apparently one made there in Virginia, worked better then one that had been imported for him from France.) He was not the drug-addled shell of a man that some of his enemies made him out to be. And obviously he had no trouble in the, um, domestic theater of endeavor.
 
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I would not be certain that this image was made while he was still a Colonel based on the stars on the collar not having a wreath around them. Robert E Lee also wore three plain stars on the collar of his uniform, and it's possible that Hood took up this practice as well on at least some of his uniforms. Note that the center star is larger than the outer star here, which also appears in some of the Lee portraits. There was a lot of room for individuality in confederate officers' uniforms.
 
Hood did not lose his arm, although it was severely injured and he did lose some of the use of it. Sam Hood's recent biographies of his famous ancestor, based on private correspondence that was previously unavailable to other biographers, makes clear that the general's disability both from his arm wound at Gettysburg and the loss of his leg at Chickamauga impaired him less than other writers have suggested. The Minie ball was never cast that could kill John Bell Hood; that task required a mosquito.
In the alternate history book "Stonewall Goes West", Hood ends up commanding a corps in Jackson's Army of Tennessee, along with Stewart and Polk. Hood finally gives up the ghost in combat. It takes no less than a shell from a parrot rifle to do it, leaving pieces of him here and there. Cleburne assumes command of his corps I believe.
I took the impression that the writer did that as revenge for Franklin and Nashville. Oh well. No harm, no foul.
 
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