THE CIVIL WAR: THE TRUE STORY BOOK 1

John Bell Hood

Angry, impulsive, reckless, fearless but brainless. A gambler. Confused. Lacking moral courage. Living in a dream world. An ill-mannered hellion with streaks of wildness and nonconformity. A drinker and drug abuser. A dim thinker. Battered, beaten, discredited and a hopeless cripple. No evidence of mental brilliance. A tragic failure. A sad, pathetic person.

Historians have not been kind to John Bell Hood. A military career marked with early victories unraveled when Hood took the reins of the Army of Tennessee as the Confederacy tottered towards destruction. Confederate casualties mounted under his leadership at Atlanta, Franklin and Nashville. Yet, can a life be simply judged by the course of one year, as historians have done with John Bell Hood?

Born in 1831 in Owingsville, Kentucky, John Bell Hood grew up the son of a wealthy slaveholding physician who routinely held medical classes in the family orchard in Mount Sterling, Kentucky. Rather than follow in his father's footsteps towards medical school, Hood instead garnered an appointment to West Point. Hood recalled: "Doubtless I had inherited this [military] predilection from my grandfathers, who were soldiers under Washington. They were of English origin." As a student, Hood had less than stellar grades, earning average marks in many of his classes. Yet, during the summer military encampments, Hood excelled. Despite a plethora of disciplinary demerits his senior year (196, four shy of expulsion), he earned only a couple during military exercises. Several historians have commented that Hood's average performance at West Point foreshadowed eventual military disaster, an assertion unfounded considering that Braxton Bragg and George McClellan excelled at West Point and Ulysses S. Grant and James Longstreet earned average grades. In the end, Hood graduated ranked 44 out of 52 remaining cadets in 1853.

Upon departure from West Point, Hood accepted an appointment with the 4th Infantry Regiment and spent time in California before he snatched a coveted position with the newly formed 2nd Cavalry. The 2nd Cavalry guarded the frontier in Texas, which afforded Hood an opportunity to engage in combat with a group of Comanche Indians on July 19, 1857 along the North Llano River. During the battle an arrow pierced Hood's hand but he persevered and led his men to victory. In a letter to Colonel Albert Sydney Johnston, Captain Richard Johnston wrote of Hood that "it was a gallant affair and reflects credit not only upon him, but also upon the Regiment of which he is a member." Hood remained stationed in Texas through the rest of the decade, moving around to several different newly-constructed forts. At the end of 1860, West Point offered Hood an appointment to serve as chief of cavalry at the Military Academy. However, the advent of secession across the southern landscape prompted Hood to turn down the prestigious appointment. After resigning his position in the United States Army, Hood returned to Kentucky, only to bemoan the fact that his native state failed to embrace secession. Thus, he adopted Texas as his new home state, which eventually garnered him command of the 4th Texas Infantry when the soldiers rejected Colonel R.T.P. Allen. After several months of drilling and preparing the Texas regiment, Hood earned another promotion to brigadier general over the Texas Brigade on March 3, 1862. As the Texans prepared for a spring military campaign, the regiment presented Hood with the gift of a horse. First Sergeant J.M. Bookman offered the gift and declared: "In you, sir, we recognize the soldier and the gentleman. In you we have found a leader who we are proud to follow - - a commander whom it is a pleasure to obey; and a horse we tender as a slight testimonial of our admiration." The many months of training and the early military engagements forged an unbreakable bond between the Texas Brigade and John Bell Hood. The two names have been synonymous in history ever since.

Hood commanded the Texas Brigade in a serious of brutal fights throughout 1862 and 1863. At Gaines's Mill, Virginia on June 27, 1862, Hood led his men in a frontal assault that produced heavy causalities but ultimately helped General Robert E. Lee dislodge Union commander Major General George Brinton McClellan from the outskirts of Richmond. After the battle, Hood rode amongst the dead and wounded and appeared visibly shaken and sorrowful. Two months later, at Second Manassas, Hood again led the Texans in a spirited charge that assisted in securing another Confederate victory. Again, it came at a heavy price, as Hood lost half of his men. A few weeks later, at Antietam, Maryland, the Texas Brigade attacked again and drove back the Union advance through the bloody Miller cornfield. Once again, Hood's men paid a heavy price in order to prevent a Confederate disaster. Yet, the tenacity and bravery of the soldiers, combined with Hood's strong command skills, earned him a promotion to Major General on October 10, 1862.