John Bell Hood

John Bell Hood (June 1 or June 29, 1831 – August 30, 1879) is a Confederate general during the American Civil War.

Hood has a reputation for bravery and aggressiveness that sometimes borders on recklessness.

Arguably one of the best brigade and division commanders in the Confederate States Army, Hood becomes increasingly ineffective as he is promoted to lead larger, independent commands late in the war, and his career is marred by his decisive defeats leading an army in the Atlanta Campaign and the Franklin-Nashville Campaign.

Hood's education at the United States Military Academy leads to a career as a junior officer in both the infantry and cavalry of the antebellum U.S. Army in California and Texas.

At the start of the Civil War, he offers his services to his adopted state of Texas.

He achieves his reputation for aggressive leadership as a brigade commander in the army of Robert E. Lee during the Seven Days Battles in 1862, after which he is promoted to division command.

He leads a division under James Longstreet in the campaigns of 1862–63.

At the Battle of Gettysburg, he is severely wounded, rendering his left arm useless for the rest of his life.

Transferred with many of Longstreet's troops to the Western Theater, Hood leads a massive assault into a gap in the Union line at the Battle of Chickamauga, but is wounded again, requiring the amputation of his right leg.

Hood returns to field service during the Atlanta Campaign of 1864, and at the age of 33 is promoted to temporary full general and command of the Army of Tennessee at the outskirts of Atlanta.

There, he dissipates his army in a series of bold, but fruitless assaults, and is compelled to evacuate the besieged city.

Leading his men through Alabama and into Tennessee, he severely damages his army by ordering a massive frontal assault at the Battle of Franklin and is decisively defeated at the Battle of Nashville by his former West Point instructor, Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, after which he is relieved of command.

After the war, Hood moves to Louisiana and worked as a cotton broker and in the insurance business.

His business is ruined by a yellow fever epidemic in New Orleans during the winter of 1878–79 and he succumbs to the disease himself, dying just days after his wife and oldest child, leaving ten destitute orphans.

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