JOHN

See also:

• BELL
• BELL, ALEXANDER MELVILLE (1819—1905)
• BELL, ANDREW (1753—1832)
• BELL, GEORGE JOSEPH (1770-1843)
• BELL, HENRY (1767-1830)
• BELL, HENRY GLASSFORD (1803-1874)
• BELL, JACOB (1810-1859)
• BELL, JOHN (1691-178o)
• BELL, JOHN (1763-1820)
• BELL, JOHN (1797-1869)
• BELL, ROBERT (1800-1867)
• BELL, SIR CHARLES (1774—1842)

BELL

See also:

• HOOD,
• JOHN BELL HOOD (1831–1879)
• HOOD, SAMUEL HOOD, VISCOUNT (1724–1816)
• HOOD, SIR SAMUEL (1762-1814)
• HOOD, THOMAS (1799-1845)
• HOOD, TOM (1835–1874)

HOOD (1831–1879)  , American soldier, lieut.-general of the Confederate army, was born at Owingsville, Kentucky, in 1831, and graduated from West Point military academy in 1853 . As an officer of the 2nd U.S. cavalry (Colonel Sidney Johnston) he saw service against Indians, and later he was cavalry instructor at West Point . He resigned from the U.S. service in 1861, and became a colonel in the Confederate army . He was soon promoted brigadier-general, and at the battle of Gaines's Mill, where he was wounded, won the brevet of major-general for his gallant conduct . With the famous " Texas brigade " of the Army of Northern Virginia he served throughout the campaign of 1862 . At Gettysburg he commanded one of the divisions of Longstreet's corps, receiving a wound which disabled his arm . With Longstreet he was transferred in the autumn of 1863 to the Army of Tennessee . At the battle of Chickamauga (September l9th, 2oth) Hood was severely wounded again and his leg was amputated, but after six months he returned to duty undaunted . He remained with the Army of Tennessee as a corps commander, and when the general dissatisfaction with the Fabian policy of General J . E . Johnston brought about the removal of that officer, Hood was put in his place with the temporary rank of general . He had won a great reputation as a fighting general, and it was with the distinct understanding that battles were to be fought that he was placed at the head of the Army of Tennessee .

But in spite of skill and courage he was uniformly unsuccessful in the battles around

Atlanta . In the end he had to abandon the place, but he forthwith sought to attack Sherman in another direction, and finally invaded Tennessee . His march was pushed with the greatest energy, but he failed to draw the main body of the enemy after him, and, while Sherman with a picked force made his " March to the Sea," Thomas collected an army to oppose Hood . A severe battle was fought at Franklin on the 3oth of November, and finally Flood was defeated and his army almost annihilated in the battle of Nashville . He was then relieved at his own request (January 23rd, 1865) . After the war he was engaged in business in New Orleans, where he died of yellow fever on the 3oth of August 1879 . His experiences in the Civil War are narrated in his Advance and Retreat (New Orleans, 188o) . Hood's reputation as a bold and energetic leader was well deserved, though his reckless vigour proved but a poor substitute for Johnston's careful husbanding of his strength at this declining stage of the Confederacy .