John Bell Hood: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of a Confederate General

by Hood, Stephen

  Eric A. Jacobson

  Appendix 1

  Excerpt from

  Advance and Retreat, by Gen. John Bell Hood

  (Pages 161, 162, 181, 290, 292, 294 and 297)

  Chapter X

  SIEGE OF ATLANTA—DIFFICULTIES OF THE SITUATION— BATTLE OF THE 20TH OF JULY.

  Notwithstanding the manifold difficulties and trials which beset me at the period I was ordered to relieve General Johnston, and which, because of unbroken silence on my part, have been the occasion of much injustice manifested in my regard, I formed no intention, till the appearance of General Sherman’s Memoirs, to enter fully into the details of the siege of Atlanta, the campaign to the Alabama line, and that which followed into Tennessee.

  A feeling of reluctance to cause heart-burnings within the breast of any Confederate, who fulfilled his duty to the best of his ability, has, hitherto, deterred me from speaking forth the truth. Since, however, military movements with which my name is closely connected, have been freely and publicly discussed by different authors, whose representations have not always been accurate, I feel compelled to give an account of the operations of the Army of Tennessee, whilst under my direction.

  As already mentioned, the order, assigning me to the command of that Army, was received about II p. m., on the 17th of July. My predecessor, unwilling to await even the dawn of day,

  (Page 162)

  issued his farewell order that memorable night. In despite of my repeated and urgent appeals to him to pocket all despatches from Richmond, to leave me in command of my own corps, and to fight the battle for Atlanta, he deserted me the ensuing afternoon. He deserted me in violation of his promise to remain and afford me the advantage of his counsel, whilst I shouldered all responsibility of the contest.

  I reiterate that it is difficult to imagine a commander placed at the head of an Army under more embarrassing circumstances than those against which I was left to contend on the evening of the 18th of July, 1864. I was, comparatively, a stranger to the Army of Tennessee. Moreover General Johnston’s mode of warfare formed so strong a contrast to the tactics and strategy which were practiced in Virginia, where far more satisfactory results were obtained than in the West, that I have become a still more ardent advocate of the Lee and Jackson school. The troops of the Army of Tennessee had for such length of time been subjected to the ruinous policy pursued from Dalton to Atlanta that they were unfitted for united action in pitched battle. They had, in other words, been so long habituated to security behind breastworks that they had become wedded to the “timid defensive” policy, and naturally regarded with distrust a commander likely to initiate offensive operations.

  The senior Corps Commander considered he had been supplanted through my promotion, and thereupon determined to resign, in consequence, I have no doubt, of my application to President Davis to postpone the order transferring to me the command of the Army; he however, altered his decision, and concluded to remain with his corps.

  The evening of the 18th of July found General Johnston comfortably quartered at Macon, whilst McPherson’s and Schofield’s Corps were tearing up the Georgia Railroad, between Stone Mountain and Decatur; Thomas’s Army was hastening preparations to cross Peach Tree creek, within about six miles of Atlanta; and I was busily engaged in hunting up …

  (Page 181)

  to, at least, create a division. The order was promptly and well executed, and our troops succeeded in taking possession of the enemy’s defences in that part of the field. A heavy enfilade fire, however, forced Cheatham to abandon the works he had captured.

  Major General G. W. Smith, perceiving that Cheatham had moved out on his left, and having thoroughly comprehended all the orders relative to the battle, moved gallantly forward with his State troops in support of Cheatham’s attack, but was eventually forced to retire on account of superiority of numbers in his front. The militia, under his leadership, acted with distinction on this occasion, and Georgia has reason to congratulate herself that her troops were under the command of a soldier of the ability and skill of General G. W. Smith.

  Hardee bore off as trophies eight guns and thirteen stands of colors, and, having rectified his line, remained in the presence of the enemy. Cheatham captured five guns and five or six stands of colors.

  Notwithstanding the non-fulfilment of the brilliant result anticipated, the partial success of that day was productive of much benefit to the Army. It greatly improved the morale of the troops, infused new life and fresh hopes, arrested desertions, which had hitherto been numerous, defeated the movement of McPherson and Schofield upon our communications, in that direction, and demonstrated to the foe our determination to abandon no more territory without, at least, a manful effort to retain it.

  I cannot refrain from mentioning the noble and gallant old hero, Major General W. H. S. Walker, who fell at the head of his division whilst bravely leading it into battle on the 22d of July. He was an officer of the old Army, had served with great distinction in the Mexican war, and was generally beloved by officers and men. On the night of the 21 st, shortly before joining in Hardee’s line of march with his troops, he rode by my headquarters, called me aside, and, with characteristic frankness, expressed his appreciation of the grave … .

  (Page 290)

  Headquarters, Six Miles From Nashville” On Franklin Pike, December 7th, 1864 Honorable J. A. Seddon.

  I withdraw my recommendation in favor of the promotion of Major General Cheatham for reasons which I will write more fully.

  “J. B. HOOD, General!’

  Headquarters, Six Miles From Nashville” On Franklin Pike, December 8th, 1864

  Honorable J. A. Seddon, Secretary of War. General G. T. Beauregard, Macon, Ga.

  A good Lieutenant General should be sent here at once to command the corps now commanded by Major General Cheatham. I have no one to recommend for the position.

  “J. B. HOOD, General.”

  Headquarters, Six Miles From Nashville” On Franklin Pike, December 8th, 1864

  Honorable J. A. Seddon.

  Major General Cheatham made a failure on the 30th of November, which will be a lesson to him. I think it best he should remain in his position for the present. I withdraw my telegrams of yesterday and to-day on this subject.

  J. B. HOOD, General.”

  On the 11th of December I wrote the Hon. Mr. Seddon:

  … . Major General Cheatham has frankly confessed the great error of which he was guilty, and attaches much blame to himself. While his error lost so much to the country, it has been a severe lesson to him, by which he will profit in the future. In consideration of this, and of his previous conduct, I think that it is best that he should retain, for the present, the command he now holds…

  The best move in my career as a soldier, I was thus destined to behold come to naught. The discovery that the Army, after a forward march of one hundred and eighty miles, was still, seemingly, unwilling to accept battle unless under the protection of breastworks, caused me to experience grave concern. In my inmost heart I questioned whether or not I would ever succeed in eradicating this evil. It seemed to me I had exhausted every means in the power of one man to remove this stumbling block to the Army of Tennessee. And I will here inquire, in vindication of its fair name, if any intelligent man of that Army supposes one moment that these same troops, one year previous, would, even without orders to attack, have allowed the enemy to pass them at Rocky-faced Ridge, as he did at Spring Hill.

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  CHAPTER XVII

  TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN FRANKLIN NASHVILLE RETREAT— TUPELO RETURN TO RICHMOND SURRENDER AT NATCHEZ, MISSISSIPPI.

  At early dawn the troops were put in motion in the direction of Franklin, marching as rapidly as possible to overtake the enemy before he crossed the Big Harpeth, eighteen miles from Spring Hill. Lieutenant General Lee had crossed Duck river after dark the night previous, and, in order to reach Franklin, was obliged to march a distance of thirty miles. The head of his column arrived at Spring Hi
ll at 9 a. m. on the 30th, and, after a short rest, followed in the wake of the main body.

  A sudden change in sentiment here took place among officers and men: the Army became metamorphosed, as it were, in one night. A general feeling of mortification and disappointment pervaded its ranks. The troops appeared to recognize that a rare opportunity had been totally disregarded, and manifested, seemingly, a determination to retrieve, if possible, the fearful blunder of the previous afternoon and night. The feeling existed which sometimes induces men who have long been wedded to but one policy to look beyond the sphere of their own convictions, and, at least, be willing to make trial of another course of action.

  Stewart’s Corps was first in order of march; Cheatham followed immediately, and Lieutenant General Lee in rear… .

  (Page 294)

  [Cleburne] expressing himself with an enthusiasm which he had never before betrayed in our intercourse, said, “General, I am ready, and have more hope in the final success of our cause than I have had at any time since the first gun was fired.” I replied, “God grant it!” He turned and moved at once toward the head of his Division; a few moments thereafter, he was lost to my sight in the tumult of battle. These last words, spoken to me by this brave and distinguished soldier, I have often recalled; they can never leave my memory, as within forty minutes after he had uttered them, he lay lifeless upon or near the breastworks of the foe.

  The two corps advanced in battle array at about 4 p. m., and soon swept away the first line of the Federals, who were driven back upon the main line. At this moment, resounded a concentrated roar of musketry, which recalled to me some of the deadliest struggles in Virginia, and which now proclaimed that the possession of Nashville was once more dependent upon the fortunes of war. The conflict continued to rage with intense fury; our troops succeeded in breaking the main line at one or more points, capturing and turning some of the guns on their opponents.

  Just at this critical moment of the battle, a brigade of the enemy, reported to have been Stanley’s, gallantly charged, and restored the Federal line, capturing at the same time about one thousand of our troops within the entrenchments. Still the ground was obstinately contested, and, at several points upon the immediate sides of the breastworks, the combatants endeavored to use the musket upon one another, by inverting and raising it perpendicularly, in order to fire; neither antagonist, at this juncture, was able to retreat without almost a certainty of death. It was reported that soldiers were even dragged from one side of the breastworks to the other by men reaching over hurriedly and seizing their enemy by the hair or the collar.

  Just before dark Johnson’s Division, of Lee’s Corps, moved gallantly to the support of Cheatham; although it made a … .

  (Page 297)

  battle of the 20th. He knew also in what manner my orders at Spring Hill had been totally disregarded. After our last brief interview which was followed so quickly by his death, I sought to account for his sudden revolution of feeling and his hopefulness, since he had been regarded as not over sanguine of the final triumph of our cause. I formed the conviction that he became satisfied on the morning of the 30th of November, after having reviewed the occurrences of the previous afternoon and night, and those of the 20th and 22d of July, that I was not the reckless, indiscreet commander the Johnston-Wigfall party represented me; that I had been harshly judged, and feebly sustained by the officers and men; that I was dealing blows and making moves which had at least the promise of happy results, and that we should have achieved decided success on two occasions around Atlanta as well as at Spring Hill. He therefore made a sudden and firm resolution to support me in all my operations, believing that my movements and manner of handling troops were based upon correct principles. It has been said he stated, upon the morning after the affair of Spring Hill, that he would never again allow one of my orders for battle to be disobeyed, if he could prevent it. For these reasons his loss became doubly great to me. The heroic career and death of this distinguished soldier must ever endear the memory of his last words to his commander, and should entitle his name to be inscribed in immortal characters in the annals of our history.

  A similar revolution in feeling took place to a great extent among both officers and men, the morning of the day upon which was fought the battle of Franklin; this change —and in a measure the improved morale of the Army, which had resulted from a forward movement of one hundred and eighty miles—occasioned the extraordinary gallantry and desperate fighting witnessed on that field.

  The subjoined extract from Van Horne’s History of the Army of the Cumberland, will confirm my assertion in regard.

  Appendix 2

  Army of Tennessee Times Picayune, Sept. 8, 1879

  An Eloquent Tribute to the Memory of the Late Gen. J. B. Hood

  Below is presented an eloquent tribute in the memory of the late Gen. Hood, being the report of the Committee on Resolutions of the Association of the Army of Tennessee, submitted at the meeting held Tuesday night, and were excluded from our morning edition on account of want of space:

  Hall of the Association of the Army of Tennessee

  Louisiana Division

  24 Baronne Street

  New Orleans, Sept. 9, 1879

  The committee recommends to the association, in view of the death of a member, Gen. John B. Hood, on Saturday, the 30rd of August, 1879, in recognition of his worth and the affection of its members for their former chief, the following memorial:

  It having pleased the Great Commander to remove from duty with us our former general and late comrade the heroic John B. Hood, under circumstances that appeal most strongly to our sympathies, and we, deeming it proper at the close of so lofty a career, that we, survivors of his battles and witnesses of his subsequent peaceful vocation among us, should place upon record our appreciation of that noble life, in order that we may not appear unmindful of our loss, as well as that other men may realize the admiration commanded by worth and greatness, do resolve:

  That, as former soldiers under his command, we now look back upon his military career as one of the most remarkable known in our day. Graduating from the Military Academy in 1849, he served as an officer of infantry, then of cavalry, and gathered honorable wounds in battle with savages which foreshadowed that brilliant valor which later made him pre-eminent. Promptly at their call he ranged himself in 1861 on the side of the people with whom he was identified. Rapidly promoted through subordinate grades, in March 1862, he was made Brigadier General and placed in command of that devoted band of Texans than whom heroic leader never had more worthy followers. As brigade and as division commander upon fields made glorious by the “incomparable infantry” of the Army of Northern Virginia, Hood shone as one of the most brilliant soldiers about the grand central figure — Lee. Coming to the Army of Tennessee on the eve of one our fiercest struggles, his towering form and gallant bearing, no less then the martial appearance of his veteran division, inspired us with fresh courage; nor can any of us forget his resistless onset and signal success on that bloody field. He emerged from its smoke and carnage a maimed trunk, which inspired by a less lofty soul, had then sought the retirement of the rear or the grave. The command of a corps, at the youthful age of two and thirty, was richly earned reward of almost unexampled valor and devotion. However he fought that corps is known to all who shared in the campaign of Northwest Georgia — when the day’s work was fighting, the night’s rest entrenching. As general and our commander he delivered staggering blows against the immense army that encircled us at Atlanta, well nigh throwing it back in disastrous flight. Finally, as leader of the “forlorn hope of the Confederacy,” in his brilliant and rapid movement of 400 miles into the enemy’s rear, he achieved the signal victory of Franklin and spent the expiring but unavailing force of his depleted army against the works of Nashville, having staked all on a final effort, and lost save honor.

  That having in four years of constant warfare borne himself with a courage, a devotion and a heroism that have never been e
xcelled: having sacrificed his body, limb by limb to the cause he held so dear; having never despaired, but ever stood firm and steadfast, stoutest when most assailed, strongest when maimed; that in these things John B. Hood has earned the name of hero, and has endeared himself to his survivors in that affectionate regard and respectful homage which are only felt for the noble and the great.

  If in this practical age, when all individuality is leveled by the sweeping blade of equality and general education; if after our immortal chieftain Lee, after Albert Sidney Johnston and Stonewall Jackson, there existed a man who on the field, through his great personal prowess, when the hour of battle was approaching, when men desiring to do their utmost in the strife began to look for a stronger arm, a greater mind, a master spirit to uphold their arms, less they themselves might falter; if there was any commander who, riding into the smoke and roar of battle could carry into the ranks a greater sensation of relief, or almost supernatural influence, it was Hood, who rode forward a maimed prodigy of most desperate valor.

  To his men it mattered not what doubt of success or what intimation of danger might be suggested; those men felt that Hood would make a grand and stupendously bold effort, and they could afford to follow his lead and stand by this man of marvelous daring; that even if defeat should follow they would at least have given to the world another example that would excite wonder and approbation and mark the bloody field with indelible and imperishable fame, serving to teach future generations the limit of human effort and human endurance.

  As expressed in his own forceful language, when last with us, five short months since; “They charge me with making Franklin a slaughter pen, but, as I understand it, war means fight and fight means kill.”

  The recollections of his incomparable daring, his eminent skill, his fidelity to duty, his unselfish patriotism, the splendor of his service, his loftiness of purpose, lead us to realize that in the firmament of our military history a brilliant star has suddenly sunk below the horizon of the present; its departure arouses us to what its brightness was, and brings reflections as to how greatly it transcended and differed in glory from other stars, and we stand watching for lights of equal magnitude, wondering if we shall ever look upon its peer.