John Bell Hood
Lt. Gen. John B. Hood
John Bell Hood is a distant cousin who fought with distinction in the American Civil War. Some of this article is taken from his Wikipedia entry, which contains much more detail and references.
Synopsis
General John Bell Hood was a Confederate soldier who led in several significant but not always auspicious campaigns. The US Military camp at Fort Hood in Texas, is named for him1, as is Hood County, South-West of Fort Worth in Texas. Schools that once bore his name have long changed their mind about it.
Memorial tribute at the Hennen family tomb, New Orleans
There are many tales of the soldier, mostly linked to either bravado, recklessness or insubordination, according to the teller. What emerges is a sense of John B. Hood as a maverick, respected by those he led, and a man who showed no great respect for protocols and dogma.
At the battle of Gettysburg in 1863, he was injured, permanently losing the use of his left arm. In September of that year, he lost his right leg after fracturing a femur: still he returned to service. In 1865, at the age of 33, John Bell Hood was the youngest man on either side of the American Civil War to be given command of an army.
After the war and his military career, he began to write his memoirs as he established an insurance business, but was ruined and then killed by a Yellow Fever epidemic.
Notes
| Name | DoB | PoB | DoD | PoD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Bell HOOD | 29th June 1831 | Owingsville, Kentucky | 30 August 1879 | New Orleans |
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I was once destined for that place, having enlisted in the USAF to follow my father. I changed my mind and joined the British Army instead. ↩