The Lost Papers of Confederate General John Bell Hood

About this book

Scholars hail Confederate General John Bell Hoods personal papers as "the most important discovery in Civil War scholarship in the last half century." This invaluable cache includes documents relating to Hoods U.S. Army service Civil War career and postwar life. It includes letters from Confederate and Union officers unpublished battle reports detailed medical reports relating to Hoods two major wounds and dozens of letters exchanged between Hood and his wife Anna. This treasure trove is being made available for the first time for both professional and amateur Civil War historians in The Lost Papers of Confederate General John Bell Hood edited and annotated by award-winning author Stephen M. Hood. The historical community long believed General Hoods papers were lost or destroyed and numerous books and articles were written about him without the benefit of these invaluable documents. In fact the papers had been carefully preserved for generations by Hoods descendants. In 2012 collateral descendent Stephen Hood was given access to these papers as part of his research for his book John Bell Hood: The Rise Fall and Resurrection of a Confederate General (Savas Beatie 2013). This 200 document collection sheds important light on some of the wars lingering mysteries and controversies. For example letters from Confederate officers help explain Hoods failure to entrap Schofields Union army at Spring Hill Tennessee on November 29 1864. Another letter by Lt. Gen. Stephen D. Lee helps to explain Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburnes gallant but reckless conduct that resulted in his death at Franklin. Lee also lodges serious allegations against Confederate Maj. Gen. William Bates troops. Other papers explain for the first time the purpose and intent behind Hoods "controversial" memoir Advance and Retreat and validate its contents. While these and others offer a military perspective of Hood the general the revealing letters between he and Anna his beloved and devoted wife help us better understand Hood the man and husband. Historians and other writers have spent generations speculating about Hoods motives beliefs actions and objectives and the result has not always been flattering or even fully honest. Now long-believed "lost" firsthand accounts previously unavailable offer insights into the character personality and military operations of John Bell Hood the general husband and father.