John Bell Hood Documents Discovered
Significant
historical find changes how Hood has been portrayed
(El
Dorado Hills, CA)— The Battle of Franklin Trust Chief Operating
Officer Eric A. Jacobson announced today at Carnton Plantation the discovery of
several hundred documents, letter and orders of Confederate
General John Bell Hood. While conducting
research for an upcoming book on the general, West Virginia’s Sam Hood, a
collateral descendent and student of the career of Hood, was invited to inspect
a collection of the general’s papers, held by a descendent.
Savas Beatie will be publishing this
upcoming book by Sam Hood entitled John Bell Hood: The Rise, Fall,
and Resurrection of a Confederate General (http://tinyurl.com/8jpubuq) in spring
2013, a detailed point by point defense of General Hood’s career.
As timing would have it, John Bell
Hood: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of a Confederate General was
completed before this recent document discovery. Much of his book argues that known evidence
before the recent cache find has been misinterpreted or blatantly misused by
many latter-day authors. Hood critically
notes several authors who he believes perpetuated the use of Hood as a target
for Lost Cause architects. Some of the
newly discovered information on the Atlanta Campaign, the Spring Hill affair, and
the Battle of Franklin will be included in Sam Hood’s upcoming book, but since
the total collection will take several months to transcribe, more important
information on John Bell Hood - the man and the soldier - cannot, by necessity,
be revealed until later.
In making today’s announcement, Sam
Hood said, “I felt like the guy who found the Titanic, except for the fact
everyone knew the Titanic was out there somewhere, while I had no clue that
some of the stuff I found even existed.”
Sam Hood added, “General Hood is
certainly no stranger to controversy. During his colorful military career and
with historians ever since, he has remained a controversial and tragic figure
of the Civil War. Long noted for
the loss of Atlanta and what some consider reckless behavior at
the November 30, 1864 Battle of Franklin after a lost opportunity for possible
victory at Spring Hill, he has often been the subject of ridicule and blame for
the demise of the Confederacy in the West.”
Eric Jacobson, who has viewed a
portion of the collection said, “This is one of the most significant Civil War
discoveries in recent history. These
documents also tell us as much by what they don’t say. One major example is the discovery of Hood’s
medical journal, kept by his doctor, John T. Darby, during the war. As they are being transcribed it will be
interesting to see what, if any, use of painkillers is mentioned, and how
judicious his doctors were in prescribing opiates. Hood was much more multi-faceted
than how he has been portrayed by some as a simple minded and poorly equipped
commander.”
Jacobson has been one of only a few contemporary Army of Tennessee
historians to give Hood the benefit of fatigue, fog of war and failures of
subordinates as part of the breakdown of the Army of Tennessee in late 1864.
Some of the items found
include recommendations for promotion, handwritten by Stonewall Jackson and James
Longstreet. Also uncovered was wartime
correspondence between General Hood and generals R. E. Lee, Braxton Bragg, Louis T. Wigfall,
and other senior commanders as well, as his four general officer commission papers.
Roughly seventy post-war
letters from other Civil War notables were also discovered, mostly concerning the controversy with Confederate
General Joseph E. Johnston and used to compose Hood's memoir Advance & Retreat. Hood added, “This is just
the tip of the iceberg on the expansive collection.”
“I spent three days photocopying and
inventorying,” added Sam Hood. “I held in my hands documents signed by Jefferson Davis, Longstreet, Jackson
and Lee.”
Keith Bohannon, professor of history
at the University of West Georgia, says most of Hood’s biographers assumed that
Hood’s papers, other than those known to be archived, were lost or destroyed.
“Some of John Bell Hood’s official papers were presumably sold to the Federal
government near the time of his death in 1879,” Bohannon said. Hood and
his wife, Anna Marie, both died in New Orleans from yellow fever and left behind
ten orphaned children. Before his death at age 48, Hood was in poor
financial condition and was working to sell this information to better the
financial plight of his family, according to Bohannon.
“I have been fighting to correct some
of the misperceptions and vicious myths of General Hood for years,” added Sam Hood.
“These documents will shed a lot of light that will change some of those views.”
Savas Beatie LLC is
a leading military and general history publishing company. For more
information, visit www.savasbeatie.com
The Battle of Franklin Trust is a 501 (c) 3
management corporation acting on behalf of Franklin’s battlefield sites to
contribute to a greater understanding and enrich the visitor experience of the
November 30, 1864 battle. It’s organized for the charitable and educational
purposes of preserving, restoring, maintaining and interpreting the properties,
artifacts and documents related to the battle so as to preserve an important
part of the nation’s history. Contact: Eric Jacobson, Battle of Franklin Trust,
eric@battleoffranklintrust.org
Posts
