The Making of General John B Hood

Students of the Civil War are well versed in the operational campaignsuccesses and the generalship of Lee, Grant, and Sherman. A lesser knowncampaign, General John B. Hood's invasion of Tennessee during the winter of1864, may have been the most important one of the war. Hood's record as atactician was brilliant. For this he received command of the Army ofTennessee as it grappled with Sherman at the gates of Atlanta. After the fallof the city, the Confederacy's options for prolonging the war to exhaustNorthern resolve were limited. Although shaken and reduced, Hood's army wasthe only substantial force available for offensive operations. A threat toSherman's lines of communications in Tennessee and subsequent victory there might have negated the Union threat to the South's heartland and recovered all that had been lost at Atlanta. This was not to be; Hood all but destroyed his army in the try.This book is an analysis of the relative fitness of one military leader'scharacter at escalating levels of command. From early life, Hood possessed the traits of personality that were destined to make him a brilliant success at the tactical level, secure his elevation above it, and cause him dismal failure once there. This book is a journey into the enigma of successful generalship.