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Influenced by his grandfather's stories of Indian fighting and by popular accounts of the Mexican War, Hood sought a military career at age 18. With the assistance of Congressman Richard French, his uncle, Hood received an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy on February 20, 1849, on the condition that he must be able to pass the entrance exams. Though he was a poor student and a persistent discipline problem, he managed to graduate 44th in a class of 52 in 1853.
Upon his graduation, Hood was brevetted 2nd Lieutenant, assigned briefly to Fort Columbus, NY, then transferred to Fort Jones in northern California. When Congress approved the formation of two new regiments of infantry and two of cavalry to protect the frontier, March 3, 1855, Hood received his commission as 2nd Lieutenant, 2nd U.S. Cavalry, a unit known for the high-caliber of many of the officers serving it. Several, including Col. Albert Sidney Johnston, Lt. Col. Robert E. Lee, Maj. William J. Hardee, and Maj. George H. Thomas, would become high-ranking Union or Confederate officers.
Early in his career, on garrison duty and on the Texas frontier, Hood developed a preference for aggressive military tactics. His often reckless daring would later become the key to many of his military successes as well as failures.
Resigning his Regular Army commission April 17, 1861, Hood joined the Confederate Army and was appointed a 1st Lieutenant of cavalry. He served on recruitment duty in Kentucky until May, and was then ordered to report to Col. John B. Magruder at Yorktown, Va. During the early months of the war, Hood acquitted himself well, rising rapidly in rank. On March 6, 1862, he was promoted to brigadier general and assigned command of the hard-fighting Texas Brigade, which soon became known as Hood's Texas Brigade. His aggressive style of leadership brought him favorable attention from the Confederate high command. Hood, admired for his bravery and well respected by his men, led his troops through the Peninsula Campaign, fighting conspicuously at Gaines' Mill, Malvern Hill, and Second Bull Run. With a promotion to Major General on October 10, 1862, Hood was given command of a division under Maj. Gen. James Longstreet, leading it during the Antietam Campaign, at Fredericksburg, and at Gettysburg, where he was severely wounded in the left arm. At Chickamauga, he commanded several divisions in Longstreet's left wing. Once again wounded, doctors were forced to amputate his right leg, and he recuperated in Richmond before returning to the field.
Hood was promoted to lieutenant general February 1, 1864, to rank from Chickamauga, and given command of a corps during the Atlanta Campaign. When Gen. Joseph E. Johnston was relieved of command of the Army of Tennessee on July 17, Hood was appointed to temporary rank of general to succeed him, despite his reluctance to take command in the middle of campaigning. Hood went as far as protesting to Pres. Jefferson Davis, but Davis refused to change the orders. On July 20, Hood took the offensive unsuccessfully at Peachtree Creek, then again two days later in the Battle of Atlanta. At Jonesborough, on September 1, it became clear that the Confederates could not hold off Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's forces. Hood retreated, hoping to draw Sherman away from Atlanta by attacking Union supply lines northwest of the city. However, luck was not with Hood. Bad weather, greater enemy troop strength, and the slow arrival of supplies due to Hood's poor planning prevented his attack. He withdrew instead to Tennessee, intending to retake the state, then move into Kentucky, securing it north to the Ohio River, and then reinforcing Gen. Robert E. Lee in Virginia.
The campaign failed disastrously. At Franklin, on November 30, Hood sustained heavy losses and defeat in a frontal assault protested by his corps commanders. Two weeks later, at Nashville, Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas attacked Hood's weakened and demoralized army, inflicting the only decisive defeat of the war and effectively destroying the once-formidable Army of Tennessee. On January 23, 1865, Hood, a very capable subordinate officer whose abilities were not sufficient for leading an army, was relieved at his own request, holding no further field command. His military career ended with his surrender at Natchez, Miss., on May 31, 1865, while on orders to join the Trans-Mississippi Department.
After the war, Hood settled in New Orleans, working as a factor and commission merchant, and later in the insurance business. Though he found moderate success at first, business reverses deprived him of an adequate livelihood. Impoverished, he died of yellow fever on August 30, 1879, a few days after the death of his wife and eldest child. He left behind 10 other children, including three sets of twins. To provide for the orphans, friends arranged to publish his wartime memoirs. Advance and Retreat (1880), is a classic among Civil War literature, though the book is largely a work of self-defense.
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