Wednesday, January 23, 2008
This Day in the History of Correcting Big Mistakes Way Too Late
On this day in 1865, General John Bell Hood was removed as commander of the Army of Tennessee. He had asked to be removed weeks earlier. Hood had fought well during the Seven Days and at Antietam. There are historians who think he saved Lee with a well timed counter-attack during the latter battle. He was a non-factor in the next two battles where he was severely wounded at Gettysburg and lost a leg at Chickamauga. He should not have been placed in charge of the 65,000 strong Army of Tennessee in July, 1864 because he didn't get the political situation (as the man he replaced, General Joseph Johnston, did). The South had merely not to lose big, while continuing to bleed the Yankees, and the Copperhead Democrats would win the November elections and quit the war. As was his idiom, however, he attacked and attacked and attacked and lost every time. With the victory he handed the North at Atlanta, Lincoln held on in the elections. But Hood wasn't finished. He lost badly at Franklin and at Nashville and by the time he was removed the once proud Army of Tennessee had at most 18,000 men many combat ineffective.
Labels: Confederate General John Bell Hood.
